Government urged to adopt unlimited €9 public transport ticket

The Government is being urged to adopt the Labour Party’s proposals of a €9 public transport ticket for unlimited travel to encourage more people onto public transport and take cars off the road.

The call comes as new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and the Census shows that 12,044 people travel to work by car and a further 634 travel to school or college by car in the Cork City South East area alone.

Some 1,185 people in the Cork City South East area travel by bus, minibus, or coach to work and 1,450 travel by bus, minibus, or coach to school or college.

The figures show that 3,529 people in the Cork City South East area travel to work, school, or college on foot and 846 people travel to work, school or college by bicycle.

Labour local area representative in Cork City South East Ward Peter Horgan said that a “radical change” is needed to achieve emissions targets and that the introduction of a €9 public transport ticket could encourage more people to use public transport.

“A radical overhaul of school transport could take thousands of cars off the road in the south-east ward that currently sees significant traffic in Douglas and Blackrock,” Mr Horgan said.

“Radical change is needed to achieve our necessary emissions reduction targets, and to build an Ireland that works.”

Mr Horgan said the Labour Climate Ticket is costed and said it should be trialled in Cork city by the Government in the forthcoming budget.

“The introduction of a monthly climate ticket with unlimited travel could get people out of their cars and onto trains, buses, and trams, just like [a] trial carried out in Germany last year,” he said.