‘Big Bang’ change needed to make fares fair for Greystones commuters, Dáil hears

Greystones commuters are being unfairly treated compared to fellow travellers in Bray when it comes to prices for using the Dart, the Dáil has heard.

Fine Gael TD Simon Harris hit out at the pricing structure for the service and said Greystones travellers paid 66 per cent more than Bray Dart users (€9.60 compared to €5.80) for a return trip to Pearse Street Station in Dublin for going one extra stop.

The Wicklow TD said a pledge had been made to make the pricing structure more equitable but 10 years after the Dart service was extended to Greystones, this was minimal.

In 2011 Greystones commuters paid 67 per cent more than Bray travellers and now they paid 66 per cent more for travelling one more stop. If the rate of change continued at this pace “people of my generation in Greystones need not worry about it because by the time the anomaly is rectified we will be entitled to the free travel pass”.

He called on Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar to "bang heads together" to sort out this anomaly and said "the people of Greystones should not pay more than the people of Sandymount or any other Dart location, proportionate to their distance from the city centre, for the luxury of using the service".

The Minister said the National Transport Authority was attempting to improve pricing structures gradually without a "big bang effect" or a significant revenue loss. But he added: "Perhaps that is the wrong approach and there should be a big bang effect rather than incremental change."