Overall fare yield to increase by less than 1%
The National Transport Authority today published its Fares Determination reports for 2017 – the annual decisions on fares to be charged by the contracted public transport operators in Ireland – Dublin Bus, Iarnród Éireann, Bus Éireann and Luas (Transport Infrastructure Ireland).
Key points:
* No fare increase for three out of four passengers:
Three out of four passengers on the estimated 230 million public transport journeys, will see no fare increase, or will see a fare reduction in 2017.
* Increase of fare yield of less than 1%:
Increase in revenue yield to the transport providers arising from these fare changes will be less than 1% in 2017.
* Rail fare reductions:
50% Rail fare reductions for commuters in Sallins/Naas station, and Kilcock station
*Leap Card best value:
Fares paid by Leap Card continue to represent best value for money for passengers.
Operators are permitted to implement these fares changes from December 1st 2016. Fares for the year ahead are set with the aim of maintaining customer support and passenger numbers while ensuring financial stability for the operators.
In addition, the Authority has used the fares determination process over a number of years to simplify fares structures, and today we see the continuation of that process. It also uses the process to encourage more people to use Leap card to pay for their journeys by delivering a wide differential between Leap and cash fares of at least 20%.
This year’s fare determination has taken the opportunity to adjust fares to move closer to achieving the Authorities fares policy such as discount of approximately 30% for students, and 50% for children. It is also the view of the Authority that annual fares should be approximately equivalent to ten times a monthly fare.
Distance-based fare pricing is also brought a step further, particularly in the Iarnród Eireann Dublin Short Hop Zone (SHZ) in the Dublin area. SHZ fares for a number of trips has been adjusted, mostly downwards with a result that passengers will charged a fare that reflects the distance they travel. This represents the final step in the restructuring process in the Dublin SHZ.
Perhaps the most significant adjustment is the relocation of the both Sallins/Naas station, and Kilcock station, from the intercity zone into the Dublin SHZ resulting in significant savings for commuters.
For example, an adult single journey from Heuston station to Sallins/Naas station which currently costs €8.70 will be just €4.60 cash or €3.56 Leap. This is a saving of at least €4.10 or almost 50% on the cost of an adult single ticket.
Some other anomalies have been removed. This will result in the fares for 226 SHZ journeys being reduced by 16-18%, and 36 being increased by 16-18%. Many more passengers will see fare reductions than fare increases, as a result of these particular changes.
Anne Graham, CEO of the National Transport Authority said: “Today we are taking a significant step towards making our public transport fare structure simpler, more streamlined and more consistent.
“We believe that the prices people pay should accurately reflect the journeys they’re making.
“We’re also endeavoring to cut back on the wide array of different fare types, stages and products, so that cost of travel is easier to understand for the passenger.
“It’s also important for us to continue to incentivise people to choose Leap card to pay for their travel – by maintaining a substantial price differential between Leap fares and cash fares.
“Leap Card is now used to pay for some 3.5m public transport journeys in Ireland every week – representing about €4.3m in electronic transactions. These are cheaper for the operators to manage, and mean that the passenger benefits from shorter wait-times and better value fares.
“Leap will always be at least 20% cheaper than cash for a single journey”.
Full details of the Fares Determinations are below;
Dublin Bus Fares Determinations 2017
Irish Rail Fares Determinations 2017
Luas Fares Determinations 2017
Bus Éireann Fares Determinations 2017
SUMMARY CHANGES
DUBLIN BUS
For the second year in a row the approved fare changes are very modest with no changes to basic adult and child fares for both cash and Leap transactions.
Key measures:
IARNROD ÉIREANN
Key measures:
The changes announced today represent the final step in the restructuring process, particularly in the Dublin Short Hop Zone (SHZ) so that the fare a passenger pays is more closely linked to the distance they travel. Changes in other fares have been minimised, with no increase at all to Intercity single and return fares.
BUS ÉIREANN
As with Dublin Bus the changes to Bus Éireann fares are kept to a minimum. All single stage carriage fares are kept at current rates as are all child and student stage carriage fares. Where cash fares have increased in regional cities the leap discount has also increased so there is little or no increase in the Leap fares. A number of fares have been adjusted both up and down by 5% or less to bring the fares closer to the Authorities fare principles.
Key measures:
Regional cities & towns
Stage Carriage
LUAS
The fares determination for Luas for 2017 sees the merging of the adult and student zone 3 and zone 4 fares continuing the process of consolidation of public transport fares over the past number of years. This will see zone 3 fares increasing by up to 7.4% with zone 4 fares dropping by up to 4.2%.
While cash and pre-paid fares have seen reasonable increases Leap fares continue to offer excellent value for adults and children while the pre-paid fares for students offer best value.
The monthly and annual fares have been increased for the first time since January 2013 but they still offer excellent value and can offer financial savings to many Luas customers including a large number of Luas passengers who do not currently avail of these tickets.
Key measures:
