Dublin city councillors back motion calling for halt to bus and train fare hikes

Councillors will argue that the increases work against the city's objective to move away from cars and reduce traffic and congestion, as well as emissions.

fare hikes

Planned fare increases will see adult public transport fares rise by an average of 15%.

LAST UPDATE | 4 hrs ago

A MOTION CALLING for the reversal of planned public transport fare increases has been agreed to by all parties at this evening's Dublin City Council meeting.

The meeting heard emergency motions from People Before Profit, the Green Party, and the Social Democrats on the increases, which are due to come into effect in January. 

It will see adult fares rise by an average of 15% across all forms of transport operated by the National Transport Authority (NTA). Young adult fares will also rise.

Announced last week, the move immediately proved unpopular. The NTA has been invited to appear before the Oireachtas Transport Committee on Wednesday 16 September to answer "legitimate questions" on the reasoning behind upping fares.

Councillors argued that the increases work against the city's objective to move away from cars and reduce traffic and congestion, as well as emissions.

It was also argued that during a cost-of-living crisis, it is unfair for people who avail of public transport to shoulder an increase in fares.

The motion will see the council write to the NTA and the Transport Minister Darragh O'Brien calling for the planned increases to be scrapped.

People Before Profit's group leader on the council, Conor Reddy, said that Dublin is already "choked" with traffic and the move will only push people away from public transport.

"The council vote is important, but we also need pressure from outside the chamber. These increases are not inevitable," Reddy said ahead of this evening's council meeting.

"If enough people organise and make clear that they will not accept another attack on living standards, the government and the NTA can be forced to reverse them."

While Reddy acknowledged that "a letter won't reverse these increases", he told The Journal that it's "an important step" as part of collective action against the increases.

Other Dublin councils are expected to pass similar motions next week, which Reddy said will "add serious pressure" to the campaign.

Speaking at this evening's council meeting, Reddy said he was "glad to see a consensus developing across parties on this issue".

He said it was the "worst decision at the worst time" and "potentially the straw that broke the camel's back".

Reddy added that the price increase will mean "more miserable gridlock, more emissions, poorer air quality, and people paying the cost of that with their health directly".

He also said the "evidence is there" from countries like Luxembourg, which has made public transport free, that Ireland should go this route as well.

'Mugged at the bus stop'

Meanwhile, Fine Gael councillor Colm O'Rourke told the council meeting that its representatives are "very much opposed to any increases".

"We can't tell Dubliners to leave the car at home to then be mugged at the bus stop," he added.

Fianna Fáil's Rory Hogan noted that his party's reps would also support the motion but added that it is "important to put on the record the very substantial investment that has gone into public transport in recent years".

Darragh Moriarty of the Labour Party meanwhile said the price increases highlight the "important" role that Labour and the Greens played in previous coalition governments.

"Something that gets said a lot is how parties like the Green Party, like the Labour Party, who get into government to try and affect change, were mudguards and we just take things lying down.

"But this simply would not have happened had the Green Party still been in government.

"It's really important that small parties, who are progressive, are a check on those in power and that's exactly what we're missing now.

"We have the rural independents prioritising road investment, investing in roads infrastructure instead of public transport, and now the fares going up is the next step on that."

Elsewhere, Paddy Monahan from the Social Democrats remarked that the "government is responsible for this decision".

"Excellent public transport requires excellent funding; that falls at the door of the government."

Monahan added that the "notion that public transport should be self-funding is utterly wrongheaded" as "public transport is a public good".

Sinn Féin's Daithí Doolan described the increase as a "hugely unpopular, unacceptable decision" which "needs to be reversed at the earliest opportunity".

The Green Party's Ray Cunningham meanwhile remarked that the "fare hikes are going to hit people who can afford it least".

"It's going to mean more pollution, more road deaths, and the effect on climate would be catastrophic," he added.

Speaking after the motions were passed, Dublin lord mayor, Fianna Fáil's Daryl Barron, remarked that the decision to increase fares was "a bit tone-deaf".

-With additional reporting from Diarmuid Pepper