Capacity on all public transport services, including all buses, trams and trains, will return to 100 per cent capacity from next week.
Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan is finalising plans to return to pre-Covid-19 levels.
Capacity on public transport has been at 75 per cent from July 19 and it was expected to increase to 100 per cent by August 5 - but a rise in cases due to the Delta variant delayed the expansion.
During the level 5 lockdown earlier this year, public transport passenger numbers were limited to 25 per cent.
If Mr Ryan's plans are approved by Cabinet, it is expected that capacity will move to 100 per cent on public transport from next Wednesday.
The increase to full capacity will apply to all providers, including Dublin Bus, Bus Eireann, Luas and Irish Rail, Iarnroid Eireann and Go-Ahead Ireland bus services.
2019 was a record-breaking year for public transport. Passenger journeys went up by 9 per cent and a total 290 million passenger journeys took place.
Revenue had risen across the board and the sector was looking at expanding.
Of course, with the onset of the pandemic, transport for non-essential reasons was banned.
Figures from the Central Statistics Office show that in just over a month, passenger journeys were ten times lower than they were in the beginning of March.
While 5.6 million passenger journeys were made on the week beginning March 1, 2020, just 514,000 were made on the week beginning April 12.
The shortfall in revenue in the sector is being made up by the Irish State.
The move to bring public transport capacity in line with what it was before the pandemic comes as the government is expected to advise on a phased return to offices for many workers from next month.
However, as more people continue to work from home there are doubts as to whether public transport passengers will ever return to what they were before the pandemic.
