Lower fares on way for Meath commuters

The new national fare strategy, which will see lower fares for commuters in Meath, is set to be introduced in the new year.

The National Transport Authority (NTA) published its National Fares Strategy, which includes a new commuter zone taking in areas such as Drogheda, Laytown, Navan, Trim, Enfield and Summerhill, last May and the fares will now be introduced in the first quarter of the new year.

The news has been warmly welcomed by Cllr Sharon Tolan who launched a major campaign which resulted in 20 per cent of submissions to the public consultation on the Draft Transport Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area, supporting her call for restructured fares.

She had been calling for a restructure of the fare on the Northern Line from Dublin to Drogheda, which includes Laytown, for a number of years and ramped up her campaign ahead of the public consultation last year.

She has now been told the new fare structure will be introduced in the first quarter of 2024.

“This is great news, I am still waiting to see how much the savings will be, but I am sure it will be significant. The NTA acknowledged the huge fare disparity that existed.

“I am pleased that the NTA chose to use my suggestion of creating a new Outer Dublin Commuter Zone.

“Two new zones will now be created, Dublin City Zone which will extend approximately 23km from the city in all directions, and the Outer Dublin Commuter Zone extending to approximately 50km from Dublin City centre, which will include towns such as Drogheda, Navan, Trim, Enfield, Clane, Prosperous, Newbridge, Kildare, Greystones and Wicklow.

“Addressing the fare disparity that exists outside of Dublin must be a priority in order to support commuters, encourage more people to use public transport and reduce our carbon emissions.”

The NTA has said the new structure has been designed to ensure that the cost per kilometre travelled is “consistent across the country”, which is not currently the case. The NTA also stated that the new strategy will deliver both “political and commercial aspirations around better value, greater transparency and equality in respect of journey distance”. Cllr Tolan said: “It is a campaign that I fought long and hard but I am delighted with the result.

“I am absolutely delighted to have got support from Ministers, MEPS, TD’s, fellow councillors and most importantly the public.

“I am looking forward to seeing the details and its introduction in the new year.”