Q: Seemingly one of the biggest issues facing Ireland at this moment is out competitiveness in the global marketplace. Iarnrod Eireann charge €21.50 for a single train journey from Portlaoise to Dublin at 6:30am on a Monday morning. This seems wildly expensive to me and a disincentive for people to use public transport. What do you think?(Cormac, Hogan, Dublin) Iarnród Éireann offers a range of discount fares on its services, which are designed to offer considerable savings to regular customers, and to incentivise off-peak travel. Portlaoise is served by some Intercity services which can be booked online, and at 6.49hrs a service departs Portlaoise which offers a single fare of €10. The time of travel referenced however is the beginning of the busy morning peak, and Iarnród Éireann do not discount booking office single or return fares on the national network during these times due to the high demand from regular commuters. However, regular commuters can benefit from season tickets between Portlaoise and Dublin, with fares as follows offering unlimited travel during the "season" (weekly, monthly or annual): Adult weekly - €70
Adult Monthly - €259
Adult annual - €2590 Monthly or annual customers can avail of tax relief of up to 51% under the taxsaver scheme (www.taxsaver.ie) if their employer is registered. For an annual customer, this results in annual commuting costs of €1,269.10. For Monday to Friday travel and allowing for typical holidays, this results in a per journey cost of under €2.90 for what is an 82-kilometre journey. This cost of commuting is amongst the best value in Western Europe. Furthermore, after the morning peak (after 9.30hrs), when the vast majority of discretionary travel is undertaken, Iarnród Éireann offers a €10 day return fare from Portlaoise to Dublin from booking offices. Q: Are you satisfied with the job that the taxi regulator is doing?(Joe, Christie, Dublin) A: The Commission for Taxi Regulation (CTR) was established under the Taxi Regulation Act, 2003. The CTR has addressed or is in the process of addressing the issues, which the taxi industry has identified as requiring attention. The CTR is also pursuing, in follow up to the measures it announced in October last, a range of other measures to further improve taxi services. The Taxi Advisory Council has, I understand, endorsed the reform measures being pursued by the CTR and the CTR is working with representative groups to advance the implementation of the reform measures. In view of the foregoing, and having regard to the good progress being made, I would state that the Commissioner has my full support. |
