Minister O’Brien must never lose his LEAP card – 2029 for obvious infrastructure ridiculous
Minister O’Brien must never lose his LEAP card - 2029 for obvious infrastructure ridiculous - The Labour Party
Labour’s transport spokesperson Ciaran Ahern has slammed the failure of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to prioritise the rollout of contactless payment on public transport in Dublin.
Following the Minister’s appearance at the Oireachtas Committee on Transport today, Deputy Ahern said introducing next generation ticketing is a no brainer, and should not take over four years to roll out.
Deputy Ahern said:
“This is not a new issue that the Department is just waking up to. The Labour Party has long called for the introduction of contactless payment for public transport. In November 2019, the National Transport Authority said that they would hope that contactless payments could be brought in by 2027. However, responses received to me by Parliamentary Questions show this is going to be delayed until the end of this decade.
“Where is the political attention on this? It’s such obvious low-hanging fruit to make everyone’s lives easier, but as we have seen time and again, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are utterly incapable of delivering timely public infrastructure.
“Since contactless payments were introduced on Transport for London services over a decade years ago, over 50% of customers now use this service over the Oyster card or cash payments. I’ve no doubt the interest would be here in Ireland for this service too.
“Not only has cash become less frequently used across society, even the use of physical cards is on the decline given that most smartphones have a payment function. Carrying around a LEAP card is really a thing of the past.
“That’s not to mention the massive inconvenience it causes for people who don’t live in Dublin but who want to use public transport to get around the city. Without a LEAP card, they are unable to avail of the 90 minute fare, discounted rates, and too often, find themselves squabbling with bus drivers when they don’t have change on them.
“Vending machines have been fitted with contactless payment, Churches use contactless payment for donations, it really beggars belief that commuters could be waiting until 2029 to be able to use their cards to pay for transport daily.”