Total of €92.6m paid to free travel operators - C&AG

The Department of Social Protection paid €92.6m to free travel operators last year, the latest report from the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) shows.

The C&AG report found that over one million people were recorded as being entitled to free travel at the end of last year, an increase of 39% in a decade.

Almost one in five Free Travel cards in use are expired but are being accepted because of a backlog in issuing replacement cards.

The Department of Social Protection asked travel operators to honour expired cards "for the time being" with 17% of the cards in circulation on June 1 of this year expired.

The Comptroller and Auditor General said "as a result, complete and accurate usage data for free travel journeys is unavailable".

In the report published today, the C&AG said a system was established to verify the free travel passenger numbers reported by the operators through unannounced inspections and spot checks.

Only seven spot checks have been carried out in the last eight years and none since 2021.

Of the two spot checks carried out in 2021, on foot of an anonymous report, two routes were ceased and the operator removed from the scheme.

In the report the C&AG said the basis of funding for the FT scheme varies across categories of operators saying "in some cases, it is based on legacy arrangements or incomplete, untimely and unverifiable travel data".

It said just under 73% of scheme expenditure in 2023 (€67.5m) was paid to the NTA and Bus Éireann on the basis of legacy estimated usage levels that no longer have any relevance.

"In fact, less than 5% of the total scheme expenditure of €92.6m paid in 2023 was based on actual usage data," according to the report.

The Department of Social Protection agreed with a recommendation by the Comptroller to work with the FT scheme travel operators in order to move to a payment system for operators which is based on actual journeys undertaken by PSC FT card holders.

The C&AG said the Department has completed just two spot checks since 2017, meaning it is effectively placing full reliance on the outdated usage survey information provided by the operators.

The Accounting Officer for the Department agreed it should also re-introduce its programme of spot checks to gain assurance that survey data is a meaningful estimation of usage

The Department of Social Protection told the Comptroller it expects that a draft report on an alternative funding model for free travel will be available before the end of 2024.