TD 'frustrated' at slow rollout out of contactless payments on public transport

Cork South-Central TD Jerry Buttimer said tap and pay is about making public transport easier for people

The Fine Gael TD said the rollout of tap and pay on buses, trains, and trams could be accelerated. Picture: iStock

It is “frustrating” that it will take until 2029 for contactless payments to be rolled out across the public transport network, the junior transport minister has admitted.

Cork TD Jerry Buttimer said he believed that the introduction of contactless payments on buses, trains, and trams could be accelerated.

Appearing before the Oireachtas transport committee earlier this year, transport minister Darragh O’Brien said contactless payments on all forms of public transport will not be available until 2029.

Mr O’Brien said that the first phase of the contactless project would begin in 2027 in parts of Dublin, before being rolled out to the rest of the country.

Asked about the long timeline for its implementation, Mr Buttimer said he was “frustrated” by the lead-in time.

“We must make it easy for people, and that is a fundamental thing that we can do in my opinion, with technology, and there’s a will from us in the department to do it.

“I would be extolling the need to expedite that. I think it’s something we need to look at and see how can we push it further, faster.

“We’ve gone beyond getting a piece of paper and saying, ‘you should get your change, or we can’t accept this’.”

Mr Buttimer said it is about making public transport “easier for people”, citing the impact the covid-19 pandemic had on people’s payments, with more people switching to contactless. He added: 

I’m a big believer in accessibility, certainty, and reliability, and if you have those ingredients, people will use public transport more.

Separately, the Cork South-Central TD called for both the National Transport Authority (NTA) and Cork City Council to develop a strategy to address significant traffic issues on the N40.

“It’s just gridlock at key points of the day, and if an accident happens, then the whole thing grinds to a halt,” Mr Buttimer said.

Mr Buttimer said the NTA needed to consider how best to respond to minor road traffic incidents on the road, instead of blocking the road. However, he said this was different to more serious incidents involving fatalities.

On the Cork Luas project, Mr Buttimer said the Government’s new infrastructure reforms should use the light rail project as a test case for the emergency laws.