Comparatively, Dublin Bus collected just €500 in fines during that same time.
Since March, the restrictions in place have constantly changed the amount of people allowed to use public transport, with Irish Rail, Dublin Bus, and Luas services all seeing passenger capacity vary from 45% to 80%.
At the time writing, during Level 5 restrictions, that capacity is currently set at 25%, and all public transport services have seen a dramatic dip in revenues.
Speaking to The Journal, a spokesperson for TransDev, the operators of the Luas service, stated that:
“The revenue collected from standard fare notices by Luas has been impacted by Covid-19. Since restrictions on public transport commenced in February 2020 the number of passengers traveling by tram has fallen substantially.
“Currently trams are operating at less than 25% capacity in accordance with level 5 guidelines. Naturally, the revenue collected from standard fares has fallen as a result.”
It has been revealed that from March 1 to September 29, Luas staff issued Standard Fare Notices to the amount of €231,300.
Irish Rail staff all around Ireland had issued €259,824 worth of Fare Evasion Fines in that same time period, but Dublin Bus had issued fines totally just €500, but that is due to ceasing operations of their Revenue Protections Unit back in March.
In a statement, a Dublin Bus spokesperson said that “Dublin Bus operates a fleet of 1,000 buses and carried 142 million customers last year. Given the size and scale of our operations, fare evasion on services is quite low.
“Due to capacity restrictions on board, and health and safety measures in place to keep our customers and employees safe during Covid-19, the Dublin Bus Revenue Protection Unit ceased operation on 14 March this year. The figure of €500 was the standard fare amount paid for March 2020 only.”
READ NEXT: Eight feel-good movies that are guaranteed to put you in a better mood
