Public Services Card (Part 2)

Free travel?

In January 2019 (still in the BC years) I received another letter from the Department of Social Protection - but not about my pension. They wanted to let me know about the free travel scheme to which I would soon be entitled.

The free travel scheme was introduced in 1967 by the then-finance minister, Charles J. Haughey. With a free travel pass, an old age pensioner like me could hop on a bus or a train and it would not cost me a cent.

Since the free travel scheme was introduced, however, the Irish government had changed the rules. I would be allowed free travel only if I had a Public Services Card. The DSP’s letter explained why:

This card has a photograph and a separate contactless chip which allows it to interact with ticketing systems so you can use it on public transport in the future.¹

So the PSC was now doubling as a free travel card. That is why it was necessary to be on the DSP database (or PSI dataset as it was called) if I wanted to enjoy this perk. But what about my pension? That was much more important. Two months later I had an answer. On my 66th birthday I received my very first pension payment - even though I did not have a PSC.

Meanwhile the DSP was growing impatient at my lack of interest in free travel. They wrote again in April 2019 telling me that, if I did not apply for my PSC soon, my entitlement would be “disallowed”.² So I would not be able to ride on a bus or a train without buying a ticket. But at that point I was beyond caring. My pension was safe! Besides, I hardly ever used public transport and, if I did, I could pay the fare like anyone else. So I filed the letters away and forgot all about them. That would have been the end of my story - except there was a coda.

During the second half of 2021 my wife reached the venerable age of 66. Like me, she received her pension on time. However, unlike me, there was no mention of free travel in the DSP’s correspondence with her. Although she had reached retirement age my wife enjoyed working and decided to continue in her full-time job. She had always used public transport to go to and from her place of employment. Having to pay for her bus or train ticket, when she could have free travel, would cost her money. But the PSC was probably the last thing on either of our minds at the time.

Observant readers will have noticed that by the time my wife became a pensioner, we were well and truly in the covid era. For us that meant navigating a world that seemed to have suddenly gone bonkers. My wife’s job was considered to be an ‘essential service’ so she continued to work throughout those dark days, mostly at home. Whenever she was needed in her place of employment, she travelled by car armed with a letter to get us past Garda checkpoints along the way. Even today, full time attendance at her office has yet to be reintroduced. So my wife still works from home for part of the week.

This is where the PSC saga comes right up to date. Only now are we finally addressing the more mundane aspects of life we overlooked up to recently. Because my wife uses public transport a lot more than I do, not having a PSC has very immediate ramifications every time she steps on a bus or a train. So last Thursday she applied for the free travel pass at a local DSP office. She also had to apply for a PSC at the same time. Two applications, but one card. The result will allow my wife to use public transport without having to pay for a ticket. In an ironic twist I might even be able to travel free too, but only when I accompany my wife on a bus or train.

The outcome of this affair could suggest that my resistance to the DSP’s entreaties since 2017 is little more than a ‘storm in a teacup’? I suspect I am in the PSI dataset anyway. How else could the DSP know about my driving licence application unless a totally separate body, the RSA, had already given them my details? If this is so, all that is left is me having to stump up for a bus or train ticket rather than flashing my card like every other pensioner. So shouldn’t I simply accept the ‘realpolitik’ of the situation and go through the process of acquiring a PSC of my own?

The short answer is ‘No’.

When I was starting Traitor to the Combine, I wrote this in my introduction:

Without our active support (or our implied consent) the Combine would cease to exist - overnight. This is good news because, if we were to withdraw from the Combine, it would collapse!

I want to see the end of the Combine. But until such time as it disappears completely, I will continue to ignore it.

1. Letter from Department of Social Protection, 19 Jan 2019.

2. Letter from Department of Social Protection, 9 Apr 2019.