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The authority says fares rise 15% on average, TDs say over 30% in some areas

Both figures came out of the same Oireachtas Transport Committee hearing on the January rise. Only one of the two reports we hold on it carries either number.

It's official: transport authorities expect a drop in public transport use after fare hike
It's official: transport authorities expect a drop in public transport use after fare hike as published by TheJournal.ie · seen at TheJournal.ie
Anglosphere Ireland

What happened. The National Transport Authority appeared before the Oireachtas Transport Committee on 16 September, days after announcing that adult bus and rail fares rise from January. The Leap 90-minute fare in the Greater Dublin Area goes from €2 to €2.30.

The same body gave both halves of the argument. Asked whether the effect on use had been researched, the authority's director of public transport services, Jeremy Ryan, said its research shows a 3% fall in passengers for every 10% on fares. He then said he was “optimistic” there would be no “significant decrease”. Asked for a review, deputy chief executive Hugh Creegan said he did not envisage one.

The two reports split the hearing between them.

TheJournal.ie RTÉ News
Size of the rise “an average of 15%”; TDs said “over 30% in some areas” no percentage
Effect on passengers 3% fewer per 10% on fares not mentioned
Extra revenue €70 million not mentioned
More rises after January not mentioned further “periodic” rises, driven by inflation
When it starts January not given

Not settled. Whether the rise reaches 30% anywhere: that figure comes from committee members, and we hold nothing in which the authority accepts or rejects it. The €70 million and the 3-for-10 ratio each appear in one report only. Neither report quotes a passenger.

What this is about. Who sets the price of a bus or train ticket in Ireland, and what happens to the number of people using public transport when that price goes up.

How it got here. The National Transport Authority is the state body that plans and pays for public transport in Ireland. Established in 2009, it contracts the operators — among them Dublin Bus, Irish Rail and Bus Éireann — buys their services with public money, and sets the fares those services charge. That last power is the reason this is a story. Fares are not legislation. The Dáil does not vote on them and no minister signs them off ticket by ticket; the authority announces them and they take effect.

The Leap card is the prepaid card most Greater Dublin Area passengers tap. Its 90-minute fare is designed so that one charge covers changes between bus, Luas and commuter rail within that time. It is the fare moving from €2 to €2.30 in January.

Who is in it. The authority, which announced the rise and says it is needed to pay for expanding services. The Oireachtas Transport Committee — TDs and senators whose job is to question state bodies in public. A committee can summon officials and put figures to them, which is what happened on 16 September. It cannot change a fare. That asymmetry is why a hearing is the only place this argument gets had.

What is at stake. Ireland's stated transport policy is to move journeys off the road and onto buses and trains. The authority's own research, as its director of public transport services put it to the committee, is that passenger numbers fall 3% for every 10% on fares. So the money raised and the policy goal pull against each other, and how far apart they pull is exactly what is not agreed.

Where it stands. The rise is announced and starts in January. The authority told the committee it does not envisage a review, and signalled further rises after that.

What is being argued about

  • How big the January fare rise actually is
  • Whether higher fares will push people off buses and trains
  • Whether the authority will reconsider
  • What the rise is meant to pay for
Two figures for one riseChart
Both were said at the same committee hearing. The authority did not dispute the higher figure in anything we hold.
Sources T TheJournal.ie
Centre estimate · not a score
TheJournal.ie 🇮🇪IE · digital · It's official: transport authorities expect a drop in public transport use after fare hike Open this report in The AI Times → Read it at TheJournal.ie → What we have measured Accuracy of attribution The report calls the Tánaiste the Taoiseach partway through. That puts his words under another office. ×1Accusation carried without a reply a charge against a named party, no answer from it in the text held ×1Actor labelling calls the accusers 'opposition parties' when the named accuser is the deputy First Minister ×1Actor mislabelled The first line calls the accusers 'opposition parties', but the accuser quoted is the DUP deputy First Minister, who sits in the same executive ×1 from 2218 articles we hold · quote attached Outlet profile in The AI Times →
What each report carriesSide by side
In the hearingTheJournal.ieRTÉ News
Headline turns onthe authority expecting use to dropthe rise being needed
Size of the rise15% on average; TDs said over 30% in placesno percentage
Effect on passengers3% fewer for every 10% on faresnot mentioned
Extra revenue€70 millionnot mentioned
After Januarynot mentionedfurther “periodic” rises, on inflation
Hedged or flat“optimistic”, no “significant decrease”stated flat
Both reports are from 16 September. What we hold from RTÉ News is one sentence, so a blank here is not a refusal to report.
Sources T TheJournal.ie
Centre estimate · not a score
TheJournal.ie 🇮🇪IE · digital · It's official: transport authorities expect a drop in public transport use after fare hike Open this report in The AI Times → Read it at TheJournal.ie → What we have measured Accuracy of attribution The report calls the Tánaiste the Taoiseach partway through. That puts his words under another office. ×1Accusation carried without a reply a charge against a named party, no answer from it in the text held ×1Actor labelling calls the accusers 'opposition parties' when the named accuser is the deputy First Minister ×1Actor mislabelled The first line calls the accusers 'opposition parties', but the accuser quoted is the DUP deputy First Minister, who sits in the same executive ×1 from 2218 articles we hold · quote attached Outlet profile in The AI Times → R RTÉ News
Centre estimate · not a score
RTÉ News 🇮🇪IE · digital · PUBLIC Fare hikes needed due to cost of expanding services - NTA Open this report in The AI Times → Read it at RTÉ News → What we have measured Abstraction as the actor the dispute acts and no one in it is named ×1Account taken as default the police description of the crowd as 'hostile' is carried with no other account ×1Accuracy the Slovenia entry in the country list repeats Austria's name ×1Active voice offender Donaldson is named as the one who did the abuse, in the active voice. ×1 from 2361 articles we hold · quote attached Outlet profile in The AI Times →
The bias in this coverageBias

The same body gives both halves of the argument

The authority told the committee its own research shows a 3% fall in passengers for every 10% on fares, then said it was optimistic there would be no significant drop. Adult fares rise by an average of 15% from January, and committee members said the rise passes 30% in some places. The authority expects €70 million more in revenue and does not envisage a review.

15 average fare rise, in percent 3 fall in passengers per ten percent rise, on the authority's own research, in percent 70 extra revenue, in millions of euro

Two reports, two stories

One is the hearing: the numbers, the politicians, the refusal to review. The other is a single line in which the deputy chief executive says further periodic rises are coming. The longer report never mentions that.

2 reports we hold on this 1 that say further rises are coming 1 that carry the passenger fall-off research
Scored without the mastheads. Where the two passes differ, both are kept.
Sources T TheJournal.ie
Centre estimate · not a score
TheJournal.ie 🇮🇪IE · digital · It's official: transport authorities expect a drop in public transport use after fare hike Open this report in The AI Times → Read it at TheJournal.ie → What we have measured Accuracy of attribution The report calls the Tánaiste the Taoiseach partway through. That puts his words under another office. ×1Accusation carried without a reply a charge against a named party, no answer from it in the text held ×1Actor labelling calls the accusers 'opposition parties' when the named accuser is the deputy First Minister ×1Actor mislabelled The first line calls the accusers 'opposition parties', but the accuser quoted is the DUP deputy First Minister, who sits in the same executive ×1 from 2218 articles we hold · quote attached Outlet profile in The AI Times → R RTÉ News
Centre estimate · not a score
RTÉ News 🇮🇪IE · digital · PUBLIC Fare hikes needed due to cost of expanding services - NTA Open this report in The AI Times → Read it at RTÉ News → What we have measured Abstraction as the actor the dispute acts and no one in it is named ×1Account taken as default the police description of the crowd as 'hostile' is carried with no other account ×1Accuracy the Slovenia entry in the country list repeats Austria's name ×1Active voice offender Donaldson is named as the one who did the abuse, in the active voice. ×1 from 2361 articles we hold · quote attached Outlet profile in The AI Times →

Claims and verdicts

disputed Adult fares rise by an average of 15% from January.
TheJournal.ie reports the National Transport Authority's average of 15% and, in the same committee session, TDs saying increases reach over 30% in some areas; the authority did not dispute the higher figure in what we hold. RTÉ News gives no percentage.
Checked against 2 sources:
T TheJournal.ie
Centre estimate · not a score
TheJournal.ie 🇮🇪IE · digital · It's official: transport authorities expect a drop in public transport use after fare hike Open this report in The AI Times → Read it at TheJournal.ie → What we have measured Accuracy of attribution The report calls the Tánaiste the Taoiseach partway through. That puts his words under another office. ×1Accusation carried without a reply a charge against a named party, no answer from it in the text held ×1Actor labelling calls the accusers 'opposition parties' when the named accuser is the deputy First Minister ×1Actor mislabelled The first line calls the accusers 'opposition parties', but the accuser quoted is the DUP deputy First Minister, who sits in the same executive ×1 from 2218 articles we hold · quote attached Outlet profile in The AI Times → R RTÉ News
Centre estimate · not a score
RTÉ News 🇮🇪IE · digital · PUBLIC Fare hikes needed due to cost of expanding services - NTA Open this report in The AI Times → Read it at RTÉ News → What we have measured Abstraction as the actor the dispute acts and no one in it is named ×1Account taken as default the police description of the crowd as 'hostile' is carried with no other account ×1Accuracy the Slovenia entry in the country list repeats Austria's name ×1Active voice offender Donaldson is named as the one who did the abuse, in the active voice. ×1 from 2361 articles we hold · quote attached Outlet profile in The AI Times →
unverified The authority's own research shows a 10% fare rise cuts passenger numbers by 3%.
Only TheJournal.ie carries the figure, attributed to the authority's director of public transport services at the Oireachtas Transport Committee. RTÉ News, the only other report we hold, does not mention the research.
Checked against 2 sources:
T TheJournal.ie
Centre estimate · not a score
TheJournal.ie 🇮🇪IE · digital · It's official: transport authorities expect a drop in public transport use after fare hike Open this report in The AI Times → Read it at TheJournal.ie → What we have measured Accuracy of attribution The report calls the Tánaiste the Taoiseach partway through. That puts his words under another office. ×1Accusation carried without a reply a charge against a named party, no answer from it in the text held ×1Actor labelling calls the accusers 'opposition parties' when the named accuser is the deputy First Minister ×1Actor mislabelled The first line calls the accusers 'opposition parties', but the accuser quoted is the DUP deputy First Minister, who sits in the same executive ×1 from 2218 articles we hold · quote attached Outlet profile in The AI Times → R RTÉ News
Centre estimate · not a score
RTÉ News 🇮🇪IE · digital · PUBLIC Fare hikes needed due to cost of expanding services - NTA Open this report in The AI Times → Read it at RTÉ News → What we have measured Abstraction as the actor the dispute acts and no one in it is named ×1Account taken as default the police description of the crowd as 'hostile' is carried with no other account ×1Accuracy the Slovenia entry in the country list repeats Austria's name ×1Active voice offender Donaldson is named as the one who did the abuse, in the active voice. ×1 from 2361 articles we hold · quote attached Outlet profile in The AI Times →
unverified The fare increases will raise €70 million in additional revenue.
The figure appears only in TheJournal.ie's account of the committee hearing, where it is attributed to the authority's deputy chief executive. No second report we hold gives a revenue figure.
Checked against 2 sources:
T TheJournal.ie
Centre estimate · not a score
TheJournal.ie 🇮🇪IE · digital · It's official: transport authorities expect a drop in public transport use after fare hike Open this report in The AI Times → Read it at TheJournal.ie → What we have measured Accuracy of attribution The report calls the Tánaiste the Taoiseach partway through. That puts his words under another office. ×1Accusation carried without a reply a charge against a named party, no answer from it in the text held ×1Actor labelling calls the accusers 'opposition parties' when the named accuser is the deputy First Minister ×1Actor mislabelled The first line calls the accusers 'opposition parties', but the accuser quoted is the DUP deputy First Minister, who sits in the same executive ×1 from 2218 articles we hold · quote attached Outlet profile in The AI Times → R RTÉ News
Centre estimate · not a score
RTÉ News 🇮🇪IE · digital · PUBLIC Fare hikes needed due to cost of expanding services - NTA Open this report in The AI Times → Read it at RTÉ News → What we have measured Abstraction as the actor the dispute acts and no one in it is named ×1Account taken as default the police description of the crowd as 'hostile' is carried with no other account ×1Accuracy the Slovenia entry in the country list repeats Austria's name ×1Active voice offender Donaldson is named as the one who did the abuse, in the active voice. ×1 from 2361 articles we hold · quote attached Outlet profile in The AI Times →

Who wrote it

C Christina Finn TheJournal.ie
What the bias passes found in their reporting
Accuracy of attribution The report calls the Tánaiste the Taoiseach partway through. That puts his words under another office.×1
Asserted, not attributed unnamed officials' faces reported as fact, with their thoughts stated flat×1
Asserted versus attributed the Taoiseach's private state of mind stated as observed fact×1
Headline against body headline says the authority expects a drop; the report's own quote has the official expecting no significant decrease×1
Claims we checked that rest on their reporting
1 disputed3 unverified1 true
From 42 reports we hold under this byline, at TheJournal.ie. Two independent readings, each made without the masthead, a quote attached to every tag. A record, never a rating. Their full record →
The bylines on the reports this story is built from. Hover one for what our passes have measured on their reporting. · 1 report we hold carries no byline — we do not invent one.

Coverage, outlet by outlet

T TheJournal.ie
Centre estimate · not a score
TheJournal.ie 🇮🇪IE · digital · It's official: transport authorities expect a drop in public transport use after fare hike Open this report in The AI Times → Read it at TheJournal.ie → What we have measured Accuracy of attribution The report calls the Tánaiste the Taoiseach partway through. That puts his words under another office. ×1Accusation carried without a reply a charge against a named party, no answer from it in the text held ×1Actor labelling calls the accusers 'opposition parties' when the named accuser is the deputy First Minister ×1Actor mislabelled The first line calls the accusers 'opposition parties', but the accuser quoted is the DUP deputy First Minister, who sits in the same executive ×1 from 2218 articles we hold · quote attached Outlet profile in The AI Times → —
The only report we hold of the hearing itself: the 15% average, TDs putting the rise “over 30% in some areas”, the authority's own 3-for-10 research, €70 million in extra revenue, a 23% fall in the authority's revenue
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more. Earlier this month, the NTA announced the ’90-minute fare’ that applies for Leap cardholders travelling in the Greater Dublin area will increase from €2 to €2.30. Adult fares on buses and trains nationwide are set to increase by an average of 15%. However, a meeting of the Oireachtas Transport Committee heard from TDs today who said fare increases would amount to over 30% in some areas. The fare increases come into effect from January. Chair of the committee, Fine Gael’s Michael Murphy asked Jeremy Ryan, the NTA’s Director
The authority's own measure: 3% fewer passengers for every 10% on fares — “Ryan said its research shows for every 10% increase in fares, there is a fall-off in passenger numbers of 3%.”
Hedged, not stated: optimism in quotation marks against the research in plain type — “He said he is “optimistic” there will not be a “significant decrease” in passenger numbers because of the fare increases next year.”
Which measure was chosen: an average of 15% against members' claim of over 30% in places — “However, a meeting of the Oireachtas Transport Committee heard from TDs today who said fare increases would amount to over 30% in some areas.”
The figure the rise raises: €70 million, in a sentence whose subject is not named — “He said the fare increases will generate National Transport Authority €70 million in additional revenue.”
Who is quoted directly and at what length: the opposition spokesman quoted at length, the Taoiseach paraphrased in one sentence — “Micheál Martin said Ireland has maintained an effective eight-year fare freeze, stating that it is a matter of balancing affordability with a financially sustainable transport system that’s able to fund service improvements and network expansion.”
Headline against body: headline says the authority expects a drop; the report's own quote has the official expecting no significant decrease — “He said he is “optimistic” there will not be a “significant decrease” in passenger numbers because of the fare increases next year.”
Which measure was chosen: the rise is given as a national average, with the larger local figure attributed to politicians — “Adult fares on buses and trains nationwide are set to increase by an average of 15%.”
Which measure was chosen: the only evidence offered for the effect on passengers is a ratio, not a forecast — “Ryan said its research shows for every 10% increase in fares, there is a fall-off in passenger numbers of 3%.”
Who is named as acting: the revenue figure is given to an unidentified 'he' after two other speakers have intervened — “He said the fare increases will generate National Transport Authority €70 million in additional revenue.”
Read it at TheJournal.ie → https://www.thejournal.ie/public-transport-fare-hikes-7164363-Sep2026/
R RTÉ News
Centre estimate · not a score
RTÉ News 🇮🇪IE · digital · PUBLIC Fare hikes needed due to cost of expanding services - NTA Open this report in The AI Times → Read it at RTÉ News → What we have measured Abstraction as the actor the dispute acts and no one in it is named ×1Account taken as default the police description of the crowd as 'hostile' is carried with no other account ×1Accuracy the Slovenia entry in the country list repeats Austria's name ×1Active voice offender Donaldson is named as the one who did the abuse, in the active voice. ×1 from 2361 articles we hold · quote attached Outlet profile in The AI Times → — PUBLIC
The only report we hold that says January is not the end of it — further “periodic” increases, with inflation given as the cause and no figure attached.
Fare hikes needed due to cost of expanding services, says NTA Updated / Wednesday, 16 Sep 2026 11:27 Getty Hugh Creegan said that they were needed as 'fare revenue has not kept pace with the cost of operating and expanding services' Falling revenue and rising costs have created a deficit of more than €800m in funding for public transport services, an Oireachtas committee has heard. The deputy chief executive of the National Transport Authority (NTA) is appearing before the Oireachtas Committee on Transport to answer questions about fare hikes of around 15% announced earlier this month. Hugh Cr
Headline takes one side's reason as the fact: the rise is needed, credited to the authority — “Fare hikes needed due to cost of expanding services - NTA”
Headline against body: headline gives the reason as the cost of expanding services; the lede gives it as inflation — “Fare hikes needed due to cost of expanding services - NTA”
What is stated flat: further increases are stated as coming, with inflation given as the cause without a figure — “The deputy chief executive of the National Transport Authority (NTA) has said that there will be further "periodic" fare increases on public transport, driven by ongoing inflation.”
Read it at RTÉ News → https://www.rte.ie/news/2026/0916/1591755-ireland-transport-fares/
Checked, didn’t cover
T The Irish Times
Centre estimate · not a score
The Irish Times 🇮🇪IE · digital · No report held from this outlet on this story. What we have measured Actor framing The release is framed as a joint agreement, with no pressure mentioned ×1Actor named Names the residents as the ones who blocked the road ×1Actor named killers named as 'loyalist gunmen'; verb 'shot dead' ×1With no actor named construction no actor named for the theft or the driving in the standfirst ×1 from 1358 articles we hold · quote attached Outlet profile in The AI Times → R RNZ
Centre estimate · not a score
RNZ 🇳🇿NZ · digital · PUBLIC No report held from this outlet on this story. What we have measured Headline against body headline claims a 20-year decline reversed; the first line of the body reports a new low in reading ×1Headline against body headline claims a turnaround; the text carries a record low and puts it on boys ×1 from 2328 articles we hold · quote attached Outlet profile in The AI Times → ABC News (Australia)
Centre estimate · not a score
ABC News (Australia) 🇦🇺AU · public broadcaster · public-service No report held from this outlet on this story. What we have measured Actor label and hedge The same man is called 'far-right' and named by his legal name. The act is hedged with 'allegedly', where the longer report states it flat. ×1A different count, stated flat one dead and 140 missing, unattributed, earliest of the four ×1Affected counted The only report to count the local people affected ×1Are the dead named one of the dead named, through a relative at the hospital ×1 from 4667 articles we hold · quote attached Outlet profile in The AI Times → The Guardian
Centre-left estimate · not a score
The Guardian 🇬🇧UK · newspaper · independent No report held from this outlet on this story. What we have measured Actor named Denial in the passive voice, with no one named as the person who dismissed it ×1Actor named names Israel as acting and states the death toll flat, with no source ×1Actor named Ireland named as the side that ended the conference ×1Allegation omitted the police statement is cut with an ellipsis where the other two reports carry the controlling or coercive behaviour allegation ×1 from 10552 articles we hold · quote attached Outlet profile in The AI Times → C CBC News
Centre-left estimate · not a score
CBC News 🇨🇦CA · public broadcaster · public-service No report held from this outlet on this story. What we have measured Asserted vs attributed the measure is attributed to the three governments; the territory is called occupied in the outlet's own voice ×1Attribution kept in the headline the sourcing travels with the claim into the headline ×1Figure rounded in the headline more than 600 in the headline; the body sources it to a flight-tracking site ×1How the sourcing is hedged the claim is hedged to an unnamed newspaper in both headline and body; the reporting is not held by this report ×1 from 2730 articles we hold · quote attached Outlet profile in The AI Times →
Silence is recorded, not inferred — each of these was read when we built this story and carried nothing on this event.
We could not read these
BBC News
Centre estimate · not a score
BBC News 🇬🇧UK · public broadcaster · public-service No report held from this outlet on this story. What we have measured Dating and attribution 'It was not until Tuesday' is a judgement about delay, not a date. No other report we hold comments on how long the German finding took. ×1How hard the claim is stated Headline says the UN voted to adopt and replace; the last sentence of the report says the vote is non-binding ×1How hard the claim is stated The qualification arrives in the last sentence and is immediately overridden by an effect the report gives no source for. ×1Which figure is used States the replacement as done — the Assembly voted to replace the map — where the resolution urges states to use a different projection. ×1 from 473 articles we hold · quote attached Outlet profile in The AI Times → The Daily Telegraph
Right estimate · not a score
The Daily Telegraph 🇬🇧UK · newspaper · independent No report held from this outlet on this story. What we have measured Nothing scored yet. We do not carry a rating for any outlet — only what we have measured from published text. Outlet profile in The AI Times → The Times
Centre-right estimate · not a score
The Times 🇬🇧UK · newspaper · independent No report held from this outlet on this story. What we have measured Nothing scored yet. We do not carry a rating for any outlet — only what we have measured from published text. Outlet profile in The AI Times →
These are must-cite outlets for this desk that we did not manage to read when we built this story. That is a gap in our reach, not a silence on their part, and it is not evidence of anything about this story.

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