Deadline for 2026 tickets is 5.00pm on Monday the 24^th November 2025.

The Travel Pass Scheme is a facility whereby employees can purchase quarterly and annual bus or rail tickets through UCC.  The cost is deducted directly from the employee’s gross salary.

Visit TaxSaver’s savings calculator to see how much you can save on Bus Eireann and Irish Rail tickets.

Please see a list of Bus Eireann stops included in the Red and Green Zone tickets.

Please see the details of Cobh Connect’s routes here.

Eligibility

To be eligible to participate in this scheme, an employee must be either a permanent member of staff OR a temporary or contract employee whose contract end date is not less than the duration of their ticket.

Guidelines

• The scheme offers the below types of tickets:
• Annual Irish Rail, Bus Eireann & Cobh Connect tickets.
• Quarterly Irish Rail, Bus Eireann & Cobh Connect tickets (January 2026 – March 2026 inclusive) *
• All NEW Bus Eireann and Irish Rail applications must include a digital photo along with completed Travel Pass Application Form to travelpass@ucc.ie (two digital photos 320 x 420 pixels or less and less than 64K). This photo will be uploaded to the TaxSaver.ie Website and be printed on your Leapcard.

*Trial Basis – new inclusion to offering.

Procedure

• Staff who wish to participate in the scheme must complete an application form in full (which includes payment authorisation) and email the completed form to travelpass@ucc.ie before the specified deadline.   
• The University will then purchase the relevant ticket on the employee’s behalf in exchange for the employee foregoing the commensurate value from their basic salary.
• Deductions will be made from your payslip either weekly or monthly depending on your payment frequency for the duration of the ticket.
• Travel Passes issued as part of this scheme will commence from the 01^st January 2026 and be valid to either the 31^st of March 2026 (quarterly) or the 31^st of December 2026 (annual) inclusive. 
• Once your Leapcard is received, all employees must register their Leapcard on leapcard.ie. If a card is lost or stolen, you can apply for a new card via your Leapcard account. See “What happens if my ticket is lost or stolen?” below.

How to Activate your ticket

To activate your ticket, please do one of the following:

Irish Rail:

• New Leap Cards are issued with the Taxsaver product pre-loaded on the card.
• Employees need to “tag on” at an Irish Rail station in order to activate the renewal tickets to their Leapcards.

Bus Eireann

• New Leap Cards are issued with the Taxsaver product pre-loaded on the card.

• Should an employee renew their ticket, they will have to complete one of the following processes to upload the renewed product to the existing Leapcard:

• Go to a Leapcard Payzone agent. The locations of these may be found at payzone.ie. Present the Leap card to the shop clerk and ask for a ‘balance check’.

• If you have an NFC enabled Android phone or iPhone, you may download an app instead of going to a Payzone agent. Please see further information at the link below: https://about.leapcard.ie/leap-top-up-app.

• You may use the Leapcard collection kiosk in Parnell Place Bus Station (Cork). You must place your Leap Card against the collection device, and the product will upload automatically.

General Terms of Use

The upload must be completed prior to the renewed product start date in order for the renewed product to be valid.

One of the above processes must be repeated each time you renew your ticket to ensure that you have a valid ticket for travel at all times. If the card is not activated, then you may have to purchase an additional valid ticket to travel.

University College Cork accepts no liability or responsibility in the case of lost or unused travel passes, or in the case of any injury which the employee may incur while using the travel pass.

Any cancellations or refunds are at the discretion of the ticket providers’ Terms and Conditions.

University College Cork will endeavour to process any cancellations or refunds where possible, however the final decision is made by the ticket provider.

Cobh Connect

Tickets can be collected from the Cobh Connect Office in Cork City for free. 

You will receive a designated Cobh Connect Card. It is not related to the Leapcard.

New tickets are preloaded to the card and  are ready for use from the 01^st of the month that the ticket is purchased for.

Should you purchase another Cobh Connect ticket next year, you will receive a new Cobh Connect card upon renewal.  

What happens if my ticket is lost or stolen? 

Leap Cards can be replaced by logging into your Leap Card Account at www.leapcard.ie. Please select the “Refund or Replace” option, then follow the instructions to get a replacement. Make sure to choose the “Replace” option. Do not select the refund option. Click here for more details. Please confirm with Leap and UCC People and Culture Department the length of time before they will replace your ticket.

For Bus Éireann lost or stolen point to point tickets, please e-mail taxsaver@buseireann.ie with the details.

For Cobh Connect lost or stolen tickets, please contact info@barryscoaches.com who operate the Cobh Connect scheme.

The suppliers’ terms and conditions apply to replacing annual and quarterly tickets. Costs may apply to issue a replacement card.  

APPLICATION FORM: Application - Travel Pass Scheme 2026.docx

All applications for participation must be submitted to the Travel Pass Scheme email (travelpass@ucc.ie) by 5pm on Monday 24th November 2025.

Updated - November 2025