Public Transport
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-15
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Niamh Smyth (FF), Cavan-Monaghan

I thank the Deputy for his heartfelt contribution. The proposal is to reform the tax saver commuter ticket scheme to include private shared mobility services. As somebody from a rural area where we totally rely on bus services, it sounds like a novel thing to have the shared mobility model of bikes, cars and all the rest. It is way beyond what we experience in more rural parts, but it is wonderful to hear about it from the Deputy.
The key objective is to ensure and encourage behavioural change in favour of the usage of shared mobility services and would support integrated transport services like bike, scooter and car-sharing through a virtual tax saver account model. The core objective is to encourage a shift in usage towards shared modes of transport in place of less efficient, congestion-inducing and carbon-intensive private car use, particularly for frequent journeys such as commuting. However, I take the Deputy’s point that the existing architecture of the scheme is for reliable, constant and regular transport rather than the patterns that most people have, which are a bit more flexible, particularly with working from home.
As the Deputy is aware, commuting employees currently have access to reliefs from benefit-in-kind, BIK, in respect of sustainable transport, namely the cycle to work scheme under section 118(5G) Taxes Consolidation Act 1999 and the tax saver scheme under section 118(5A) of the same Act. The schemes have similar objectives - to reduce car dependency and to encourage the use of public transport and cycling as more sustainable forms of commuting.
What is being proposed is the introduction of a new scheme that would allow employees to choose to assign part of their salary to pay for shared mobility services. Specifically, the sacrificed pay could be transferred to a virtual card account operated by an approved third-party commercial provider. Under this proposal, the sacrificed pay would not be subject to PAYE, USC or PRSI, while employers would benefit from reductions in employer PRSI. The actual operation of the ticketing wallet would be appropriate to the Department of Transport but there may be limitations in terms of what the current ticketing system, primarily Leap, can support.
Subject to meeting the conditions of the scheme, there is currently no impediment to employers who wish to provide a voucher in respect of a shared mobility service to an employee under the small benefit exemption. The current threshold for this scheme is €1,500 per annum per employee. It is for each employer to decide whether to utilise this provision.
The existing schemes are implemented as tax-exempt benefit-in-kind in order to keep the implementation as simple as possible and to reduce the administrative burden on employers and employees. The schemes are designed to be as straightforward as possible to encourage uptake by employers. The proposed model is more complex than the existing scheme and is something that would require engagement with stakeholders, including employers, software providers and transport operators.
It is important to note that employers are not required to take part in the tax saver or bike-to-work schemes. Where an individual's employer does not participate in the schemes, any benefits that could arise under the relevant scheme will not be available to any employees of that employer. This means that an individual cannot avail of the scheme if their employer has chosen not to participate.
However, it should be noted that if an employer does choose to participate in the schemes, employer’s PRSI is not payable on the cost of the relevant benefits when they make the associated deduction from their employees’ salary payments. Thus, there is an incentive for employers to participate in these schemes.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-07-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-15