Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi all,
Vanilla are planning an update to the site on April 24th (next Wednesday). It is a major PHP8 update which is expected to boost performance across the site. The site will be down from 7pm and it is expected to take about an hour to complete. We appreciate your patience during the update.
Thanks all.

Friendly Leap Card Agents (where to buy or top-up a leapcard)

2»

Comments

  • #32
    markpb
    Registered Users Posts: 9,249 ✭✭✭markpb


    lxflyer wrote: »
    Well Dundrum Village itself is in Dublin 14. That's where the shop is.

    Ah, that makes sense, thanks.


  • #33
    coylemj
    Registered Users Posts: 25,326 ✭✭✭✭coylemj


    You shouldn't need to name the suburb in a mailing address, the street and postal district by themselves will get the letter to you and remove that type of confusion.

    In certain parts of Dublin it's a snobbery thing, for example most people who live in Sandymount (D4) insist on including that as a line in their address for fear anyone might think that they live in Irishtown or Ringsend (also D4).

    Getting back on topic, Pattersons on Foxrock Ave, D18 have topped me up and sold me a new Leap card with added credit, different shop assistant each time.


  • #34
    compsys
    Registered Users Posts: 1,038 ✭✭✭compsys


    I may be missing something but I got my leap card in the post today. I ordered it online and paid for €20 credit and it arrived in the post 3 days letter. All pretty reasonable and efficient I though. But then I started reading up about topping up 'online'.

    It seems that once you top up 'online' you have to then collect the top up somewhere? Does this not seem like the most ridiculous thing ever? Surely this defeats the purpose of topping up 'online' Please someone tell me I've read this completely wrong!?

    Also, I think the €5 charge for the card is a joke. It should be free. They say the card is refundable but sure when are you gonna hand the card back in to get a refund!?


  • #35
    markpb
    Registered Users Posts: 9,249 ✭✭✭markpb


    compsys wrote: »
    It seems that once you top up 'online' you have to then collect the top up somewhere? Does this not seem like the most ridiculous thing ever? Surely this defeats the purpose of topping up 'online' Please someone tell me I've read this completely wrong!?

    When you tag on, the system has approximately 350 milliseconds to check your card, check for a ticket, validate the ticket or deduct cash before opening a gate or beeping to let you know. That's not enough time for an online transaction so, like every other city that uses smartcards, the transaction is offline. There's no contact with the backoffice so the tickets and purse balance are only held on the card.

    For this reason, there's no technical way to update your card without collecting the update somewhere. (TfL have a reverse auto-topup for PAYG on buses that gets around this problem, I assume it'll be introduced to Dublin sometime.)
    I think the €5 charge for the card is a joke. It should be free. They say the card is refundable but sure when are you gonna hand the card back in to get a refund!?

    The €5 is there because when you tag on on Dart or Luas, the maximum fare us deducted and then the difference refunded when you tag off. If you're making a €2 journey, have a €2 balance but the max fare is €5, you'll need €3 of that deposit to be able to tag on.


  • #36
    robd
    Registered Users Posts: 951 ✭✭✭robd


    compsys wrote: »
    It seems that once you top up 'online' you have to then collect the top up somewhere? Does this not seem like the most ridiculous thing ever? Surely this defeats the purpose of topping up 'online' Please someone tell me I've read this completely wrong!?

    The card stores the credit internally not online. That's what a smart card means. It has to work on buses with no online connection.

    Thus to get the credit you have to use a Luas or Irish Rail turnstyle and credit is applied. Other way is to go to a Payzone Outlet.

    I agree it sounds silly, but when you understand how a smart card works as I just explained it makes sense.

    Also, I believe from a post a few pages back that online topup has actually been disabled for the moment due to problems with it.


  • Advertisement
  • #37
    compsys
    Registered Users Posts: 1,038 ✭✭✭compsys


    Ah I see. Obviously I read it wrong/misunderstood. Cheers for the clarification!


  • #38
    Lapin
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 18,184 ✭✭✭✭Lapin


    Hi,
    Anyone here know if I can buy a Leap Card at the airport ?


  • #39
    coylemj
    Registered Users Posts: 25,326 ✭✭✭✭coylemj


    Lapin wrote: »
    Hi,
    Anyone here know if I can buy a Leap Card at the airport ?

    From the www.leapcard.ie website...

    Spar T1 Arrivals

    Wrights Food Fayre in The Atrium Car Park


  • #40
    Voipjunkie
    Registered Users Posts: 1,062 ✭✭✭Voipjunkie


    I got a leapcard in Venda on upper Clanbrassil St. Topped up no problems very easy.


  • #41
    Victor
    Registered Users Posts: 78,240 ✭✭✭✭Victor


    About 325 sites now listed. As to whether they are active is another matter.


  • Advertisement
  • #42
    Mr Simpson
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,332 ✭✭✭Mr Simpson


    coylemj wrote: »
    Spar T1 Arrivals

    That should be T2 arrivals I think. Also the newsagents in Jervis SC beside the Luas stop topped up my card with no problems.


  • #43
    ethernet
    Registered Users Posts: 3,568 ✭✭✭ethernet


    No problem whatsoever topping up in the Spar in Phibsborough.


  • #44
    Mr Simpson
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,332 ✭✭✭Mr Simpson


    Just to add to my previous post, I hadn't realised there is also a Spar in T1 now, so you can top up in T1, T2 and the car park atrium in Dublin Airport


  • #45
    Bumblebee Man
    Closed Accounts Posts: 39 ✭Bumblebee Man


    Working in a shop myself and received no training on this. Knew we stocked them and new what the cards were about though. When first asked for one i just went to the payzone machine and "learned by doing". For the first couple of weeks I ended up showing my co-workers including one manager how to work it.:rolleyes:


  • #46
    Niles
    Registered Users Posts: 1,186 ✭✭✭Niles


    Got mine today in the Gala (Think it's called Little Gem?) on Abbey St. Seemed quite straightforward.


  • #47
    supernoob
    Registered Users Posts: 9 ✭supernoob


    Just got one in the Centra in Rialto, the chap behind the counter said it was a fiver credit and a fiver deposit and I can get that back if I hand the card in.

    So does this mean there's now an argument for putting those luas style top up machines at bus stops ?


  • #48
    bk
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,456 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    supernoob wrote: »
    So does this mean there's now an argument for putting those luas style top up machines at bus stops ?

    Yes, at least at some key, busy locations like O'Connell St, Dublin Airport, etc.


  • #49
    jamiecake
    Registered Users Posts: 248 ✭✭jamiecake


    does anyone know if they are going to automate their online top up for bus users? i do not see the logic behind topping up online, waiting 24/48 hrs only then, having to go into a store to collect.. its not convenient having to go into a store all the time to top up.. its easier to just buy bus tickets or pay using coins as before... :mad:

    wonders of this service in 2012 is beyond me.. do they not want to move forward?


  • #50
    bk
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,456 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    jamiecake wrote: »
    does anyone know if they are going to automate their online top up for bus users?

    They will eventually have an auot-topup service that should work on buses.

    This is where you enter your bank details online, activate the card once at a shop luas or dart station and then every time you balance drops below x amount, it applies y credit to your card, deducting the money from your account automatically, even on the bus.

    This is the facility most people are probably looking for.


  • #51
    n97 mini
    Registered Users Posts: 8,295 ✭✭✭n97 mini


    bk wrote: »
    They will eventually have an auot-topup service that should work on buses.
    As it's a purse, and buses are off-line, is it ever going to be possible to do this?

    I can understand it working at train/Luas/shop machines, as they're all on-line and connected to the grid, and can tell the card to up their balance by x when they see the balance go up at the back-end.


  • Advertisement
  • #52
    bk
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,456 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    n97 mini wrote: »
    As it's a purse, and buses are off-line, is it ever going to be possible to do this?

    I can understand it working at train/Luas/shop machines, as they're all on-line and connected to the grid, and can tell the card to up their balance by x when they see the balance go up at the back-end.

    I should write a FAQ on this, I've explained it so many times.

    Auto-topup doesn't require an online ticket validator to work. Here is how it works:

    1) You register your leapcard online and give them your direct debit details.
    2) You activate the card once at a luas machine, dart validator or shop. This is a once only action, what it does is it writes a flag to your leap card saying the auto-topup is enabled and by how much to auto-topup.
    3) Then everytime you board a bus, the offline bus validator sees that this flag is set and if your balance falls below x, it automatically applies y extra balance to your card and it records the transaction in it's memory.
    4) When the bus gets back to the depot, it tells the backend system about adding y credit to your card and the backend system debits y amount from your bank account.

    Make sense?

    It is actually quiet a clever solution to the offline problem. It works in the same way in the UK with London Bus.


  • #53
    n97 mini
    Registered Users Posts: 8,295 ✭✭✭n97 mini


    bk wrote: »
    3) Then everytime you board a bus, the offline bus validator sees that this flag is set and if your balance falls below x, it automatically applies y extra balance to your card and it records the transaction in it's memory.
    So does every bus need to know about every card, and whether they are auto-top up or not?

    Hypothetically, if my card is not auto top-up now but tomorrow morning at 9am I go onto the Leap site and enter all my bank details, I will still have to bring it to a shop/train/Luas (i.e. online) validator if I want it to auto top-up tomorrow, as no bus will know about it being auto top-up until the following day?

    And presumably the bus validator will have the ability to set the auto top-up flag for those who are happy to wait 24 hours?


  • #54
    noelfirl
    Registered Users Posts: 625 ✭✭✭noelfirl


    The bus validator won't need to know that the card has auto topup enabled prior to encountering it. The card will know and flag this to the validator, the validator will know when the credit needs to be topped up and that the card can be auto topped up, will top the credit up and record that a top up has been applied. Bus returns to garage that evening, bus uploads lists of auto top ups to be reconciled. Once auto top up is enabled by a live end to the card, the auto top up will work anywhere.


  • #55
    n97 mini
    Registered Users Posts: 8,295 ✭✭✭n97 mini


    noelfirl wrote: »
    Once auto top up is enabled by a live end to the card, the auto top up will work anywhere.
    So... if you go on-line and enable auto top-up on the website you will still have to get the flag set on the card in shop/luas/station, the bus won't be able to do it at any stage at all?


  • #56
    bk
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,456 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    n97 mini wrote: »
    So does every bus need to know about every card, and whether they are auto-top up or not?

    No the buses won't need to know about every card. If the card is auto-topup enabled or not is recorded on the actual card.
    n97 mini wrote: »
    Hypothetically, if my card is not auto top-up now but tomorrow morning at 9am I go onto the Leap site and enter all my bank details, I will still have to bring it to a shop/train/Luas (i.e. online) validator if I want it to auto top-up tomorrow, as no bus will know about it being auto top-up until the following day?

    And presumably the bus validator will have the ability to set the auto top-up flag for those who are happy to wait 24 hours?

    No, you will have to bring it to a shop/train/Luas to enable the auto-topup the first time. Buses can't enable auto-topup, even after 24 hours.

    Well they could do it, but I'm guessing they will avoid that level of complexity and require you to go to the shop/train/luas to enable it as it is much simpler and less error prone.

    Having to do it once shouldn't be too much of an inconvenience. I'm hoping that they will also allow you to order leap cards online with the auto topup enabled when it arrives.


  • #57
    noelfirl
    Registered Users Posts: 625 ✭✭✭noelfirl


    To have auto top up flagging on buses would require either a live backend connection or pushing a white list of top up enabled cards to all buses regularly. It's unclear whether buses support having data pushed upon them rather then just dumping their data at the end of the day, but presumably they will be able to receive Leap card blacklists, so could theoretically take whitelists as well.


  • #58
    robd
    Registered Users Posts: 951 ✭✭✭robd


    I set this thread up to list places where people were or were not able to buy or top-up a leapcard.

    Please take technology and auto top-up feedback/discussions to the feedback thread.


  • #59
    stunmer
    Registered Users Posts: 279 ✭✭stunmer


    Sorry old thread!

    Added credit to my leap card for the first time using www.leapcard.ie and selected payzone location to top it up.

    When I went into a shop with payzone the man behind the counter did not know how I could get my online credit via payzone.

    Is this common? Can I just top up my card in a shop without purchasing anything?


  • #60
    wench
    Registered Users Posts: 1,630 ✭✭✭wench


    He should just need to do a balance check to get the card to connect to the network and update.


  • Advertisement
Advertisement