{"id":12248,"date":"2025-04-28T13:57:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T12:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?p=12248"},"modified":"2025-04-28T13:57:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T12:57:11","slug":"increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\/","title":{"rendered":"Increasing rail fares will put more cars on our roads"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today\u2019s hike in rail fares for thousands of passengers in the new Dublin Commuter Zone has been described as a retrograde step by Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore.<\/p>\n<p>Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s transport spokesperson, said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile I am in favour of the National Transport Authority\u2019s move towards a simpler pricing structure, the new fare system introduced by Irish Rail today is something of a mixed bag for commuters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt will result in welcome fare reductions for passengers in towns like Wicklow, Drogheda and Kildare, while hitting commuters in Greystones, Kilcoole, Skerries, Balbriggan and Sallins\/Naas with increases of up to 30 per cent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe NTA\u2019s latest fares determination will place a significant financial burden on workers and students who need to commute to and from Dublin city on a regular basis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs we struggle to meet our climate action targets, disincentivising people from using public transport will only push them back into their cars. It is worth noting that transport accounted for 21.4 per cent of the country\u2019s greenhouse gasses in 2023 and is the one sector where emissions are increasing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy failing to invest now in climate action measures \u2013 such as encouraging more people to switch to public transport \u2013 the government is putting Ireland at risk of paying billions in EU penalties if we fail to meet our legally binding targets by 2030.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe NTA and Irish Rail must urgently review these new fare increases to ensure that commuters are not penalised for doing the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>April 28, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today\u2019s hike in rail fares for thousands of passengers in the new Dublin Commuter Zone has been described as a retrograde step by Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore. Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s transport spokesperson, said: \u201cWhile I am in favour of the National Transport Authority\u2019s move towards a simpler pricing structure, the new [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[405,268,7,547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate","category-jennifer-whitmore","category-press-release","category-transport"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Increasing rail fares will put more cars on our roads - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Increasing rail fares will put more cars on our roads - Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today\u2019s hike in rail fares for thousands of passengers in the new Dublin Commuter Zone has been described as a retrograde step by Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore. Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s transport spokesperson, said: \u201cWhile I am in favour of the National Transport Authority\u2019s move towards a simpler pricing structure, the new [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-28T12:57:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Jen-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1256\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Press Officer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Press Officer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Press Officer\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7\"},\"headline\":\"Increasing rail fares will put more cars on our roads\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-28T12:57:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":262,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/Jen-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Climate\",\"Jennifer Whitmore\",\"Press Release\",\"Transport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\\\/\",\"name\":\"Increasing rail fares will put more cars on our roads - Social Democrats\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/Jen-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-28T12:57:11+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/Jen-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/Jen-1.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1256},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Increasing rail fares will put more cars on our roads\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\",\"name\":\"Social Democrats\",\"description\":\"Change Ireland for the better\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Social Democrats\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/SocDems-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/SocDems-logo.png\",\"width\":846,\"height\":358,\"caption\":\"The Social Democrats\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/socialdemocratsireland\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/SocDems\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7\",\"name\":\"Press Officer\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/author\\\/press\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Increasing rail fares will put more cars on our roads - Social Democrats","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\/","og_locale":"ga_IE","og_type":"article","og_title":"Increasing rail fares will put more cars on our roads - Social Democrats","og_description":"Today\u2019s hike in rail fares for thousands of passengers in the new Dublin Commuter Zone has been described as a retrograde step by Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore. Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s transport spokesperson, said: \u201cWhile I am in favour of the National Transport Authority\u2019s move towards a simpler pricing structure, the new [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\/","og_site_name":"Social Democrats","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland","article_published_time":"2025-04-28T12:57:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1256,"url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Jen-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Press Officer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@SocDems","twitter_site":"@SocDems","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Press Officer","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\/"},"author":{"name":"Press Officer","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7"},"headline":"Increasing rail fares will put more cars on our roads","datePublished":"2025-04-28T12:57:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\/"},"wordCount":262,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Jen-1.jpg","articleSection":["Climate","Jennifer Whitmore","Press Release","Transport"],"inLanguage":"ga-IE"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\/","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\/","name":"Increasing rail fares will put more cars on our roads - Social Democrats","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Jen-1.jpg","datePublished":"2025-04-28T12:57:11+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"ga-IE","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"ga-IE","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Jen-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Jen-1.jpg","width":1920,"height":1256},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/increasing-rail-fares-will-put-more-cars-on-our-roads\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Increasing rail fares will put more cars on our roads"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/","name":"Social Democrats","description":"Change Ireland for the better","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"ga-IE"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization","name":"The Social Democrats","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"ga-IE","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png","width":846,"height":358,"caption":"The Social Democrats"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland","https:\/\/x.com\/SocDems"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7","name":"Press Officer","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/author\/press\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}