NTA must reverse decision and give commuters a flexi tax-saver ticket

Fine Gael Senator John McGahon is calling for the National Transport Authority (NTA) to reverse its  decision not to introduce a three-day tax-saver ticket for those planning to engage in a mix of remote and office-based working.

The National Transport Authority has confirmed it is no longer considering a flexi tax-saver ticket and is now looking at other options.

Senator McGahon, who is now calling on Minister Eamon Ryan to intervene, said, “I am extremely disappointed that the NTA is pulling the plug on introducing a flexi tax-saver ticket for commuters at the 11^th hour.

“The concept of the three-day tax-saver ticket is something for which I have advocated since my first week in the Seanad. For the last 18 months I have been in communication with the NTA who confirmed, at every stage, that it wanted to introduce such a ticket, and was working out the technical aspects of implementing it.

“At one stage, the Authority queried if this would require legislative change, and I enquired with Minister Paschal Donohoe and his officials who confirmed that no legislative change would be required.

“At no stage did the NTA say this would not be feasible and in October 2021, it confirmed it had worked out the detail and would be introducing a flexi ticket at the end of Q1/start of Q2 2022.

“I urge the NTA to reconsider the decision they have taken this week. It is completely unacceptable and deeply unfair to thousands of commuters from around the country who are having to fork out money on monthly and annual tickets, when they may only be travelling to the office for two or three days a week.

“We need a more innovative approach to ticketing to better serve the needs of commuters for whom the working week has changed utterly since Covid-19. More and more people are working from home and we need to reflect what has become the new working norm.

“The Government is committed to encouraging the use of public transport as part of our fight against climate change. Commuters who only need a ticket for part of the week will simply not be motivated to use public transport due to the money they would have to waste on a full ticket. I am now seeking an urgent meeting with the NTA and the Minister for Transport, Climate, Environment & Communications Eamon Ryan. This needs to be resolved and some sort of flexi ticket system needs to be introduced for commuters as soon as possible.

“They say never waste a good crisis but if the NTA fails to reverse this decision it will be wasting the opportunity presented by the pandemic to give commuters more flexibility and value for money, and encourage better use of public transport,” Senator McGahon concluded.