Fine Gael TD secures commitment from NTA to cap child rail ticket cost

Child rail fares are to be capped with the introduction of a new weekly ticket, a Fine Gael TD has said.

The NTA has committed to having the new fare structure in place for when the new school terms commence in September, following pressure from Deputy Grace Boland, who has consistently highlighted the disproportionate increase in children’s fares since the new fare structure which was rolled out by the NTA in April.

Deputy Boland said: “At this morning’s Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, I once again highlighted the fact that children’s fares have increased by 300% and that families are justifiably unhappy with these changes.

“Since the new fares were introduced on the 28^thApril, I have been inundated with complaints from parents who have seen the cost in sending their children to school by train increase massively. I am pleased that the CEO of the NTA, on foot of my intervention, has committed to tackling this issue and has committed to having a new weekly child ticket in place for September. This will give certainty to families planning their budgets for the school year ahead.

Deputy Boland also received a commitment from the NTA to look at the unfairness of the fares for people who wish to travel north from Skerries or Balbriggan to Drogheda. The fares passengers are expected to pay for a short hop to Louth are higher than the cost to travel from Louth to Dublin City Centre.

“In addition, the thorny issue of integrated ticketing and enabling passengers to use their debit cards to travel on all public transport was discussed. The Leap Card was introduced over a decade ago and needs modernisation. The NTA’s assurances that this ongoing project will be rolled out with the latest technology will need to be monitored closely, so Dublin commuters can deservedly expect to use public transport with greater ease and in line with other European capital cities. An accurate timeline for this project delivery must be published very soon,” Deputy Boland concluded.