Ward criticises “snails pace” rollout of contactless payment on public transport

Fine Gael TD Barry Ward has criticised the “snail’s pace” rollout of contactless payment on public transport.

St. Patrick’s Day saw 500,000 people visit the St. Patrick’s Festival in the capital, but Ward said the fact that none of those people could use contactless payment on public transport systems is “unacceptable and embarrassing.”

The Dún Laoghaire TD said that his office is contacted on a regular basis by commuters who rely on the DART and bus services but are not able to pay by contactless.

“People are increasingly frustrated at how slowly the rollout is progressing, particularly given how essential access to public transport is for workers, students and families in our area,” he noted.

“Contactless payment will hugely simplify our public transport network for everyone. It’s baffling that Dublin Bus continues to expect customers to provide “exact change” in coins, when they could simply tap their phone or bank card,” he noted.

Referring to the St. Patrick’s festivities, Ward remarked, ”what do they (visitors to Dublin) think when they realise that they must either have cash or a Leap card with credit applied to hop on and off our bus, DART and rail services?

“Given that we don’t have a rail link to Dublin Airport, we should be making that bus journey as seamless as possible to encourage return visits, while we await the delivery of MetroLink,” he noted.

“The NTA has said that it intends to ‘deliver the project as efficiently and effectively as possible’, which Ward questioned.

“If that’s the case, why are we still waiting around on a system that is commonplace in the majority of European capital cities?”

London has had contactless payment on its public transport system since 2012, Scotland introduced the system in 2017, Amsterdam rolled out the system in 2022/23, and Madrid launched the same scheme in 2025.

Ireland, meanwhile, continues to lag well beyond its European neighbours, something that needs to be rectified, per Ward.

It is anticipated that new validators will be installed in the Greater Dublin Area from 2027, with contactless bank card payments implemented in 2028.

“We need to do better and get in line with our European neighbours on contactless payments without any further delay. Weekends like this present us with an opportunity to showcase what Ireland and our capital city have to offer visitors from abroad.”

“We don’t want anyone leaving with a bad taste in their mouth; the NTA needs to get its act together on this,” Ward said.