Offer discounts on tickets for delayed trains says Louth senator
“One of the barriers to getting the train that I see every day in Dundalk, where I come from, is that people are not guaranteed to get into work on time."
Ireland should take note of the Scandinavian model whereby passengers are given discounts on the value of their tickets if their train is delayed, Louth senator John McGahon has suggested.
Senator McGahon had previously raised the issue of train delays, particularly on the Enterprise service between Dundalk and Belfast where he recorded 21 individual delays over a 13-day period.
Speaking in the Seanad on Tuesday, senator McGahon said:
“In Denmark, if a train is delayed by 30 minutes, passengers get a 25% discount on the value of their tickets. If it is 60 minutes late, the discount is 50% and if it is 90 minutes late, the discount is 75%. If the train is 120 minutes late, passengers get the full value of their tickets back.
“In Ireland, if the delay is one hour passengers get a certain amount in travel vouchers. If the delay is between one and two hours, they get 50% in travel vouchers. If the train is two to three hours late, they get 100% in travel vouchers.
“The difference is vast. I accept that Scandinavian and continental European countries have had more of a train culture than there has been in Ireland, but we are trying to get more people to move in that direction and out of their cars.”
He further said that persistent delays are turning commuters off taking the train to get to work.
“One of the barriers to getting the train that I see every day in Dundalk, where I come from, is that people are not guaranteed to get into work on time.
“They may be getting trains an hour or 90 minutes earlier in order to get to work on time. If we put a bit of accountability on Irish Rail such that there would be financial penalties for the company and financial reward for consumers if trains are delayed, it would go a long way towards encouraging more people to take the train.
“They would know that if there were exceptional delays, there would at least be value for money given back in the context of their tickets.”
The senator concluded by saying he would bring the matter up again in the autumn in an attempt to move it forward.