Subsidised Leap card for workers among pilot schemes to encourage people to use public transport

The Department of Transport's pilot schemes include a workplace pilot aimed at breaking the 'sunk perceptions' of public transport services to workplaces through engaging with workers and temporarily discounting transport costs. File picture: Larry Cummins

A series of pilot schemes, such as subsidised Leap card travel for workers, are set to be rolled out this year as the Department of Transport aims to make 2025 a year to test out “population-level changes” on how we travel.

It said it wants to significantly ramp up public engagement activities, build awareness, and "inspire ownership” for climate actions across society and wants to test out ways to make this happen.

The department has gone out to tender for a contract worth up to €250,000 to roll out and evaluate these schemes. From a “long list of candidate ideas”, it landed on four ideas to trial in more detail this year.

It includes a workplace pilot aimed at breaking the “sunk perceptions” of public transport services to workplaces through engaging with workers and temporarily discounting transport costs.

“The department will be working in collaboration with the National Transport Authority (NTA) and Transport for Ireland (TFI) to deliver this intervention,” it said.

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“It is envisaged that the pilot will align with the objectives of the TFI ‘Smarter Travel Programme’, a behavioural change programme with a focus on promoting and encouraging staff to sustainably and actively commute to work and consider flexible working arrangements.” 

Another scheme rolling out in southern parts of the country is aimed at laying the foundations for increased public transport uptake among school-age children.

“The Bus in the City initiative targets students from junior to second class and involves a series of talks from Green-Schools representatives, bus operators and An Garda Síochána as the bus moves through the city," it said.

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Further schemes will see the encouragement of private coach hire for match-day events across different sports bodies in Ireland to take match-going fans out of the car, and a cycling training programme for schoolchildren.

In the case of the sporting scheme, the pilot will work to identify and put in place practical and pragmatic solutions to ease the burden of organising, booking and paying for private coach hire.

“The overarching aim for the pilot initiatives is to deliver, test, and evaluate innovative approaches, and to build the evidence base necessary for future programmes aimed to accelerate the roll-out of behavioural interventions, so that they are efficient and effective at achieving population-level changes of sustainable transport modes,” the department added.