Plans for '90-minute tickets' in Cork city welcomed

A ‘90-MINUTE TICKET’ designed to reduce public transport costs and to create a more efficient and integrated public transport system is expected to be introduced in Cork in 2025.

The fare system is already in place in Dublin and allows passengers free transfer between Dublin Bus, Luas and most DART, commuter rail and Go-Ahead Ireland services in Dublin within 90 minutes of initial touch on.

The National Transport Authority (NTA) intend to introduce a similar arrangement in Cork as part of the BusConnects Cork project.

New fare to allow passengers move between bus and rail 

This new fare will cover all bus and rail trips started within 90 minutes, including changes between one bus and another, and from bus to rail, including the future Cork Luas system.

The NTA could not confirm an exact implementation date but informed Green Party councillor, Oliver Moran that they expect it to be 2025.

The authority further confirmed to Mr Moran that the new bus network for the city will transition to an "account based" ticketing system, replacing Leap card technology, which was designed more than 15 years ago.

The NTA stated that a procurement competition is currently underway to award a contract to develop and implement the new ticketing system with the intention to award the contract by the end of this year.

An exact timeline for delivery will be established once the successful contractor is appointed, but it is likely to take three years to roll out the system.

The NTA said this is a major IT project with an overall capital cost in the region of €200m, which will involve the replacement of all ticketing equipment on the full bus fleet, integrated with other systems such as Real Time Passenger Information.

"The benefit here is simplifying the ticketing system for transport users, not having to worry about changing buses and even swapping between bus and rail as part of one journey," Green Party councillor Oliver Moran said, welcoming the confirmation. “Improved ticketing systems help with boarding times, too.

“The biggest source of delays for buses after traffic congestion is the delay in boarding at bus stops.” 

The new ticketing system will coincide with the roll out of the new bus network for the city which is expected to be fully implemented before the end of 2025.

“Upgrades to the commuter rail service to enable high-frequency rail and new stations in Blackpool and Blarney are also expected to be ready in 2026,” Mr Moran said.

The new fare structure, he said, will be on top of a reduction in fares that have already been introduced.

“Cork City Council has also sought that some element of free public transport would be trialled as part of the BusConnects launch.

“That could be used to promote the use of public transport to support wider aspects of the city's life outside of the daily commute.”