Public transport fee hikes must be reversed, say Soc Dems ahead of Dáil vote

The Dáil will debate a motion by the Social Democrats on Wednesday, which looks to reverse controversial hikes to public transport costs.

In September, Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien came under fire for announcing the hikes in public transport costs, which comes at a time of major unease and uncertainty among Irish commuters; the hike is being coupled with return-to-office mandates and general cost of living pressures.

Soc Dems TD Aidan Farrelly said the planned hikes are “extremely shortsighted and counterproductive.”

“With fares set to increase by an average of 15 per cent – but rising by as much as 35 per cent in some cases – this news could not have come at a worse time as the country remains in the grip of an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis,” the Kildare TD said.

The Soc Dems transport spokesperson called the move “tone-deaf” and will have a major impact on “workers, students and families when people are struggling to put food on the table or heat their homes.”

“Affordable, accessible and reliable public transport is not just essential to tackling the cost-of-living. It also helps reduce carbon emissions, ease traffic congestion, improve quality of life and ensures that people can readily access employment, education, healthcare and other essential services,” he said.

“It’s not as if Ireland has quality bus and rail services on a par with our European neighbours. Irish Rail passengers regularly complain about dangerous overcrowding in carriages and reliability issues, as we saw on RTÉ’s Prime Time last week. Lack of parking at train stations is also forcing people back into their cars, even though they want to do the right thing by choosing public transport,” he noted.

Farrelly further noted that bus passengers face long delays due to traffic gridlock, while some scheduled services regularly disappear from the Transport for Ireland (TFI) app or fail to stop because buses are full.

“Under these circumstances, it is baffling that the Government expects people to pay more for poor quality services,” he said.

Under the last government, the prescence of the Green Party in the coalition meant that fares were frozen for 5 years, and Department of Transport spending favoured public transport over road building by a factor of 2:1.

The presence of rural independents in the coalition, which took office in 2025, means that roads are now being given priority, with public transport on the back burner.

Farelly said “recent years have seen strong demand for public transport. Figures reported by Irish Cycle show that public transport usage increased by approximately 21 per cent between 2019 and 2025, while population growth was 11% during the same period.”

There were 363.5 million individual journeys on the TFI public transport network in 2025, up 5.8 per cent on the previous year, while there were 6.97 million Local Link journeys, an increase of 19% on 2024 levels.

Despite NTA projections of a 3% drop in passengers if fares rise by 10 per cent, the government went on to claim that the number of people using public transport would increase in 2027.

Per the Soc Dems, data from the 2022 Census showed that 63% of workers still travelled to work by car, highlighting the significant potential to increase public transport use if services are affordable, reliable and available where people need them.

“Putting up fares makes no financial sense, with traffic congestion costing the State around half a billion euros every year. It’s also worth noting that the €70m cost of reversing these fare increases amounts to just 1.3% of the Department of Transport’s overall budget for 2027,” Farrelly said.

“The provision of quality, affordable public services is one of the most effective ways of improving people’s quality of life. And while our public transport network requires significant investment, punishing the end user with fare hikes is not the way to achieve this.

“These fare increases will undo years of progress in encouraging people to use public transport by making it a more affordable option. That is why, on Wednesday, the Social Democrats will bring a motion before the Dáil calling for this senseless decision to be reversed,” he said.