Two Cork bus routes top league for public transport fare dodgers

Bus Éireann which operates a range of subsidised routes including commuter and city bus services in Cork, Limerick, Galway, and Waterford and several large towns as well as commuter services in the greater Dublin region, had evasion rates of approximately 5%. File picture: Denis Minihane

More than €20m was lost in revenue on public transport services last year due to fare dodgers, with passengers on two Cork bus routes among the biggest culprits, according to estimates by transport regulatory bodies.

Figures released under freedom of information legislation by the National Transport Authority (NTA) show the highest fare evasion rates in 2024 were on Dart and commuter rail services with 6.9% of passengers not having a valid ticket for their journey.

The results of regular surveys conducted on bus, rail, and tram services during 2024 show varying fare evasion rates between different public transport operators.

Overall, Bus Éireann which operates a range of subsidised routes including commuter and city bus services in Cork, Limerick, Galway, and Waterford and several large towns as well as commuter services in the greater Dublin region, had evasion rates of approximately 5%.

The highest evasion rates were on two services in Cork — the 220X Ovens-Crosshaven route (35.3%) and 206 Grange-South Mall (34.3%) followed by 190 Drogheda-Trim (23.9%) and 419 Galway-Clifden (20.4%).

In relation to trains, the survey found an average rate for fare evasion of 6.9% on Dart trains and commuter rail services for the greater Dublin region and Cork with an estimated loss in revenue of €4.6m.

Fare evasion rates as high as 15% were recorded on Dublin-Drogheda, Dublin-Longford, and Dublin-M3 Parkway services.

Lowest rate of fare evasion on Cork-Mallow rail service

The level of fare evasion on Dart services ranged from 4% to 6%, while the lowest rate was on Cork-Mallow services at 1.3%.

One of the lowest fare evasion rates on any public transport service last year was on Iarnrod Éireann’s intercity routes where just 1.4% of passengers were found travelling without a valid ticket which resulted in an estimated loss in revenue of €2.2m in 2024.

Fare evasion levels on all intercity services were below the 2.5% target rate with the exception of Waterford-Limerick Junction (12.8%), Dublin-Rosslare (8%), and Tralee-Dublin (2.8%).

As the country’s largest public transport operator in terms of passenger numbers, Dublin Bus unsurprisingly had the largest estimated shortfall in revenue due to fare dodgers at €6m last year.

However, the fare evasion rate on Dublin Bus services was one of the lowest of any operator at 3.4%.

Commenting on the findings of the surveys, a NTA spokesperson said the transport authority believed progress was being made on tackling the problem of fare evaders.

“The NTA will continue to work closely with transport operators to further address this issue,” the spokesperson added.

It is estimated fare evasion on Luas services last year resulted in a loss of revenue of around €1.7m.