JAmes Howard: you are right. In many respects the Free Travel scheme is administered in a completely shambolic way as far as the CIE companies are concerned. Basically it is now a lump-sum payment, so the marginal revenue to Irish Rail from more passengers is zero. The transport companies should be paid for each over-65 they carry: not a lot , just to cover at least the marginal costs of off-peak passengers. Over-65s should have only limited access to peak services.
Needless to say there there is total political cowardice when it comes to these issues. MAybe I can't blame the politicians too much when I can guess how the whingeing media would react.
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