It doesn’t need to be free but it could be super cheap like Vienna. Euro a day for unlimited use if you buy an annual pass for within the city.
The quality of service need to continue to increase though.
DryExchange8323 on
Currently in Luxembourg enjoying free trams, buses, and trains.
Free public transport here since March 2020.
NotAnotherOne2024 on
Public transport is already at capacity at peak times as it is, offering it for free without increasing capacity, which requires long-term infrastructural investment, will just exasperate the issue.
Pixel_Pioneer__ on
I don’t drive, so already use it. I wouldn’t mind paying a nominal fee like in Germany to get a monthly or yearly pass for cheap, but as it stands because I need to use 2 different cities plus express way, I spend a couple of grand a year on it.
stretchmurph on
No. Because I live in the countryside so there is no public transport.
Iamnotarobotlah on
Being on time and dependable (buses!) would be more of an incentive than being free.
KennethSzeWai on
I use the DART but i think for buses the ghost bus issue is a huge problem.
FIGHTorRIDEANYMAN on
Probably not
GoldCoastSerpent on
Probably not. It’s already reasonably priced in my opinion. I live in a rural area and don’t have much use for it.
horgantron on
The money is not the issue. The inconsistency and overcrowding however …..
doctorlysumo on
I’ve made this point in multiple threads about public transport whenever the topic of free public transport comes up. Price is not the barrier, it’s utility. No one is thinking to themselves “I won’t take public transport to work today it’s too expensive, instead I’ll take my more expensive car”, instead the issue is public transport either doesn’t serve their journey, doesn’t serve their journey in an acceptable timeframe, or is not reliable enough to take to something important like a job or appointment. To make public transport free would be very costly, if you took the same money you’d spend on free transport and invested it into new infrastructure, more staff, better vehicles or expanding services then you begin to alleviate some of the pain points i mentioned above that actually stop people from using PT, and you have the bonus of if you increase ridership then you increase the income of PT which allows it to fund more of itself freeing up budget for further expansion
StaffordQueer on
If the bus that never shows up, it doesn’t matter one bit of it’s free or paid.
MrRijkaard on
Okay, here’s the thing. The people who are more likely to swtich to using public transport if it was free are people walking. It would get very few people out of cars.
The determining factor with public tranasport use isn’t price, it’s *time*.
Even if the public transport options are there and even if they are free, people will still drive if the journey time is three to four time quicker than the public transport equivelant.
In Dublin at present, the bus (the most widely available PT option) is often slower than cylcing. The only way you get people out of cars in the city is by building fast, reliable luas and metro lines all across the city (RIP Metro West)
fullmoonbeam on
if it was free frequent convenient clean and went where I wanted, yes.
Fearless_Respond_123 on
It’s more important that it’s reliable. In a lot of places you don’t know if the bus is going to show up at all or, if it does, will it be on time and get me to where I need to go on time. I’d like to know if making it free would improve the service though. One of the things that causes the buses to be late is the amount of time it takes for people to board and scan their leap card.
dano1066 on
If public transport was more available I’d use it more. It’s like 1 euro for me to get into the city, price isn’t an obstacle for me. Also more bus lanes would also help. If I have to pay 2 euro to get a more frequent and reliable service I would
OwlOfC1nder on
Locally, no, I think it’s very affordable. I would use it more if it was more reliable, it’s already cheap.
Travelling across the country, absolutely I would. It costs me about 40 euro in fuel to drive myself and any passengers from Galway to Dublin and back and the bus costs about 35 per person. Train costs more. If either of them we’re free I would never drive
Kier_C on
It’s already very cheap. I’d much prefer they use the money to improve the service instead of giving everyone a cheaper fare
WeDoingThisAgainRWe on
Sorry but this question is the wrong question. The cost isn’t what’s prohibiting most people. It’s the routes and the times. You could make stewed dog turd free in every restaurant. It’s not going to be come your best seller.
x-Ice-Queen-x on
I only use public transport as a last resort if I absolutely have too. My issue with public transport isn’t cost, it’s safety.
CascaydeWave on
I’d support this for local busses maybe but probably not for trains, as the latter are often full enough as is.
The solution to car traffic is creating realistic alternatives.
drsteelhammerIE on
Public transport is pretty much at peak capacity during work travel times. If we had a significant increase in passengers it would become completely unusable.
mrpcuddles on
If i want to take over two hours to get somewhere near my job at times completely inconsistent with my job then maybe. For a lot of people, it just doesn’t make sense to use.
My workplace did a survey of transport used to get to the office, less than 27% are using public transport to get to an office in the city.
26% use both cars and public transport, 43% use cars and 3% walk / cycle.
Theres a few hundred in the office rotating through days.
Particular_Olive_904 on
At the moment it’s costing me roughly the same to drive to the office or get public transport. Whilst driving was proving quicker that has changed this year so making ti free would tip it for me
Jacksonriverboy on
No. I live in South Kildare and work in a place that’s awkward/unviable to get to with public transport. Also karting two small kids around on buses and trams etc. sounds like a nightmare. There’s loads of people who would switch if public transport was available and free. But the government should understand that many people use cars out of necessity and stop punishing motorists.
2012NYCnyc on
I like the extra personal space of a car
If we had a LUAS in Cork I’d definitely use that
ClassicVaultBoy on
No, I think Dublin transport needs more money to offer a better service. It should follow other cities with cheaper yearly and monthly tickets to favour frequent users, increase revenue and help people commit to public transport.
Shouldhavejustsaidno on
Cost doesn’t matter I’d use it more if I could rely on it, my daughter gets a bus from after school study and it’s frequently late delaying her or leaving her to walk half an hour in the rain
Unique-Mixture2054 on
NO
OisinT on
I have no issue paying for good public transportation. I have an issue paying more for what we currently have
Closersolid on
If the buses were able to use some of the parts of the m50 that would be incredible to be honest. If you want to get from one day Tallaght to ballymun in a car it can take about 20 minutes on the motorway on a good day, now think how that would look on a bus.
Switchingboi on
The former Green Party minister for transport basically said “ignore we make it free, people will only use it”… while saying we need to incentives its use in other places… party of hypocrites.
I would use it more if it was free, and would feel a lot less pissed off is a bus is cancelled, over crowded or late, because I’d feel “im not paying for it”…
Best way to actually incentives use however would be on time, dependable and fast services, which we just don’t have…
Route optimisation is needed, the bus I use has section where there’s a stop less than 200m from the previous one… and another less than 200m from that, in turn, whats maybe a 30 minute car journey becomes an hour-1.5hours depending on traffic, etc.
The drivers are often just bad people… saw one literally close the door as a woman was running to the stop, wait for her to get to the door, she tapped on it, he smiled at her and pulled off… leaving a young one by herself at about 10pm… Wrote to Dublin bus and got a generic response about how “if someone isn’t at the stop thats their fault”, ignoring the fact he waited just to see her get there then leave.
Ive seen bus drivers bully other road users left right and centre which is another issue, saw one use a right turn declaration lane to overtake about 5 cars in traffic and go straight from it… either their training is shocking or they aren’t being monitored properly.
The amount of them that stop PAST the bus stop, even in a quiet area where they’re the only one around, they pull up past it and then slam on the brakes, this isn’t exactly making people happy with the service being provided.
RedIceBreaker on
I used to live somewhere where the bus was not only free, but also frequent. I could track exactly where it was on the app map, and even get an alert when it was X stops away, so I’d have time to walk to the bus stop. The bus also had a bike rack on the front.
Basically I never drove in the town, anywhere, with the exception of times I had to buy something bulky. I’d take the bus at least twice a day. It was phenomenal, and made life there a good chunk easier.
34 commenti
Yes. Next?
It doesn’t need to be free but it could be super cheap like Vienna. Euro a day for unlimited use if you buy an annual pass for within the city.
The quality of service need to continue to increase though.
Currently in Luxembourg enjoying free trams, buses, and trains.
Free public transport here since March 2020.
Public transport is already at capacity at peak times as it is, offering it for free without increasing capacity, which requires long-term infrastructural investment, will just exasperate the issue.
I don’t drive, so already use it. I wouldn’t mind paying a nominal fee like in Germany to get a monthly or yearly pass for cheap, but as it stands because I need to use 2 different cities plus express way, I spend a couple of grand a year on it.
No. Because I live in the countryside so there is no public transport.
Being on time and dependable (buses!) would be more of an incentive than being free.
I use the DART but i think for buses the ghost bus issue is a huge problem.
Probably not
Probably not. It’s already reasonably priced in my opinion. I live in a rural area and don’t have much use for it.
The money is not the issue. The inconsistency and overcrowding however …..
I’ve made this point in multiple threads about public transport whenever the topic of free public transport comes up. Price is not the barrier, it’s utility. No one is thinking to themselves “I won’t take public transport to work today it’s too expensive, instead I’ll take my more expensive car”, instead the issue is public transport either doesn’t serve their journey, doesn’t serve their journey in an acceptable timeframe, or is not reliable enough to take to something important like a job or appointment. To make public transport free would be very costly, if you took the same money you’d spend on free transport and invested it into new infrastructure, more staff, better vehicles or expanding services then you begin to alleviate some of the pain points i mentioned above that actually stop people from using PT, and you have the bonus of if you increase ridership then you increase the income of PT which allows it to fund more of itself freeing up budget for further expansion
If the bus that never shows up, it doesn’t matter one bit of it’s free or paid.
Okay, here’s the thing. The people who are more likely to swtich to using public transport if it was free are people walking. It would get very few people out of cars.
The determining factor with public tranasport use isn’t price, it’s *time*.
Even if the public transport options are there and even if they are free, people will still drive if the journey time is three to four time quicker than the public transport equivelant.
In Dublin at present, the bus (the most widely available PT option) is often slower than cylcing. The only way you get people out of cars in the city is by building fast, reliable luas and metro lines all across the city (RIP Metro West)
if it was free frequent convenient clean and went where I wanted, yes.
It’s more important that it’s reliable. In a lot of places you don’t know if the bus is going to show up at all or, if it does, will it be on time and get me to where I need to go on time. I’d like to know if making it free would improve the service though. One of the things that causes the buses to be late is the amount of time it takes for people to board and scan their leap card.
If public transport was more available I’d use it more. It’s like 1 euro for me to get into the city, price isn’t an obstacle for me. Also more bus lanes would also help. If I have to pay 2 euro to get a more frequent and reliable service I would
Locally, no, I think it’s very affordable. I would use it more if it was more reliable, it’s already cheap.
Travelling across the country, absolutely I would. It costs me about 40 euro in fuel to drive myself and any passengers from Galway to Dublin and back and the bus costs about 35 per person. Train costs more. If either of them we’re free I would never drive
It’s already very cheap. I’d much prefer they use the money to improve the service instead of giving everyone a cheaper fare
Sorry but this question is the wrong question. The cost isn’t what’s prohibiting most people. It’s the routes and the times. You could make stewed dog turd free in every restaurant. It’s not going to be come your best seller.
I only use public transport as a last resort if I absolutely have too. My issue with public transport isn’t cost, it’s safety.
I’d support this for local busses maybe but probably not for trains, as the latter are often full enough as is.
The solution to car traffic is creating realistic alternatives.
Public transport is pretty much at peak capacity during work travel times. If we had a significant increase in passengers it would become completely unusable.
If i want to take over two hours to get somewhere near my job at times completely inconsistent with my job then maybe. For a lot of people, it just doesn’t make sense to use.
My workplace did a survey of transport used to get to the office, less than 27% are using public transport to get to an office in the city.
26% use both cars and public transport, 43% use cars and 3% walk / cycle.
Theres a few hundred in the office rotating through days.
At the moment it’s costing me roughly the same to drive to the office or get public transport. Whilst driving was proving quicker that has changed this year so making ti free would tip it for me
No. I live in South Kildare and work in a place that’s awkward/unviable to get to with public transport. Also karting two small kids around on buses and trams etc. sounds like a nightmare. There’s loads of people who would switch if public transport was available and free. But the government should understand that many people use cars out of necessity and stop punishing motorists.
I like the extra personal space of a car
If we had a LUAS in Cork I’d definitely use that
No, I think Dublin transport needs more money to offer a better service. It should follow other cities with cheaper yearly and monthly tickets to favour frequent users, increase revenue and help people commit to public transport.
Cost doesn’t matter I’d use it more if I could rely on it, my daughter gets a bus from after school study and it’s frequently late delaying her or leaving her to walk half an hour in the rain
NO
I have no issue paying for good public transportation. I have an issue paying more for what we currently have
If the buses were able to use some of the parts of the m50 that would be incredible to be honest. If you want to get from one day Tallaght to ballymun in a car it can take about 20 minutes on the motorway on a good day, now think how that would look on a bus.
The former Green Party minister for transport basically said “ignore we make it free, people will only use it”… while saying we need to incentives its use in other places… party of hypocrites.
I would use it more if it was free, and would feel a lot less pissed off is a bus is cancelled, over crowded or late, because I’d feel “im not paying for it”…
Best way to actually incentives use however would be on time, dependable and fast services, which we just don’t have…
Route optimisation is needed, the bus I use has section where there’s a stop less than 200m from the previous one… and another less than 200m from that, in turn, whats maybe a 30 minute car journey becomes an hour-1.5hours depending on traffic, etc.
The drivers are often just bad people… saw one literally close the door as a woman was running to the stop, wait for her to get to the door, she tapped on it, he smiled at her and pulled off… leaving a young one by herself at about 10pm… Wrote to Dublin bus and got a generic response about how “if someone isn’t at the stop thats their fault”, ignoring the fact he waited just to see her get there then leave.
Ive seen bus drivers bully other road users left right and centre which is another issue, saw one use a right turn declaration lane to overtake about 5 cars in traffic and go straight from it… either their training is shocking or they aren’t being monitored properly.
The amount of them that stop PAST the bus stop, even in a quiet area where they’re the only one around, they pull up past it and then slam on the brakes, this isn’t exactly making people happy with the service being provided.
I used to live somewhere where the bus was not only free, but also frequent. I could track exactly where it was on the app map, and even get an alert when it was X stops away, so I’d have time to walk to the bus stop. The bus also had a bike rack on the front.
Basically I never drove in the town, anywhere, with the exception of times I had to buy something bulky. I’d take the bus at least twice a day. It was phenomenal, and made life there a good chunk easier.