Disapproval of increase in public transport fares

SOUTH Dublin County Councillors shared their disapproval of the government’s decision to increase the cost of public transport fares, passing a motion in the chamber to call for the reversal of this decision.

Councillor Jess Spear raised the motion at this month’s meeting and shared her party’s proposed plans for free public transport, which can “easily be paid for” through increased corporation tax and the introduction of a high wealth tax.

Cllr Spear was met with inundated support from her colleagues on this motion, with Councillor Pamela Kearns calling out the government’s lack of action in terms of climate commitments.

“Apart from the cost to the individual, it makes a laughing stock of our climate commitments. We gave a break of €400m to keep the price of diesel under two euro, which it isn’t, but that was the aim of it, she said.

“It’s the worst possible fuel that you could burn in terms of climate change, and we are cutting the cost of that, but we’re increasing the cost of public transport? We are trying to get people on to public transport and making it more expensive in a crisis. It actually has increased by 15 per cent, which is way above the inflation rate.”

“We’re not serious about climate action if this is the kind of thing we are going to do.”

Councillor Helen Farrell called the decision to increase fares “absolutely extraordinary” following the NTA admitting that each time public transport fares are increased, a drop in usage is noted, saying that “for every ten per cent increase in public transport fare, there is a three per cent passenger fall-off.”

“We are trying to disincentivise car use and trying to get people to use public transport, and yet they are knowingly increasing fares, knowing and admitting that it will cause a drop. I would question the kind of climate action in this government given this move.”

Cllr Spear presented People Before Profit’s recommendation to introduce free, frequent and rapid public transport to ensure that the public “feel confident that they want to get a bus somewhere they know it is going to arrive and when it’s going to depart.”

“In doing this, it would allow people to “travel easily and safely around the country, reducing road deaths, reducing gridlock, freeing up all that wasted time that we spend in traffic. It can easily be paid for by raising corporation tax and taxing the multi-millionaires.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme