A RECORD NUMBER of people used public transport in 2023, with figures more than recovering after the pandemic lull. 

More than 308 million journeys were taken by Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann, Iarnród Éireann, Luas, Go-Ahead Ireland and Local Link combinedon, last year, making last year the busiest ever for the public transport network.

The figures released by the National Transport Authority (NTA) show a 24% increase overall in passenger numbers during 2023 when compared with the previous year, and a 5% increase above the last record year in 2019.

Dublin Bus carried over 145 million passengers last year, a 20% increase on the 121 million passengers in 2022.

Bus Éireann served more than 44 million people, a significant increase on the 35 million passengers who used its services the previous year.

Go-Ahead Ireland’s Dublin Metropolitan area bus services, which is different from Dublin Bus, had over 16 million passengers in 2023, compared to 12.5 million in 2022.

Dublin’s Luas service carried 48.2 million passengers last year, a 25% rise on the previous year.

Around 45.5 million journeys were taken on Iarnród Éireann services.

Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan said public transport has “turned a significant corner this year”, describing the record numbers as “encouraging”.

“It shows that when you provide good transport services people flock to them, in both urban and rural areas,” he said.

“This year we will continue to invest in and improve transport services with more town buses, more rural services and progression on transformative Bus Corridors in our cities, now starting to come out of planning.”

TFI Local Link saw growth as well, with 3.2 million journeys taken on the service in 2023 – a significant 78% increase on the 1.8 million passenger journeys in 2022.

Additionally, BusConnects, a new system serving parts of Kildare and Dublin, launched in June. 

Anne Graham, CEO of the NTA claimed the figured indicate that Ireland is “a leader” on transport in Europe.

“The NTA has continued to plan, implement and invest in our public transport network and we are seeing the results of that around the country.

“The passenger numbers speak for themselves.”