Students pay up to €120 per month on travel In Dublin, which is an average of €83 more than 11 other university cities across Europe and the United Kingdom. The price is based on the Transport For Ireland (TFI) website, with the multi-mode ‘Leap card’ covering Dublin Bus, Luas, and the DART. The price caps at €30 a week for students. The second- highest monthly cost for student travel is London, where students fork out 74 pounds per month to travel around the English Capital.
In research conducted by The College Tribune, we visited masters portals websites and transport authority websites for 11 countries outside of Ireland. The publication found that students from Dublin pay €83 more per month than 11 other cities, with the median average cost across these cities being €37.10 for monthly student travel.
Universities in Berlin and the region of Hessen, Germany, include all public transport fees in the €300 tuition fees, while Amsterdam offers free public travel for students outside of night transport. University Utrecht offer free transport and a free bicycle to students.
Spanish cities Madrid and Seville cost between €27 and €30 per month. Lyon and Vienna cost €30-32.50 a month. Brussels, and Edinburgh make up the higher end of costs, with €50- €57 travel fees per month.
The cheapest city to travel around as a student is Prague, Czech Republic. Students can expect to pay the equivalent of €4.92 a month to travel. The Monthly cost of student travel in Dublin would cover 24 months’ worth of travel in Prague.
The College Tribune reached out to TFI and the National Transport Authority for a comment as too how they can justify their services costing 69% higher than other university cities. As of yet they have declined to comment.
Dublin City has notoriously low frequency transport times, with the minimum wait time between DART services being 10-15 minutes depending on peak hours, buses being at minimum 8 minutes apart, and The Luas being 7 minutes apart. Dublin is also one of the few European cities not to feature an underground metro rail system.
