Bus Éireann services has highest ticket evasion rate of Ireland’s transport companies, at 10pc, compared with 6pc on Iarnród Éireann (according to an earlier study) and 4pc on Dublin Bus, a fare evasion surveys conducted by the National Transport Authority has indicated.
Transport Infrastructure Ireland did not release its findings on fare evasion rates on Luas services, arguing that it could potentially worsen the problem.
Ticket evasion was worst on provincial routes serving Galway, where 16.5pc of passengers traveled without valid tickets. The lack of valid tickets resulted in a fare income reduction of 7.4pc for Bus Éireann. Fare evasion rates on Dublin Bus services were lowest in Cork (5.4pc), followed by Galway (11.1pc), Limerick (9.9pc), and Waterford (5.4pc).
There were over 30 different routes on which passengers were found to be fully compliant with paying the correct fare. The NTA conducted these surveys to identify fare evasion trends among public transport companies operating services under contract from the NTA.
