Validators on Cork buses will need to be replaced by 2028

Validator machines recently installed on Cork buses will have to be removed and replaced in as little as two years’ time.

Some 220 validators, designed to save time by allowing passengers to tap their Leap Card on a pole near the entry door rather than going to the driver, were rolled out last week after missing two deadlines in September 2025 and the first quarter of this year.

The delays were due to testing identifying that the speed and resilience was “less than expected”, after the machines had been purchased for €360,000.

These validators are a different model to the machines used in Dublin, where the hardware has been in place for many years, leading some to speculate that the machines were also capable of accepting contactless payments from bank cards or phones. 

This infrastructure is part of the Next Generation Ticketing (NGT) project currently being progressed by the National Transport Authority (NTA), which said last month that contactless payments would be rolled out in Dublin in 2028, and only then would it begin the process of introducing them in Cork and elsewhere.

Since 2020, €35.6m has been spent on the project.

Can't accept bank cards

A NTA spokesperson said: “The validators recently fitted on buses in Cork are not capable of accepting bank cards.

“But even if they were, that capability wouldn’t be of much use without the EMV back-office system, merchant acquiring systems, and end-to-end PCI security accreditation that would be required.”

They said that work on designing and manufacturing validators and other required ticketing equipment “is well under way”, and in 2027 customers in the greater Dublin area will start to see some of these validators installed for testing purposes.

“In 2028 contactless payments by debit/credit card, phone, and bank card will become a reality on a phased basis in the greater Dublin area, and will be rolled out nationally from 2028 onwards,” they said.

The spokesperson confirmed that the Cork validators will be taken off the buses at this point.

“When NGT is rolled out in Cork, those Axio devices will be swapped out and re-used elsewhere in the network.”

It comes as a temporary bus depot — built to allow for electric chargers to be installed at the current depot at Capwell — is set to open in Cork next month, more than a year behind schedule.

The temporary depot, which cost €17m, has to be demolished by the end of 2030.