merrion street

Foreign visitors to Dublin can now avail of a new Leap Card product specially designed for them.  Launched this morning by Minister Alan Kelly, and only available from Dublin Airport Leap Card outlets, the Leap Visitor Card offers tourists 72 hours of unlimited travel on Luas, DART, Iarnród Éireann’s short-hop zone and Dublin Bus – including the return trip between the airport and the city centre on the Airlink Bus – all for just €19.50.

The product will be marketed and promoted to intending visitors to Dublin online and at the airport arrivals area.  The National Transport Authority acknowledges the strong support received from the EU’s INTERREG-SITE project (Smart Integrated Ticketing for Europe) which has contributed funding assistance for this new initiative.

Minister Alan Kelly said: “The Leap smart card opens up opportunities to create innovative and attractive fare products. For those coming to the Dublin region from abroad, whether to visit or to study, we need to make public transport easier to use and more appealing in its pricing. Tourism is a key sector of our economy and I am pleased that the Authority has moved into this area with its Leap card. ”

Gerry Murphy, Chief Executive of the National Transport Authority said: “We are delighted to launch this new Leap Visitor Card today.  The Leap scheme is already a huge success with Dubliners – 550,000 cards have been bought to date and over 1 million trips a week are taken using Leap Card – accounting for well over 1/3 of all public transport trips taken in the region.  The clear next step for us was to develop a product specifically designed with the needs of the short-stay visitor in mind. The Leap Visitor Card will make people’s holiday in our capital region easier and more enjoyable, by putting one simple-to-use public transport card in their hands, just as they enter the country.”

He added: “The Authority is also today launching a specialist product for students at language schools in the Dublin area. The Leap Trainee Card will be available to trainees through their language schools and directly from Dublin Bus, in 1-week, 2-week, 3-week and 4-week versions (Priced at €46.50, €70.00, €94.00 and €119.00 respectively).  Similar to the Leap Visitor card, it will allow foreign students travel on Luas, DART, Iarnród Éireann’s short-hop zone and on Dublin Bus.

The INTERREG-SITE project has developed solutions which allow travellers to have greater mobility through the use of Smart Card ticketing and is 65% funded by the European Regional Development Fund in the frame of the Atlantic Area Territorial Cooperation Programme.