[Colm Moore]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...307766259.html

Integrated ticketing for Dublin transport due within weeks
TIM O'BRIEN

MORE THAN nine years and €48 million after it was first proposed, public transport users in Dublin are expected to be able to buy integrated transport tickets “within weeks”.

The project, which has a total budget of €55 million, will eventually enable public transport users to make complex journeys utilising Dublin Bus, Dart, Iarnród Éireann, Luas and Bus Éireann services – but that is not expected to happen until mid-2012.

Launching the latest phase of testing yesterday the National Transport Authority said 500 commuters will be offered €20 in free travel to take part in a public trial of the integrated ticket, to be known as the “Leap card”.

The €20 free tickets will be available to the first 500 consumers who log on to the authority’s website integratedticketing.ie from this morning. The card will be valid for travel on Dublin Bus, Luas, Dart and Iarnród Éireann suburban services. Bus Éireann services are expected to be added by next summer.

Leap cards will also allow discounts on the normal cash fare ticket prices on Luas and Iarnród Éireann, but not Dublin Bus. The authority said it was always planned to deploy the card in a phased basis.

Early next year it is hoped that users of season tickets and multiple journey cards will be able to use Leap cards and private bus operators are also expected to be ultimately involved.

Integrated ticketing was first put forward in 2002 by then minister for public enterprise Mary O’Rourke. She said she wanted to see the system in place as soon as possible but conceded it could take two years.

The Railway Procurement Agency established an integrated ticketing scheme in 2003 and former minister for transport, the late Séamus Brennan, launched the first “smart card” as part of the integrated ticketing project in March 2004.

Minister of State for Public and Commuter Transport Alan Kelly rejected suggestions the deployment was haphazard, remarking that it was always intended to be a “phased basis”.

Mr Kelly said: “It is great to see this scheme nearing completion and positive for commuters.”

- A danger that some 30 to 35 people will die on the Republic’s roads between now and Christmas was outlined by Road Safety Authority chief executive Noel Brett yesterday.

Announcing a series of services and commemorations to coincide with World Remembrance Day for road traffic victims this weekend, Mr Brett said 23,057 people – comparable to the population of Tralee – were killed on the State’s roads since records began in 1959.

Mr Brett said he was appealing to all drivers to spend a few moments thinking how life would change for their families if they were suddenly “taken out of the picture”. “Be selfish about it. Think how would your family manage without you.”

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...307823049.html

One small step for Dublin transport, one giant Leap off the Park bus

ALAN KELLY is a man in a hurry. This may be one of the reasons why Eamon Gilmore made him junior minister for buses – a role filled by Fianna Fáil’s Seán Haughey in the last government.

The Labour TD for Tipperary North was in the news during the week when, as Minister of State with Responsibility for Public Transport and Commuter Affairs, he launched a new integrated travel ticketing system for Dublin.

For some reason, some of his party colleagues found this hilarious. He showed off the “Leap card” commuters will be able to use on various forms of public transport. They will be able to hop on and off between bus, Luas, Dart and local rail services in the greater Dublin area.

The card wouldn’t have helped Alan on the day of the presidential inauguration, when President Michael D hosted a private luncheon for about 90 guests. What with the Taoiseach and Tánaiste, the judges, senior ministers and former Áras incumbents, not to mention Michael D’s family and special guests, spaces were tight on the list.

After the inauguration ceremony, a bus was sent to Dublin Castle to transport the favoured ones to the Phoenix Park. A buffet lunch was laid on for the many who remained behind.

The passengers included some Labour junior ministers, but not all. There were mere deputies too – old friends of the new President. Kildare’s Jack Wall was among them.

The guests were given a special lapel pin to wear so the military police who were running the operation could recognise them. They also had a printed list of names.

Labour junior ministers Jan O’Sullivan and Róisín Shortall weren’t on the list. “They took their beating and said nothing,” remarked one observer. But Alan Kelly, public transport supremo, attempted to board the bus.

He hopped on . . . and hopped off, encouraged in no uncertain terms by a military policeman who told him he was not entitled to travel. This may have been why he occasioned such mirth when he produced his new Leap smart card at the parliamentary party meeting. The moral for Mr Kelly seems to be: Look before you Leap.

That’s not to say he won’t get the nod from Gilmore for Willie Penrose’s recently vacated high-chair at the Cabinet table. The Tánaiste now has to choose a new junior minister and then appoint one from among their ranks to super-junior status.

In classic Bertie Ahern fashion, Gilmore has announced to his simmering wanabes that he won’t make any decision until after the budget. This should cut down on any pre-budget tantrums from his unsettled troops, some of whom are very jittery.