New zonal ticketing system for the Dublin Commuter Zone from Jun 1, 2025

This is a very welcome reduction in costs.

However I really wish they dropped the whole taxsaver part of it. First of all it isn't available to everyone, for instance not all companies operate it.

Also I think it is very unjust that lower paid workers pay more!

They should just make it €507 for everyone and drop the whole taxsaver element of it.

Yes and as a result, incredibly unjust.

Though I think it is much less valid these days. It use to be the case that only the very well paid could afford a car, but these days even lower paid people can often afford one, at least second hand. You also can get situations where one partner in a family is working part time due to child care and just falls under the lower rate due to the part time work, yet the family could still have and afford two cars, so they are still making the decision to drive or use public transport.

I think the whole concept is badly outdated and unjust.

A reminder that in Vienna an equivalent all service ticket costs just €365 per year and is available to everyone, non of this tax nonsense. Berlin's version of the same is €29 per month (€348 per year), available to all, no tax nonsense.

If you were introduce a €365 ticket like Vienna, imagine how great the advertising for that would be, unlimited travel for just €1 per day, available to all. Plaster that across every bus, bus stop, TV and radio ads!

Nice and simple. I believe this would really attract many out of cars.

Also people who work at companies who just don't bother participating in the scheme.

I'd argue the fact that lower paid workers pay more is based on the history of the scheme and isn't really valid any more. If they tried to introduce something like that today, I'd say they would get crucified for how unjust it is.

Remember how the free travel scheme use to be only for offpeak travel, the mostly elderly people kicked up a stink about that being unfair and the FT scheme was then extended to all day use. I think this is a similar case and the government should be crucified for it.

I'm also well into the higher tax bracket and work from home, so doesn't really impact me, but I still think the scheme is very poorly designed, inaccessible and unfair.

Imagine they dropped the tax side of it and just made these tickets cheap and accessible to all. Now imagine you could just decide, I'll be using PT a lot next month, I'll buy a monthly ticket for just one month for €29 (like in Berlin) and have it immediately applied to my existing leap card (or phone in future).

No need to mess around contacting your employer, hoping they participate in the scheme, filling in forms with them, waiting for the card to arrive, etc.

This sort of thing needs to be made simple and accessible as possible.

This system is okay, but I wouldn't call it the most equitable system. That would be the Amsterdam system, which basically charges per km travelled.

It is has a flat fee for when you board the bus, something like €1 and then 20c per km after that.

So if you travel just 2km, you pay €1.40, while someone travelling 10km pays €3, etc.

It avoids unfairness like someone getting on a DART at Skerries and travelling to Clontarf Road, paying far more then someone getting on at Rush & Lusk and going all the way to Bray!

Of course our buses aren't setup to handle an Amsterdam type system (no tag-off), so this is the "best" we can do given the circumstances.

EDIT: Yes, I see that the Dublin Commuter zone fare is sort of like the Amsterdam fare model, based on distance travelled, sort of.

I've a strong hunch that the issue is actually comes down to which governments departments budget it comes out of at the moment. I believe the taxsaver discount comes out of the Department of Finances budget, as it is basically forgoing income tax revenue. If they were to drop the taxsaver element and switch to just a subsidised fare, it would instead come out of the Dep of Transports budget. Of course in the end that doesn't really matter it is all coming out of the same pot of tax payers money in the end, but there can be lots of infighting between departments about budgets like this.