There have been calls for the 20% reduction in public transport fares to be extended to the private bus sector.
The Government introduced the reduction last year in a bid to help people cope with the cost-of-living crisis and to promote sustainable travel.
It was the first national fare reduction in 76 years.
Private bus operator Brendan Crowley said "it's really unfair" none of the passengers using his company's buses benefit from the 20% cut.
"All of those people have to pay the full fare, there's no opportunity for them to get that reduction.
"Unfortunately, we have to charge it, because diesel has increased by 16% in the last month alone, so commercial companies are not in a position to just try and reduce our fares without that support from the Government," Mr Crowley said.
JJ Kavanagh of JJ Kavanagh & Sons Coaches, who operate dozens of routes throughout the country, said that passengers using his buses cannot avail of the 20% fare reduction as it is confined to state-owned services and public service operators.
Extending that discount to the privately-owned bus sector would be fair, he said.
"It would give our passengers an opportunity to avail of that discount which they are currently excluded from," Mr Kavanagh said.
Bus operators such as Brendan Crowley and JJ Kavanagh want to meet Government ministers in the coming weeks to give them a chance to make changes in time for Budget 2024, which will be announced in the autumn.
A Department of Transport spokesman said this evening that the 20% average fare discount, as well as other schemes such as the Young Adult Card scheme which provides a 50% discount for those aged 19-23, will be considered in the context of Budget 2024.
Funding for such initiatives are agreed on an annual basis with the Department of Public Expenditure, according to the spokesman.
The 20% reduction was introduced last year as part of a suite of cost-of-living measures and did not include the commercial sector.
However, the commercial sector is included in the Young Adult Card initiative and the Student Leap Card programme.
"The Government is strongly committed to providing all citizens with reliable and realistic sustainable mobility options, and public transport plays a key role in the delivery of this goal," the Department spokesman said.
Meanwhile, a National Transport Authority spokesperson said that it is not aware of any plans to extend the 20% fare discount to private operators.
It added that it is transforming bus services through programmes like BusConnects in the five main cities; Connecting Ireland outside of cities and which aims to increase public transport connectivity between villages and towns and cities and regional centres; and internal town bus services.
