Doherty calls for contactless payment to be rolled out on public transport

Senator Regina Doherty has called for Dublin’s public transport network, including Dublin Bus, the Luas and Irish Rail, to support contactless payment.

Before Christmas, it was reported that contactless payment on public transport in Ireland would not be in place until 2025 at the earliest – despite London rolling out the service in 2012 and Scottish public transport rolling it out in 2017.

Doherty, who will appear on the ballot for Fine Gael next month as their European candidate, said the tendering process is “unacceptable” for commuters.

“The ability to use electronic or contactless payment methods such as your bank card or your phone when entering public transport would make total sense. It would make it easier to use public transport, it would reduce the need to duplicate resources by buying a leap card, and it would improve mobility and reduce dependence on cars, especially as traffic in Dublin is already extremely heavy at various times of the day. Unfortunately Dublin is far behind other similar European cities on this. We need to catch up.”

The tendering process has dragged out, missing a 2022 deadline.

Doherty warned that with tourist season approaching, the lack of contactless payment will create “needless complications.”

“We can use electronic payments for the simplest things in shops, cafes, museums restaurants, and cafés but not on public transport. Meanwhile cities such as Brussels have had this option in place for years. It is baffling to me.”

“We have heard from the NTA about the ongoing tendering process for contactless payment on Dublin Bus and the various deadlines to date. Now it is unlikely that this will be in place before 2025 or 2026 and the deadlines could change yet again. If the NTA are unable to roll this out properly then perhaps it is time for the Minister for Transport to intervene?

She called on transport officials to make the issue a “priority”, noting that passenger numbers on Dublin Bus are up 10% from 2019, with 48.2 million trips made on the Luas made in the same timeframe.