Background information

A number of measures in Budget 2024, announced in October 2023, aim to encourage commuters to choose public transport. These include the extension of reduced public transport fares, which were originally reduced by approximately 20% in April 2022 as a temporary cost of living measure. There was also ring-fenced investment of over €400 million for the bus and rail transport networks.

Content of measure

In Budget 2024, the Government extended a 20% public transport fare reduction for a further year in order to encourage commuters to choose public transport. In addition, a 50% discount on public transport fares under the ‘Young Adult Card’ has been extended to those up to 26 years of age. It previously finished at 24 years of age.

The budget also included substantial investment in the public transport network with €220 million funding for bus projects and €200 million funding for rail transport.

Some of the investment will be used to continue to make the public transport network cleaner and greener including the purchase of 70 new electric double-deck buses for Dublin and 101 electric double-deck buses for cities outside Dublin covering Limerick, Galway and Cork.

According to the Government: 'All of these investments will encourage people to leave their private vehicles at home, to choose to take more public transport journeys and be part of the effort to reach the national Climate Action Plan targets of reducing transport-emissions by 50% by 2030.'

Use of measure

No information on recent measures but data indicates a nearly 15% increase in bus passenger numbers and almost 8% increase in train passenger numbers since 2019.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Applies to all workers	Does not apply to businesses	Applies to all citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

No involvement

Views and reactions

N/A

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 08 March 2022: Reduced Public Transport Fares to Roll-out from April (www.gov.ie)
• 11 October 2023: Budget 2024 to deliver further reductions in fares and introduce new services for families and commuters (www.gov.ie)
• 03 September 2025: Ministers welcome launch of free travel for under 9 (www.gov.ie)