Commuters brace for hike in bus and rail fares
The Government has also warned that further cutbacks were likely to result in “significant” reductions to public transport services in 2013 and 2014.
Transport Minister Leo Varadkar announced yesterday that exchequer funding for Bus Éireann, Iarnród Éireann and Dublin Bus would be cut by €21m next year to €242m.
He acknowledged that the cut in CIÉ’s annual subvention would “inevitably” lead to fare increases for bus and rail journeys, increases which have to be formally sanctioned by the National Transport Authority.
However, Mr Varadkar said he anticipated that the CIÉ group would offset some of its reduced budget through further cost efficiencies.
The minister said that any fare increases would be designed to encourage commuters to switch to the new Leap smart card, which can now be used on most forms of public transport.
He said that the highest increases would apply to cash fares which he admitted would be “substantial” in order to act as an incentive for passengers to avail of the new integrated ticketing system. Fare increases for the Leap card would be “more modest”.
Further price hikes are also expected in 2013 and 2014 as the Government confirmed funding for public transport services would be reduced further in the years ahead.
“As in 2012, some of this reduction can be offset by further efficiencies and manageable fare increases. It is likely, however, that it will also result in further significant service reductions,” stated the Government’s Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2012-2014.
Overall, the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport aims to achieve savings of €45m in 2012 through cutbacks across a range of state bodies.
Funding for non-national roads will fall by €4.5m, with reduced expenditure for the local and regional road network, while Mr Varadkar said that funding for the local improvement scheme for non-public roads would be discontinued.
The budget for national roads will fall by 1%, although the minister said it would have no major impact on the work of the National Roads Authority because the country’s motorway network was effectively complete.
Although exchequer funding for the Road Safety Authority is being slashed by 20%, Mr Varadkar stressed that the reduction was due to the authority moving rapidly towards becoming a self-financing body as a result of receiving revenue from the National Car Test and driving licences and testing.
Although transport was once one of the highest spending departments, the decision to postpone major projects like Metro North and the DART Underground will see reduced capital expenditure on transport over the coming years.
CIÉ, which is due to replace a large proportion of its bus and rail fleet, will see its capital budget cut from €216m this year to €116m in 2012.
The budget for regional airports will be reduced by €5m.
Spending on tourism will fall overall by 6% to €139.5m, although Mr Varadkar said tourism bodies had been reassured that the cuts were “manageable”.
The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport will see its overall budget, combining capital and current expenditure, fall by 14% to just over €2 billion.
