Northern Ireland concessionary fares

The Northern Ireland concessionary fares scheme provides free and half fare travel on public transport for several groups of people, including children, senior citizens and some people with disabilities. Research was carried out to gather an equality profile of users and to obtain feedback on usage and experiences of applying for the pass.

Publications

Summary or Consultation to the concessionary Fares Scheme

This consultation is now closed. Thank you for taking part.

Between 1 June 2023 and 24 August 2023, the Department for Infrastructure sought views on changes to the Department’s Policy on free and discounted fares on public transport under the Northern Ireland Concessionary Fares Scheme. The Department has received over 7,000 survey responses to the consultation, as well as submissions in a range of other formats, including feedback received as part of focus group participation.

Next Steps

Now that the consultation has closed, all responses will be analysed and considered along with other available evidence to inform recommendations from our ongoing review of the Scheme. We aim to issue a report on the consultation exercise once responses have been analysed. We will make this report available on the NI Concessionary Fares webpage of the DfI website.

No decisions have been made regarding which, if any, of the options included in the consultation will be taken forward. Any decision to implement the recommendations from the review would normally be taken by a Minister. Should there continue to be an absence of Ministers in the NI Executive once final recommendations are prepared, approval will be considered, taking into account the decision-making framework set out in the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc.) Act 2022 (as amended).

Should a decision be taken to make any changes to the Scheme, these changes will be communicated in advance, on the Department’s website and through our public transport providers.

Related information

Other information on public transport is available at Travel Survey for Northern Ireland.

Contact

For general enquiries, data requests and feedback, contact Analysis, Statistics and Research Branch

Back to top