While many might have thought that contactless payments on Irish public transport should already be in place, the technology is still a long way off.
That’s according to testimony that has been given by the Minister for Transport Darragh O'Brien.
Speaking in the Oireachtas, the Minister said it won’t be until 2029 that the country's public transport networks will have contactless payments.
Fine Gael TD for Dublin Fingal West Grace Boland told The Hard Shoulder that she is concerned an “over-engineering” of the system is slowing its progress.
“We’ve all been to capital cities around Europe, it’s so simple to use public transport,” she said.
“We’re trying to encourage more people to use public transport, we have to make it easier.
“If we look at Milan, a city the similar size of Dublin, they made the decision in 2017 to do contactless payments.
“They had it procured and rolled out on the Metro by 2019 and a full rollout on buses, trams and trolley buses by 2020, all for a reported cost of about €30 to €50 million.”
A person taps a smartphone to an OMNY contactless payment reader on a NYC Transit bus. Image: Robert K. Chin / Alamy. 2023.Deputy Boland said the Government must ensure that “we’re getting value for money”.
“We’re trying to be ambitious and bring in a next generation ticketing system, but actually, this has been mooted since 2018, even longer,” she said.
“We need the NTA (National Transport Authority) to sit down and actually look and see if this is fit for purpose; we need a simple, efficient system.
“We have had [the NTA] in at the Oireachtas Transport Committee and I’m also on the Public Accounts Committee and I’ve requested specifically that they come in and talk to us in September about this.”
According to Deputy Boland, “the reason it hasn’t been delivered is it’s taken too long for the NTA to get through procurement, to actually set out a plan as to what we’re trying to deliver here.”
Main image: Contactless Payment with Smartphone on Public Transport Validator. Image: Alfons Moles Juny / Alamy.
