‘Equip Cork fleet first with contactless payments’, says city councillor

“Other European cities are already light years ahead of us,” said one local councillor as he called on the National Transport Authority (NTA) to equip public transport in Cork with contactless payments first.

The NTA has confirmed that steps are being taken to roll out the system across the country.

An NTA spokesperson has said: “Next Generation Ticketing (NGT) will replace the aging legacy Leap card system nationally, extending capability in this area to include, for example, contactless payments and modern fare management and account management services.”

The procurement was conducted on the basis of establishing a single supplier framework agreement to enable the NTA to appoint a ticketing technology solutions partner for an initial period of 10 years with an option to extend to a maximum term of 20 years.

The NTA has appointed Spanish company Indra as a transport technology ticketing service provider which was “conducted in full compliance with EU Public Procurement regulations”.

Labour councillor for the South East ward Peter Horgan has called on the NTA to equip the Cork fleet first with contactless payments in an effort to increase the speed of onboarding

“The Dublin fleet already has faster onboarding with their leap car kiosks based within the bus, not just with the driver,” said Mr Horgan.

The councillor has advised that, at present, Dublin already benefits from better transport infrastructure such as the Luas, Dart, and Leap card kiosks.

He said: “Equipping the Cork fleet first is crucial as we face into congestion after congestion here in Cork, compounded in areas like Douglas, Carrigaline, and Ballincollig. We need to show how easy it can be to pay and board the bus with your card on your phone or with your debit card. Other European cities are already light years ahead of us on that technology.”

The NTA said the scheme will be rolled out in Dublin first. A spokesperson said: “Following the signing of the framework agreement, the NTA is working on a first set of call-off contracts to deliver initially a solution for the Greater Dublin Area covering buses, trams, trains, and commuter buses, a large proportion of which is part of the overall BusConnects Programme for Dublin.”