Labour Spokesperson for Transport Ciarán Ahern has dismissed the belief that investment in new transport projects must mean fare hikes for public transport users.
The Dublin South-West TD said, “at a time when the Climate Change Advisory Council is telling us we won’t meet our 2030 climate targets, incentivising use of public transport is the very least we can do.”
“The reduction in public transport fares and the introduction of the 90-minute fare were rare wins for the last government. It would be absurd for them to roll back on those positive measures.”
The introduction of the 90-minute fare and a cut in rail ticket prices are widely seen as the influence of the Greens on the last government, with Labour seemingly keen to fill the Green gap in government.
Ahern himself owes a lot of his election victory to the collapse of the Green vote in his constituency and Green voters from 2020 bolting to Labour and the Social Democrats.
“Comparably, we know many of our European neighbours have better connected and more reliable transport services that cost less to use than ours; this move would be a step in the wrong direction,” Ahern said.
“We obviously need to encourage more people away from private cars and onto public transport, and the way to do that is by ensuring we have an affordable, reliable, accessible and efficient public transport system. Fare hikes are totally counterintuitive to our ambition of making cleaner, greener public transport the preferred option for people.”
The Labour TD said “investment in public transport infrastructure and low fares is not an either/or scenario.2
“The government are saying the choice must be made between cheaper public transport and progressing projects like Metrolink, but how can this be the case? It must be asked, are these fare hikes on the way because Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are hell bent on building more roads? At the same time there seems to be no oversight for how this could impact our climate goals.”
“People in my own constituency of Dublin South-West are all too familiar with unreliable bus services. Users of the new S4 and S6 routes, for example, are frequently subjected to ghost buses or late arrivals. To ask them to pay more for the pleasure of being left stranded at a bus stop on their way to or from work or college is beyond the pale.”
“We know the State is running an unprecedented budget surplus, alongside the Apple Tax money, a portion of those funds should be invested in our capital infrastructure. Future projects like the Metro North, DART+, the new Luas line, as well as the continued roll out of more Local Links services in rural areas. It’s vital that we use some of the surplus now to improve our infrastructure and our public transport network should be a priority.”