Huge fare hike on Laois to Limerick train line is 'madness'
Irish Rail insists ‘legacy promotional fares’ have been scrapped in favour of a ‘consistent, distance-based fare structure’
A big hike in train fares on the Ballybrophy line, which services Laois, Tipperary and Limerick, has resulted from the scrapping of a discount fare designed to encourage people to use the route.
While Irish Rail insists that the abolition of the ‘legacy promotional fare’ is part of a national strategy for consistent, distance-based fares, one TD has slammed the move as ‘madness’.
The changes have also prompted renewed calls for better services, with local passengers questioning the value of higher fares when long-standing timetable issues remain.
Under the November 2 changes, the €3 single fare on the Ballybrophy line more than triples to €10.85, while the €6 day return fare more than doubles to €15.60.
The issue was raised in the Dáil in late October with senior Irish Rail management by Alan Kelly TD. He said commuters had asked him why the prices were rising given their success.
Barry Kenny, head of corporate communications, replied.
“These were legacy promotional fares. As Deputy Kelly may know, the National Transport Authority (NTA) strategy is to implement a more consistent, distance-based fare structure across all public transport. Within that, in this current determination, this is a promotional fare that is being removed.
“There are fare options within it, certainly for regular commuters. The tax-saver fare with tax relief will still have an extremely competitive rate. It will be around €3.63 that will apply for a day-return ticket, depending on the customer's tax relief, if they go the tax-saver route. The option remains for heavily discounted fares there,” he said
Dep Kelly responded by highlighting the great success of the lower prices and sharply criticising the decision.
“We fought for so long to promote this line. This is a line that has been disgracefully neglected...I have done videos to promote the line. The fact that something that has been a success is being taken away is madness. It is not going to have a massive budgetary impact one way or the other. It is about promoting the line. Will Irish Rail ask the NTA to reconsider this decision? I will do so,” said the Labour TD.
Further info provided to the Tipperary representative by the State-owned public transport company as reported by Tipperary Live said the fares were moving onto the “Economy 2 fare structure.” It added that Iarnród Éireann would still have scope to incentivise online booking, with discount options, while the walk-up fare would be the Economy 2 fare.
The company also pointed to Taxsaver season tickets for daily commuters, which allow passengers to benefit from tax relief. It gave the example of an annual ticket to Limerick costing €1,690, it said the net cost after tax relief could be €908, representing a daily return cost of €3.63 for a commuter, allowing for typical annual leave.