Fare increases take effect on train and Athlone town bus routes

Higher fares for users of the town bus service in Athlone, and for those travelling by train, came into effect this week.

The changes to the Athlone town bus fares took effect on Sunday and saw cash fares rise by 40 cent, from €1.60 to €2.

Those with a Leap Card are now also paying more - their fares have gone from €1.10 to €1.50 for a trip anywhere along the Bus Éireann A1 or A2 routes.

Leap Card fares for students and children have also risen by 20 and 10 cent respectively, to 75 cent and 65 cent.

The fare increases were applied to the town bus services in Athlone and a number of other similarly-sized regional locations such as Drogheda, Dundalk, Navan and Sligo.

Bus Éireann said this would be the first of two rounds of fare increases, with the second coming later in the year.

For Irish Rail users, fares on a number of Intercity routes, including the Dublin to Westport and Dublin to Galway services, increased by an average of approximately 4% from Monday.

To give an example, an adult return ticket from Athlone to Galway, when booked online, cost €16.98 last week, but now costs €17.70 on irishrail.ie.

Irish Rail said the new fares represented "the first booking office fare increases on any Intercity route since 2018, with a reduction of 20% having been implemented in May 2022".