Faster rollout of contactless payments on public transport must happen from NTA – McGahon

The onus is on the National Transport Authority to expedite the process of rolling out contactless payments on public transport, a Fine Gael Senator has said.

Senator John McGahon said that while a tendering process is underway to build a new system with the result expected within the next two months, the predicted rollout time is unacceptable to commuters.

“National Transport Authority (NTA) CEO Anne Graham has said that the use of bank cards and digital wallets is unlikely to be widely available until 2025 or 2026,” Senator McGahon explained.

“This is just not good enough. While I welcome news that the tendering process is underway, the admission that the most popular methods of payment such as Apple and Google Pay won’t be made available until next year at the earliest, and perhaps even the year after is a big let down..  

“Leap Cards were first rolled out in December 2011 and while they are convenient and useful, many more people would prefer the option to pay with their card or phone, given the cumbersome nature of the Leap Card top up app and the lack of shops and services that offer the option to top up. 

“Public transport use hit a record high last year. People made around 308 million journeys on Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann, Iarnród Éireann, Luas and other services in 2023 – a figure that was 24% more than in 2023. It’s good news that people are more willing to use public transport – it’s better for congestion, sometimes better for our pockets and better for our environment.

“People commuting to work in the city and tourists need to be offered transport links that are reliable and easy to navigate and access. Ireland is an outlier in not being able to facilitate contactless payments on public transport. NTA need to pull out all the stops now to deliver the full range of payment options to commuter, and fast.”