The Coach Tourism and Transport Council (CTTC) of Ireland has today called on the Government to extend free bus travel to all under 9s in Budget 2026, as part of the Association’s pre-Budget submission to the Department of Finance.
In Q3 2025 the NTA will allow all passengers under the age of 9, on state transport providers free-of-charge, whereas the same benefits will not be afforded to those using commercial services. The Association contends this disparity is creating an unfairness for passengers, establishes an urban-rural divide where most state services are provided in cities, while creating unfair competition in the marketplace. The amount of investment required to address this is €1m.
The Association submitted a comprehensive Pre-Budget 2026 proposal to the Department of Finance, outlining a range of critical measures to support the commercial bus and coach tourism sector. Chief among them are:
- Incentives for deployment of HVO – to bring its cost in line with that of diesel, and encourage the transition to cleaner, greener technologies;
- Increase funding to €7 millionfor the Zero-Emission Heavy Duty Vehicle (ZEHDV) Grant Scheme – with 50% ring-fenced for bus and coach operators;
- Introduce workforce flexibility for school transport operators, by allowing those over the age of 70 to operate school bus routes, in line with the Programme for Government commitments;
- Enhance public transport infrastructure – increase Quality Bus Corridor allocations, upgrade Ireland’s electric vehicle charging network;
- Enhance coach tourism facilities – ringfence funding for pick up / drop off points, public toilets, and remove the Dublin Airport passenger cap to sustain Ireland’s 11 million international tourists, and the €8 billion tourism sector.
The commercial bus and coach sector is a cornerstone of Ireland’s transport infrastructure. CTTC members operate more than 95% of school transport services, attracts two million international visitors to Ireland every year, and provides almost all private coach hire in the country.
Speaking on the launch of the CTTC pre-Budget submission, Chairperson David Conway said: “The measures contained in the CTTC’s pre-Budget submission are curated in a way that will encourage passengers to make the modal shift, out of their private vehicles, while helping to decarbonise passenger transport.
Our ambition as an Association is to advocate for fare equality for all passengers to ensure a fairer and more inclusive public transport system, but also to ensure those mass passenger vehicles are deploying the most modern, clean technologies on the market. To that end, aligning the price of HVO with diesel is essential to make low-emission fuel a practical choice for operators.
With the right support, the commercial bus and coach sector can be a strategic partner of Government and help to lead the shift to cleaner transport so Ireland can meet its emission reduction targets”.
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