MORE THAN nine years after it was first proposed, a new €55 million integrated ticketing system for public transport in the greater Dublin area was officially launched yesterday.
The Leap card allows people to use bus, Luas, Dart and rail services in the capital with a single ticket. The cards can be bought at over 400 shops and newsagents or online at leapcard.ie.
A €5 refundable deposit is charged for an adult card and €3 for a child’s. A minimum travel credit of €5 must be placed on the card at the time of first purchase.
Travel credit works like phone credit. The card is topped up in multiples of €5 and the fare is deducted from the balance every time a journey is made. The card can be topped up in shops or online. The card was launched by Minister of State for Public Transport Alan Kelly, who said it followed 15,000 successful test journeys by members of the public.
“The card will be among the cheapest ways to get around Dublin and will make public transport more attractive. We hope the card will push people towards public transport.
“We hope up to 250,000 people will use it. We will have a media campaign in the new year. This is the future and it’s a bright future.”
Tim Gaston, a project director, said flexibility and convenience are the card’s greatest advantages for commuters. He said error rates in the new system were “exceptionally low” at less than half of 1 per cent of journeys.
The new system will continue to be developed throughout 2012 with new functionalities being added in phases. Bus Éireann and private bus operators will join the scheme in the new year and multiple tickets such as the Rambler and Travel 90 will be added to it.
There will be a link-up with the Department of Social Protection so that people entitled to free travel will receive a Leap card programmed with their details and therefore can avail of their free transport using the system.
Cards indicate how much credit is left after a journey is made. It issues a low-value warning when the balance is close to zero.
Users are being advised to register their Leap cards after they buy them at leapcard.ie. In this way, if a card is reported lost or stolen no one else can use it and the user is refunded the credit on the card.
The card – which has been in development for a number of years – will offer a 9 per cent saving on Dublin Bus fares, up to 17 per cent on certain Luas tickets, and between 16 and 19 per cent on single Iarnród Éireann fares.
Integrated ticketing was first put forward in 2002 by then minister for public enterprise Mary O’Rourke.