STILL NO TIMEFRAME FOR CONTACTLESS TICKETS AND MALLOW-CORK FARE CHANGE

Cork East TD Seán Sherlock has said that the Ministers for Transport and Public Expenditure must make the approvals needed to kick-start Next Generation Ticketing and the Mallow-Cork fare change needed to bolster public transport across North Cork.

“Once again, I wrote to the Minister for Transport on this matter that will encourage higher usage of public transport across North Cork and on the Mallow-Cork commuter train line,” Deputy Sherlock said.

“The NTA have indicated the decision to fully realise its ambitions in Next Generation Ticketing lies with the minister. This would not just benefit North Cork, but the whole State public transport system. We are lagging behind our European neighbours in this area. The Coalition must approve the funding to kickstart public transport ticketing reform”.

Deputy Sherlock also questioned the delay from the Department in introducing the Public Service Obligation funding to ensure the fare structure changes on the Mallow-Cork rail service.

“We’ve heard Government representatives say that the money is not there to support this fare change”, Deputy Sherlock said. “We need more desire for reform and less excuses. The decision lies with the Government parties now to encourage more public transport usage and incentivise commuters on the Mallow-Cork line at a fair price. If Greystones to Connolly can maintain a fair ticketing system, then Mallow-Cork can also.”

In response to Deputy Sherlock’s parliamentary questions, Chief Executive of the NTA, Ann Graham noted: ‘The public procurement competition for the Next Generation Ticketing (NGT) project has commenced and the evaluation process to identify a short list of potential bidders to be invited to tender is nearing completion. In parallel the preliminary business case has been developed’.