Half price travel available to even more students as college resumes around Ireland

Students and adult passengers aged between 18 and 25 can now enjoy half price fares on public transport.

The Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan has announced that extended fare discounts for young adults are now live so that 24 and 25 year olds can also avail of 50% fares on public transport.  

This latest expansion means that those aged between 18 and 25 years and full-time third levels students aged 16 and above, can travel half price on all PSO and participating commercial bus operator services, making Ireland one of the best value public transport countries in Europe for young people.

Speaking about today’s announcement, Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan said: "This is really good news for those aged 24 and 25-years-of-age, who can now also avail of half price fares on their public transport journeys on all PSO and participating commercial services. We are seeing big increases in public transport passenger numbers and this is being led by young people in particular who are using our buses and trains more to get to and from college, training, sports facilities or just to meet up with friends in their local towns. With this extension, it also means that more young people who may be staring along their work paths can also enjoy lower cost travel.

“Fare initiatives such as this extended Young Adult Card, the Student Leap Card, the 90-minute-fare, and the 20% average fare reduction for all adults on PSO services are making a marked difference to people’s individual travel costs, but also to our collective ambition to reduce emissions from transport and to help reduce congestion in our cities and towns,” he said.

These additional discounts come alongside a 20% fare reduction for all who choose to travel by public transport alongside significant investment in new public transport developments through projects like BusConnects and expansions to the DART system.

Sustainable transport options are being improved through rural communities with 62 new and enhanced bus services launched in 2023 – more than one a week.  These exciting developments will help to further support those who choose a shift away from car use and help to reduce Ireland’s transport emissions. 

These combined transport initiatives are said to be having a significant impact on increased passenger numbers. Bus passenger numbers overall are up approximately 15% on 2022 with passenger numbers on Connecting Ireland rural services surging to about 106% over 2022 figures.