Chiede di rendere gratuiti i trasporti pubblici per contribuire a risparmiare carburante mentre i prezzi dell’energia salgono
https://www.thejournal.ie/opposition-tds-call-for-public-transport-to-be-made-free-as-energy-prices-soar-7001930-Apr2026
di conalldoherty
30 commenti
With the same service?
Absolutely nuts
If people already aren’t taking public transport where it’s already more convenient to do so, making it free is not going to make any difference to anyone other than those that already take it.
And it’ll be a cost to the state on top of being an administrative nightmare.
There’s already been studies on this.
People want better public transport, not free public transport.
Just invest in better services.
Excellent, sitting on the roof is going to be legal.
If it’s good enough for the sellers and commuters of Mumbai then it’s good enough for you.
Ever tried to get on the Red LUAS between 7am and 8am? They should pay me for putting up with that…..
This whole idea makes no sense. Anyone using public transport isn’t effected by these rises. Anyone thinking of switching to public transport isn’t held back by the 2 euro cost. This money should be much better spent helping people suffering, like those who can’t avail of public transport and are getting crippled with fuel costs.
I can take a bus into town for €2, or a train for €2.60. The disincentive is not the cost; it’s that the bus might not exist, and if I miss the train I might be waiting up to an hour for the next one.
Cost isn’t stopping people from using public transport.
The government will almost never make something free lol
I don’t drive because it’s cheaper lmao
Buses etc are already rammed and unreliable as it is. This would make it 10x worse.
They’d need to put on additional services which they likely won’t do.
Making it usable is more important tbh.
Every time an opposition politician wants to make some easy headlines without bringing controversy upon themselves they pull this nonsense policy suggestion out of their arse.
We don’t need cheaper public transport. For the most part, for most people within commuting range of the jobs (imagine some more qualifiers here to avoid the traditional “sure I live on a bog on an island off the coast of the Aran Islands and the local bus only comes once a month, I need my car, stop your wokeism suggesting I get the bus” comments) what stops them getting public transport isn’t cost, it’s reliability, frequency, and the transport actually going where they need to go.
Whats always missing in these conversations is lack of capacity at peak times , clearly proposed by people who obviously never use Public Transport ……until you address that you are howling at the moon
A full bus currently full of paying users will just be a full bus full of non paying users ….ditto the Dart and every commuter train that passes my station
I have no public transport availabile to me yet support these calls 100%. Id much rather my tax go towards decarbonisation than paying fines for missing our climate targets.
It would also reduce traffic on the roads for the days I do need to drive to the office.
Invest more into active travel also.
The cost is already very low, it is much cheaper than owning and running a private car. Time is the determining factor not cost and unless there is a continued expansion in public transport that links more areas together, making it gree.wont tempt people out of cars and onto buses
The already very low fare isn’t the thing preventing people from taking public transport. It’s people thinking they’re too good for public transport.
Whats the point of making it free when its utter shite and unreliable? Another bandaid solution to a dam leak.
They will do literally anything but address a problem at it’s core. Just make our transport reliable. It’s already comically unreliable.
I have had the misfortune of using public transport around ten times this year so far and in all instances, the bus or train was late. I can’t even imagine how frustrating it is for people who rely on it twice a day.
Calls from some gobshite who wants a headline not an actual solution
Public transport still runs on fossil fuel though.
Edit: Why are you downvoting, this is something that will be paid for eventually in your taxes if it’s free at point of service.
I believe we do need to get majority of our energy from wind solar and water and use batteries, the benefits are insurmountable.
Free transport is gonna make fuck all difference to people who don’t have feasible transport options. Keep the ticket revenue, improve transport services.
Waste of time when public transport is so bad already
This is realistically not a short term spike in fuel prices, it is going to be with us for a long time. Therefore the government should deal with it by funding shovel ready projects which will reduce fuel demand in the long term, eg. Cork/Galway/Waterford BusConnects, Dart South West and so on and so on.
Making public transport free will just make an already over capacity service worse for users who really need it by flooding it with people who have other options.
I would happily pay double for public transport if it was reliable and safe. Making it free means nothing to me as the bus won’t be there when I need it
Some bus routes already run at capacity at certain times of the day. NTA won’t allow Dublin Bus to run extra buses(nor do they have the drivers to do it) so what’s the actual point of free buses?
So buses, trains and trams are currently at breaking point at peak times morning and evening and this is with customers paying. How does unleashing an influx of additional passengers (cos services are free) help the situation?
Our brilliant minister for transport already refused to provide additional funding for new services this year, with the next proposed rounds of busconnects postponed til 2027. The gutless, inept government also reduced pt funding from 3:1 in favour of public transport, to parity with road funding in the budget to appease Lowry and the gombeen crew.
I use the bus to-from city daily and often takes 2 buses (and up to 40 mins waiting) passing me full before I manage to wedge myself on one.
This idea sounds great if you don’t know how oversubscribed the services already are.
Increase the 2 euro hop on hop of 90 min fare. Possibly the greatest thing the Green Party did. It’s a great initiative.
Doubt we have the capacity if it was made free.