Restrictions on the use of free travel passes will be lifted next month, Minister for Social and Family Affairs Seamus Brennan announced today.
Some 600,000 people hold free passes for public transport but they cannot be used at peak times. Around 430,000 travel pass holders are pensioners while the rest are made up of 145,000 disabled people and 25,000 carers.
The restrictions have been in place since the passes were introduced in 1967. Mr Brennan today said that from Monday, September 25 th,the passes will be valid at all times.
The scheme, which has been in operation for 40 years and costs €58.3 million, will see an end to restrictions on free travel between on Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann city services in Cork and Limerick.
The limit applies from Monday to Friday between 7 and 9am; and 4.30 and 6.30 pm. There is also a restriction on Friday evening travel from 4pm to 7pm within a 20 mile radius of Dublin, Cork and Limerick.
"The lifting of all travel restrictions at peak time will benefit tens of thousands of people who up to now have been severely curtailed in the times they have been allowed to travel," Mr Brennan said.
He said the decision was being taken for social reasons. He explained that it would be a "contradiction" for the Government to continue its policy of encouraging people to work beyond 65 or to remain otherwise active to limit the times at which they could travel.
"The lifting of these restrictions is designed to reflect improved longevity and the fact that more and more people of retirement age choose to continue to work or, in other ways, to continue to make a valuable contribution to society," he said.
"A 66 or 70-year-old is as entitled to be on the bus going about their business as a 25-year-old who has an equally important agenda."
Mr Brennan said he expected the affect of lifting restrictions would have on already congested public transport would be minor.
The Government currently pays €48.5 million to the CIE group and a further €10 million to private bus operators for free travel for pass holders. The Minister said the exact figures were unavailable, but he envisaged the expansion will cost around €2 million per year.
Mr Brennan said the Government was also working on an All-Ireland free travel proposal and was considering the introduction of a similar scheme between Ireland and Britain.
Fine Gael's transport spokeswoman Olivia Mitchell warned that new buses must be provided in urban areas to prevent major problems for commuters. "Dublin Bus has been starved of extra vehicles for so long that its services are already overloaded during rush hour, while many areas of the city do not have any services at all," she said. "Unless new buses are provided, the extension of the free travel scheme will be a meaningless gesture, because it is unlikely that anyone qualifying will be able to get on a bus at peak times."
