LEAP CARD - Updated Summary of Cards/Functionality Available - September 2014

LXFlyer · 02-09-2014 8:22pm #1

I've updated this thread for the additional functionality that has been added recently, including:

LEAP now valid on all Wexford Bus services, including local services in Wexford area
Child LEAP card changes

LEAP is shortly to be launched on Cork Suburban Rail services, the new Ashbourne Connect coach service between Ashbourne and Dublin city centre, and is also to be launched in Galway on both Bus Eireann and City Direct.
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LEAP CARD – Cards Available:

Adult unpersonalised
Adult personalised
Child LEAP card (4-15)
Child LEAP card (16-18) - Personalised
Student travelcard - Personalised
Visitor LEAP Card (See below)
Trainee LEAP Card (See below)

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LEAP CARD – Summary of Ticket Products Available:

Leap can be used in two modes:

Pay-as-you-go epurse
Period pass offering unlimited travel on one or more modes

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PAY-AS-YOU-GO E-PURSE:

· Dublin Bus (All services) - Daily and weekly (Monday-Sunday) capping applies (see below) – Tag on only - May require to interact with driver.

Note:
One person holding a LEAP card can pay for a companion on Dublin Bus using the epurse. This applies if the cardholder is using a period pass or the epurse for their own travel.

· Irish Rail (Dublin Short Hop Zone only) – Daily and weekly (Monday-Sunday) capping applies (see below) – Tag on and off

Note:
The Irish Rail Short Hop Zone incorporates all stations from Kilcoole to Balbriggan, Howth, M3 Parkway and Maynooth and from Dublin Heuston to Hazelhatch.

· Bus Eireann (Greater Dublin Area –excepting 100X and 101) – Tag on only via driver - Currently restricted to Adult LEAP card only

· Bus Eireann (Greater Cork Area) – Tag on only via driver - Currently restricted to Adult LEAP card only

· LUAS (All services) – Daily and weekly (Monday-Sunday) capping applies (see below) – Tag on and off

· Matthews Coaches (Bettystown-Laytown-Dublin service) – Tag on only via driver

· Wexford Bus (All services) – Tag on only via driver - See www.wexfordbus.ie for more fare information

· Swords Express (All services) – Tag on only via driver

· Collins Coaches (Dublin-Ardee-Carrickmacross services) – Tag on only via driver

Dublin Bus, Irish Rail Short Hop, and LUAS pay-as-you-go epurse fares can be found here.

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CAPPING ON PAY-AS-YOU-GO:
An automated daily or weekly (Monday-Sunday) cap will be applied to all e-purse transactions. Different caps will apply to single operators, or where two or more operators are used as below.

Single Operator Capping Levels:

Dublin Bus:
Daily - Adult €6.90 / Student €5.00 / Child €2.50
Weekly (Monday-Sunday) - Adult €27.50 / Student €20.00 / Child €8.20

Note:
For Dublin Bus Xpresso, Outer Suburban 2, and Nitelink services a maximum of €2.50 (€1.15 for a child) of the fare contributes towards the cap. Airlink, tours and special events are excluded from the cap.

LUAS:
Daily - Adult €6.40 / Student €5.00 / Child €2.50
Weekly (Monday-Sunday) - Adult €23.50 / Student €18.00 / Child €8.20

Irish Rail (Short Hop Zone):
Daily - Adult €9.20 / Student €6.90 / Child €3.10
Weekly (Monday-Sunday) - Adult €35.50 / Student €27.00 / Child €12.00

Multi-Operator Capping Levels:
The following caps apply where two or more operators are used.

Dublin Bus / LUAS / Irish Rail (Short Hop Zone):
Daily - Adult €10.00 / Student €7.50 / Child €3.50
Weekly (Monday-Sunday) - Adult €40.00 / Student €30.00 / Child €14.00

Note:
For Dublin Bus Xpresso, Outer Suburban 2, and Nitelink services a maximum of €2.50 (€1.15 for a child) of the fare contributes towards the cap. Airlink, tours and special events are excluded from the cap.

More information on capping is available here.

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TOPPING UP LEAP CARD E-PURSE

The LEAP card e-purse can be topped up a number of different ways:

At one of over 400 Payzone LEAP card agents around Dublin and also in Cork
At any LUAS ticket machine
At any Irish Rail ticket machine in the Short Hop Zone
Online at www.leapcard.ie - Note that this option requires you to subsequently visit your nominated "load location" to physically load the top-up amount onto the card
Via Auto top-up - this is the easiest way of topping up the card. It automatically tops up your Leap Card with funds from your bank account, whenever your Travel Credit balance falls below €10. You can choose to Auto Top-Up by €30.00, €40.00 or €50.00. Note that this requires your card to be registered on the LEAP website and a direct debit to be set up.

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PERIOD PASSES:
The following unlimited travel period passes / tickets can be loaded onto a LEAP card, either online (requires you to then visit a payzone outlet) or at a payzone outlet directly:

Dublin Bus:

Rambler 5 Day Adult - Tag on only via Validator on righthand side

Rambler 30 Day Adult - Tag on only via Validator on righthand side

Rambler 5 Day Student – requires Student LEAP Card - Tag on only via Validator on righthand side

Rambler 30 Day Student – requires Student LEAP Card - Tag on only via Validator on righthand side

Rambler 1 Day Family - Tag on only via Validator on righthand side

Freedom 3 Day Pass (including Airlink and Hop on-Hop off City Tour) - Tag on only via Validator on righthand side

Airlink Return Ticket - Tag on only via Validator on righthand side

Hop on-Hop off City Tour ticket

Annual Bus Only Travelwide Ticket (requires personalised LEAP card) - Tag on only via Validator on righthand side

Note that where you have more than one product loaded onto the card, you can ask the driver to select which product you wish to use by putting the card on his ticket machine. If you have two versions of the same product (e.g. 2 x 30 Day Rambler tickets), the righthand validator will automatically select the older product.

Irish Rail Short Hop Zone:

Annual Rail Only (Short Hop Zone) (requires personalised LEAP card) - Tag on/tag off

Bus Eireann Greater Dublin Area:

Daily (24 hours) Greater Dublin Area zonal unlimited travel tickets - Tag on only via driver and valid for 24 hours from date/time of first activation - available for any one of 5 different zones

Weekly (7 day) Greater Dublin Area zonal unlimited travel tickets - Tag on only via driver and valid for 7 consecutive days from date/time of first activation - available for any one of 5 different zones

There are 5 coloured zones surrounding Dublin (Red, Green, Blue, Yellow and Orange) that extend cumulatively out as far as Newry, Monaghan, Cavan, Granard, Longford, Tullamore, Portlaoise and Gorey.

Child 24 hour/7 day tickets are available in the Red and Green zones only, while Student 24 hour tickets are available in the Red, Green and Blue zones only.

Monthly and Annual Tickets (requires personalised LEAP card) - Available for each of the Red, Green, Blue, Yellow and Orange zones. Also available via Taxsaver scheme, from your employer. Details at www.taxsaver.ie

For more information on Bus Eireann zonal tickets in the Dublin Area see here.

Bus Eireann Cork City/Suburban tickets:

Daily (24 hours) Cork City/Suburban zonal unlimited travel tickets - Tag on only via driver and valid for 24 hours from date/time of first activation - available for any one of 2 different zones

Weekly (7 day) Cork City/Suburban zonal unlimited travel tickets - Tag on only via driver and valid for 7 consecutive days from date/time of first activation - available for any one of 2 different zones

Monthly and Annual Cork City/Suburban zonal unlimited travel tickets (requires personalised LEAP card) - Tag on only via driver and valid for a calendar month - available for any one of 2 different zones. Also available via Taxsaver scheme, from your employer. Details at www.taxsaver.ie

There are 2 coloured zones surrounding Cork, the Red Zone for Cork City services 201 to 219 (excluding suburban portion of 215), and the Green Zone which additionally includes Suburban services as far as Carrigtwohill to the East, Ballincollig to the west, Crosshaven to the south, and Cloghroe to the north, covering all of routes 215, 220, 220A, 221, 223, 226, 226A and routes 260 and 261 as far as Carrigtwohill.

For more information on using LEAP in Cork, please see here.

LUAS:

Annual LUAS all zone tickets (requires personalised LEAP card) - Tag on/tag off

Monthly LUAS all zone tickets (requires personalised LEAP card) - Tag on/tag off

Wexford Bus:

Wexford-Dublin Airport Route:
Weekly/10 Journey Ticket Adult/Student - Tag on only via driver

Wexford Local Services:
1 Day/Weekly Ticket Adult/Child - Tag on only via driver

Note that adult 1 day/weekly tickets on Wexford local services require a personalised LEAP card.

Swords Express:

10 Journey Ticket - Tag on only via driver

Collins Coaches:

10 Journey Ticket - Tag on only via driver

Multi-Operator:

Dublin Bus/Irish Rail (Short Hop Zone):

Annual Dublin Bus/Irish Rail Short Hop ticket (requires personalised LEAP card) - Tag on only on Dublin Bus, tag on/tag off on Irish Rail

Dublin Bus/LUAS:

Annual Dublin Bus/LUAS ticket (requires personalised LEAP card) - Tag on only on Dublin Bus, tag on/tag off on LUAS

Monthly Dublin Bus/LUAS ticket (requires personalised LEAP card) - Tag on only on Dublin Bus, tag on/tag off on LUAS - Only available via Taxsaver scheme, from your employer. Details at www.taxsaver.ie

Irish Rail (Short Hop Zone)/LUAS:

Annual Irish Rail Short Hop/LUAS ticket (requires personalised LEAP card) - Tag on/tag off on Irish Rail and LUAS

Monthly Irish Rail Short Hop/LUAS ticket (requires personalised LEAP card) - Tag on/tag off on Irish Rail and LUAS - Only available via Taxsaver scheme, from your employer. Details at www.taxsaver.ie

Dublin Bus/Irish Rail (Short Hop Zone)/LUAS

Annual Dublin Bus/Irish Rail Short Hop/LUAS ticket (requires personalised LEAP card) - Tag on only on Dublin Bus, tag on/tag off on Irish Rail and LUAS

Monthly Dublin Bus/Irish Rail Short Hop/LUAS ticket (requires personalised LEAP card) - Tag on only on Dublin Bus, tag on/tag off on Irish Rail and LUAS - Only available via Taxsaver scheme, from your employer. Details at www.taxsaver.ie

Visitor LEAP Card (only available to purchase at Dublin Airport) - Valid for 3 days (including Airlink 747) - Tag on only on Dublin Bus, tag on/tag off on Irish Rail and LUAS

Trainee LEAP Card (only available through foreign language schools to registered students) - Valid for 1, 2, 3 or 4 weeks - Tag on only on Dublin Bus, tag on/tag off on Irish Rail and LUAS

Mrs OBumble · 02-09-2014 11:54pm

lxflyer wrote: »

I've updated this thread for the additional functionality that has been added recently, including:

....

Dublin Bus/LUAS:

...

Monthly Dublin Bus/LUAS ticket (requires personalised LEAP card) - Tag on only on Dublin Bus, tag on/tag off on LUAS - Only available via Taxsaver scheme at www.taxsaver.ie

Irish Rail (Short Hop Zone)/LUAS:

...

Monthly Irish Rail Short Hop/LUAS ticket (requires personalised LEAP card) - Tag on/tag off on Irish Rail and LUAS - Only available via Taxsaver scheme at www.taxsaver.ie

Great post.

Slight correction to the above? Should be "Only available via Taxsaver scheme, from your employer. Details at www.taxsaver.ie "

And a question: have LEAP taxsaver tickets been rolled out in Cork, or are they still using the old TaxSaver's?

fyi, the readers have been installed on most (all?) of the city fleet in Galway in the last few weeks. Looking forward to it - but there will be some "interesting" moments because here coaches are sometimes used on the city routes ...

Dravokivich · 03-09-2014 8:58am

Bus Éireann are on the taxsaver with Leapcard. They should have taxsaver available for Leapcard down there too.

LXFlyer · 03-09-2014 9:52am

The taxsaver information has yet to be updated - My guide above is purely sourced from information that is publicly available.

Mrs OBumble · 03-09-2014 12:59pm

Dravokivich wrote: »

Bus Éireann are on the taxsaver with Leapcard. They should have taxsaver available for Leapcard down there too.

But my question is - do they in practise?

On Dublin Bus, tax-saver people are told to use the right-hand validators. But Galway buses (Leap coming "soon") only have driver validators, not RHS ones. I'm wondering if there's a hole in the logic, or if non Dublin-Bus driver validators are smarter than DB ones.

Dravokivich · 03-09-2014 1:50pm

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

But my question is - do they in practise?

On Dublin Bus, tax-saver people are told to use the right-hand validators. But Galway buses (Leap coming "soon") only have driver validators, not RHS ones. I'm wondering if there's a hole in the logic, or if non Dublin-Bus driver validators are smarter than DB ones.

They can use the driver one too on Dublin Bus. but what'd be the point in that when there's a device specifically for tickets?

LXFlyer · 03-09-2014 7:54pm

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Great post.

Slight correction to the above? Should be "Only available via Taxsaver scheme, from your employer. Details at www.taxsaver.ie "

And a question: have LEAP taxsaver tickets been rolled out in Cork, or are they still using the old TaxSaver's?

fyi, the readers have been installed on most (all?) of the city fleet in Galway in the last few weeks. Looking forward to it - but there will be some "interesting" moments because here coaches are sometimes used on the city routes ...

On further study of NTA documents - the monthly/annual in both Dublin and Cork on Bus Eireann have both migrated to LEAP.

I've updated the details above.

Maestro84 · 05-09-2014 1:16am

When you mentioned topping up
"Online at www.leapcard.ie - Note that this option requires you to subsequently visit your nominated "load location" to physically load the top-up amount onto the card"
What does this mean? I bought my card online and topped it up when I was ordering it. Do i have to do anything for it to work or am I good to go?

Dravokivich · 05-09-2014 9:41am

When you order the card online, it should come with the credit your ordered too.

It's when you purchase credit itself online, you need to go somewhere to update your card.

Carawaystick · 05-09-2014 10:43am

lxflyer wrote: »

Multi-Operator:

Dublin Bus/LUAS:

Monthly Dublin Bus/LUAS ticket (requires personalised LEAP card) - Tag on only on Dublin Bus, tag on/tag off on LUAS - Only available via Taxsaver scheme, from your employer. Details at www.taxsaver.ie

Is this saying you can only buy a monthly DB/tram ticket through the taxsaver scheme, or can self employed/retired/non-taxsaver employees still buy paper tickets?

Dravokivich · 05-09-2014 11:03am

Carawaystick wrote: »

Is this saying you can only buy a monthly DB/tram ticket through the taxsaver scheme, or can self employed/retired/non-taxsaver employees still buy paper tickets?

The paper tickets were discontinued a couple of months ago.

LXFlyer · 05-09-2014 11:48am

Carawaystick wrote: »

Is this saying you can only buy a monthly DB/tram ticket through the taxsaver scheme, or can self employed/retired/non-taxsaver employees still buy paper tickets?

I'm not sure how else I can explain the use of the word "only", other than to repeat, they are only available now through the taxsaver scheme.

Isco · 05-09-2014 1:16pm

Bit confused as to how the 30 day ramblers work.

I have a student travel card from last year that expires in December. I am just about to go into second year. Last year I got the Student 30 day rambler but I hear that this year hey are done through the leap card, so I'm just wondering how does that work? Where do I buy the rambler and is it just put automatically on to my Student Travel Card? And do you just scan the card on the bus like I would have done with the rambler last year?

Any help would be very appreciated

LXFlyer · 05-09-2014 3:00pm

You can load a 30 day rambler ticket onto your Student LEAP Card, which is also your Student Travel Card at any payzone agent.

The current card will expire in December, but you have until March to use up the days on the Rambler ticket, and any unused days can be transferred to your new card. Having said all of that, you might be as well just getting a new card now and loading a rambler ticket onto it.

You scan the card on the reader on the right if you want to use a day from the 30, or use the driver's machine if you want to use the epurse.

Carawaystick · 06-09-2014 4:16am

lxflyer wrote: »

I'm not sure how else I can explain the use of the word "only", other than to repeat, they are only available now through the taxsaver scheme.

I have no definitive evidence, but from looking at our immigration laws, there are nationalities who can reside here and found businesses, but not work as employees;

Then there are the data protection issues; I can see no reason, why a transport company needs to know if a customer is an employee or is self employed, or if the employee is buying the monthly ticket themselves or their employer is buying it.

Isco · 06-09-2014 7:55am

lxflyer wrote: »

You can load a 30 day rambler ticket onto your Student LEAP Card, which is also your Student Travel Card at any payzone agent.

The current card will expire in December, but you have until March to use up the days on the Rambler ticket, and any unused days can be transferred to your new card. Having said all of that, you might be as well just getting a new card now and loading a rambler ticket onto it.

You scan the card on the reader on the right if you want to use a day from the 30, or use the driver's machine if you want to use the epurse.

Brilliant thanks very much

LXFlyer · 06-09-2014 8:19am

Carawaystick wrote: »

I have no definitive evidence, but from looking at our immigration laws, there are nationalities who can reside here and found businesses, but not work as employees;

Then there are the data protection issues; I can see no reason, why a transport company needs to know if a customer is an employee or is self employed, or if the employee is buying the monthly ticket themselves or their employer is buying it.

Well why don't you take it up with the NTA? They are the people who have instigated the simplification of the tickets available.

Anyone discommoded can avail of weekly capping on LEAP, which is what I suspect the NTA are trying to get people to migrate to, rather than having a huge range of prepaid tickets.

I suspect that the transport companies' staff have far better things to do than worry about people's employment status.

Poochie05 · 06-09-2014 11:57am

I know there is daily capping for Luas of €6.40 but I had some surprise transactions during the week when I travelled from Carrickmines - Stephens Green on Green line and then walked to Abbey St to get red line to Museum and back again that afternoon.

I tagged on/off at each stage so it wasn't that, here are the transactions

Carrickmines - Stephen's Green tag on -2.40 tag off 0.00
Abbey St - museum tag on -2.30 tag off +2.30
Museum - Abbey St tag on -2.30 tag off +0.85
Stephen's Green - Carrickmines tag on -2.40 tag off +1.45

So in all it just cost me the usual price of Carrickmines - Stephen's Green return 4.80
By some coincidence the inbound and outbound journeys took 1 hr and 2 mins, including walking time between the 2 lines. Is there some kind of time capping as well?

LXFlyer · 06-09-2014 1:20pm

Poochie05 wrote: »

I know there is daily capping for Luas of €6.40 but I had some surprise transactions during the week when I travelled from Carrickmines - Stephens Green on Green line and then walked to Abbey St to get red line to Museum and back again that afternoon.

I tagged on/off at each stage so it wasn't that, here are the transactions

Carrickmines - Stephen's Green tag on -2.40 tag off 0.00
Abbey St - museum tag on -2.30 tag off +2.30
Museum - Abbey St tag on -2.30 tag off +0.85
Stephen's Green - Carrickmines tag on -2.40 tag off +1.45

So in all it just cost me the usual price of Carrickmines - Stephen's Green return 4.80
By some coincidence the inbound and outbound journeys took 1 hr and 2 mins, including walking time between the 2 lines. Is there some kind of time capping as well?

St Stephen's Green and Museum are all in the "Central" fare zone which means that once you complete both trips (Green and Red) within the specified time it is treated as a single journey, despite the walk between the two lines.

Poochie05 · 06-09-2014 1:57pm

That explains it, thanks!
Is the specified time 90 min?

LXFlyer · 06-09-2014 2:27pm

Yes - the 90 minute rule applies.

The Central 1 zone covers all stations on the Red Line between Heuston and George's Dock/Connolly, and between St Stephen's Green and Charlemont on the Green Line.

hardCopy · 08-09-2014 9:45am

Maestro84 wrote: »

When you mentioned topping up
"Online at www.leapcard.ie - Note that this option requires you to subsequently visit your nominated "load location" to physically load the top-up amount onto the card"
What does this mean? I bought my card online and topped it up when I was ordering it. Do i have to do anything for it to work or am I good to go?

Dravokivich wrote: »

When you order the card online, it should come with the credit your ordered too.

It's when you purchase credit itself online, you need to go somewhere to update your card.

Do Auto Top-Ups still need to be "collected" at a load point before using the credit on Dublin Bus?

LXFlyer · 08-09-2014 10:01am

hardCopy wrote: »

Do Auto Top-Ups still need to be "collected" at a load point before using the credit on Dublin Bus?

No, as the name implies it's done automatically.

No need to visit any load points.

coylemj · 09-09-2014 3:40pm

Can I clarify the issue of Nitelink and Leap?

As I understand it, the Nitelink fare can only be paid by a €5 deduction from the epurse, you cannot load a specific 'Nitelink ticket' onto the card.

Correct?

The reason for asking is because is have two Leap cards (one from the early trial, the second when I traded in my Rail smartcard) and I thought it might be useful to have a couple of Nitelink tickets on the second card, safe in the knowledge that they'd always be there even if I spent all the money on the card.

LXFlyer · 09-09-2014 3:45pm

coylemj wrote: »

Can I clarify the issue of Nitelink and Leap?

As I understand it, the Nitelink fare can only be paid by a €5 deduction from the epurse, you cannot load a specific 'Nitelink ticket' onto the card.

Correct?

The reason for asking is because is have two Leap cards (one from the early trial, the second when I traded in my Rail smartcard) and I thought it might be useful to have a couple of Nitelink tickets on the second card, safe in the knowledge that they'd always be there even if I spent all the money on the card.

Nitelink is only available from your epurse.

Specific Nitelink tickets are not available on LEAP.

kc56 · 10-09-2014 2:49pm

Are there any plans to extend Leap to cover Irish Rail point-to-point Taxsaver tickets in the GDA?

NegativeCreep · 10-09-2014 7:39pm

Can I just ask, when you put a ticket onto the leap card online, how do you pay for it? Do you pay online? And also, if I pay online, do I need to bring my debit card to the load station with me or will the shop keeper be able to see it by scanning the card? I'm new to leap and I'm so confused :L

coylemj · 10-09-2014 7:46pm

NegativeCreep wrote: »

Can I just ask, when you put a ticket onto the leap card online, how do you pay for it?

Don't understand the question.

NegativeCreep wrote: »

And also, if I pay online, do I need to bring my debit card to the load station with me or will the shop keeper be able to see it by scanning the card? I'm new to leap and I'm so confused :L

If you've added credit to a Leap card online with a credit/debit card, the new amount is sitting there in the system waiting to be loaded, you don't need to bring your credit/debit card to collect it. If picking up at a Payzone shop, hand over the Leap card and ask them to check the balance, that will load the new money onto the card. I normally don't do that in a shop because however low the margin is, I prefer to give the shop the money in cash and ask them to topup the card. If the shop is busy, they may not take kindly to someone asking them to do something which takes time but for which they make no money.

NegativeCreep · 10-09-2014 7:53pm

coylemj wrote: »

Don't understand the question.

If you've added credit to a Leap card online with a credit/debit card, the new amount is sitting there in the system waiting to be loaded, you don't need to bring your credit/debit card to collect it. If picking up at a Payzone shop, hand over the Leap card and ask them to check the balance, that will load the new money onto the card. I normally don't do that in a shop because however low the margin is, I prefer to give the shop the money in cash and ask them to topup the card. If the shop is busy, they may not take kindly to someone asking them to do something which takes time but for which they make no money.

So if I wanted to put a 30 day student ticket onto my student travel card then all I have to do is do it online and bring the card to the payzone and they load it on? Kind of defeats the purpose of doing something online when you eventually have to go to the shop anyway! Thanks

coylemj · 10-09-2014 9:27pm

NegativeCreep wrote: »

So if I wanted to put a 30 day student ticket onto my student travel card then all I have to do is do it online and bring the card to the payzone and they load it on? Kind of defeats the purpose of doing something online when you eventually have to go to the shop anyway! Thanks

That's true for an adult but it does make sense if a mum or dad wants to load up credit on their kids' cards from home.

Dravokivich · 10-09-2014 10:33pm

NegativeCreep wrote: »

So if I wanted to put a 30 day student ticket onto my student travel card then all I have to do is do it online and bring the card to the payzone and they load it on? Kind of defeats the purpose of doing something online when you eventually have to go to the shop anyway! Thanks

Its a Dublin Bus problem more so.

You can order a topup for credit online and get it with Luas or Irish Rail (which ever you select) as you use your card.

Dublin Bus don't have enough memory on their validators to queue'em up. So has to be through payzone.

Trampas · 15-09-2014 8:18am

Hi.

I was trying to top my leap card online yesterday but says I need to Load location - Payzone 'Leap Card' Agent

Should it not go directly on the card from the website?

LXFlyer · 15-09-2014 8:52am

Trampas wrote: »

Hi.

I was trying to top my leap card online yesterday but says I need to Load location - Payzone 'Leap Card' Agent

Should it not go directly on the card from the website?

I'm to quote the relevant section of my original post again:

lxflyer wrote: »

TOPPING UP LEAP CARD E-PURSE

The LEAP card e-purse can be topped up a number of different ways:
At one of over 400 Payzone LEAP card agents around Dublin and also in Cork

At any LUAS ticket machine

At any Irish Rail ticket machine in the Short Hop Zone

Online at www.leapcard.ie - Note that this option requires you to subsequently visit your nominated "load location" to physically load the top-up amount onto the card

Via Auto top-up - this is the easiest way of topping up the card. It automatically tops up your Leap Card with funds from your bank account, whenever your Travel Credit balance falls below €10. You can choose to Auto Top-Up by €30.00, €40.00 or €50.00. Note that this requires your card to be registered on the LEAP website and a direct debit to be set up.

For the card to physically know that you have topped it up online, it has to touch a "live" terminal, which is any payzone agent, an Irish Rail ticket machine, or a LUAS ticket machine - you nominate which one of these you want.

The Dublin Bus ticket machines are not "live" terminals as that would require more memory space than they are physically capable of.

There's no magic way of sending the information of how much you top up a card directly from your computer to the card through the air unfortunately - it needs to touch a live terminal. In other places this is easier due to there being far more rail stations across the cities, but we don't have that luxury unfortunately.

However, auto top-up does allow the card to be topped up automatically without going near an agent, and will automatically top up the card once the balance goes below €10, by either €30, €40 or €50 - it does require you to set up a direct debit and to register the card. Follow the link in my quoted post above for more information.

Trampas · 15-09-2014 10:37am

lxflyer wrote: »

I'm to quote the relevant section of my original post again:

[/LIST]
For the card to physically know that you have topped it up online, it has to touch a "live" terminal, which is any payzone agent, an Irish Rail ticket machine, or a LUAS ticket machine - you nominate which one of these you want.

The Dublin Bus ticket machines are not "live" terminals as that would require more memory space than they are physically capable of.

There's no magic way of sending the information of how much you top up a card directly from your computer to the card through the air unfortunately - it needs to touch a live terminal. In other places this is easier due to there being far more rail stations across the cities, but we don't have that luxury unfortunately.

However, auto top-up does allow the card to be topped up automatically without going near an agent, and will automatically top up the card once the balance goes below €10, by either €30, €40 or €50 - it does require you to set up a direct debit and to register the card. Follow the link in my quoted post above for more information.

I'm on bus Éireann and not near Luas or train station. Need to find a shop. That's crazy

LXFlyer · 15-09-2014 10:57am

Trampas wrote: »

I'm on bus Éireann and not near Luas or train station. Need to find a shop. That's crazy

Well unless you have a magic wand, there's no other way of putting the money onto the card.

It has to touch a live terminal.

Go to www.payzone.ie to find a list of stores.

As I said above if you opt for auto top-up you won't have this problem.

Trampas · 15-09-2014 7:20pm

lxflyer wrote: »

Well unless you have a magic wand, there's no other way of putting the money onto the card.

It has to touch a live terminal.

Go to www.payzone.ie to find a list of stores.

As I said above if you opt for auto top-up you won't have this problem.

It's bad development. No magic wand needed just people who know what they are doing

LXFlyer · 15-09-2014 7:22pm

Trampas wrote: »

It's bad development. No magic wand needed just people who know what they are doing

You may want to tell that to all the other operators around the world that have the same problem.

Oyster in London for example operates exactly the same way.

You have to physically touch a live terminal.

How else is the information going to get onto your card?

Carpenter · 15-09-2014 8:02pm

Hi
My daughter will be traveling to ITT from Sandyford and back each day what is the best option for her .

Trampas · 15-09-2014 10:18pm

Every terminal should be a live one.

If you do auto top up how does that work if you don't need to go to a live terminal

LXFlyer · 15-09-2014 10:26pm

Trampas wrote: »

Every terminal should be a live one.

If you do auto top up how does that work if you don't need to go to a live terminal

Well as I pointed out above, the same applies in London. Buses are not live there either. Yet people there seem to cope.

I think people need to be realistic in their expectations - neither the companies nor the NTA are awash with cash and this system is being implemented on a phased basis. There are plans for new ticketing equipment in the latter half of next year which may solve this issue.

If autotop-up is set up for a particular card, then a topup is triggered when your balance goes below €10. The card will automatically update, and the direct debit triggered (if you're using the bus) when the ticket machine data is downloaded that night.

If the direct debit subsequently fails, then your card will be automatically blocked.

LXFlyer · 15-09-2014 10:35pm

Carpenter wrote: »

Hi
My daughter will be traveling to ITT from Sandyford and back each day what is the best option for her .

Assuming she is using the 75 each way then she should get a student travelcard. Then she has two options:

1) Use the epurse - the fares will cap at €5 per day or €20 per week (Monday-Sunday); or

2) Load a 5 day or 30 day student rambler ticket onto it (5 day - €20; 30 day - €100). These are non-consecutive days and the tickets remain valid for at least 12 months.

These fares/caps are valid on Dublin Bus only.

If she uses the LUAS as well then the epurse will cap at €7.50 per day or €30 per week.

markpb · 15-09-2014 11:55pm

Trampas wrote: »

It's bad development. No magic wand needed just people who know what they are doing

Trampas wrote: »

Every terminal should be a live one.

I love glib comments like this from people who have absolutely no idea what they're talking about. There are several reasons why public transport doesn't do online auth:

1. You need far more expensive terminals at every gate of every train station and on every bus. The current ones are relatively simple and cheap to build.

2. You need perfect connectivity absolutely everywhere. No black spots near bridges, between tall buildings, no interference from any nearby devices - perfection everywhere because those awkward buses keep moving about.

3. You need a wireless network with almost no latency (sub 300ms round trip) and which never has any downtime, even at midnight on NYE when the network is collapsing under the weight of a million text messages and snapchats celebrating New Years.

4. You need servers that respond instantly (sub 50ms) every time.

5. You need software that never fails to respond and never responds with an error.

Without all that, you have people stuck trying to get through turnstiles or holding up a queue of people trying to board a bus. You have pissed off passengers who don't understand why they have to tap several times, why sometimes it takes longer than others and why sometimes, it just doesn't work.

If you can solve all of those problems in a cost effective way, I'm sure the people running -every other smartcard based transit ticketing system in the world- would love to meet you.

Dravokivich · 16-09-2014 10:36am

The terminals aren't technically live. They receive a batch of information, or transmit information in batches. Some more regularly during the day than others.

The validators on DB are unable to hold such a batch, due to the low memory on their devices.

It's a simple problem, but with a costly solution.

Sean9015 · 16-09-2014 12:20pm

lxflyer wrote: »

Well why don't you take it up with the NTA? They are the people who have instigated the simplification of the tickets available.

Anyone discommoded can avail of weekly capping on LEAP, which is what I suspect the NTA are trying to get people to migrate to, rather than having a huge range of prepaid tickets.

I suspect that the transport companies' staff have far better things to do than worry about people's employment status.

So n on-taxsaver travellers, who previously bought monthly tickets, can now effectively only have weekly capping? Potentially a big increase in cost for them so. Not doubting you, but seems like a hidden fare increase to me.

LXFlyer · 16-09-2014 12:34pm

Sean9015 wrote: »

So n on-taxsaver travellers, who previously bought monthly tickets, can now effectively only have weekly capping? Potentially a big increase in cost for them so. Not doubting you, but seems like a hidden fare increase to me.

It depends on the ticket, but some have marginally increased in cost while others have marginally decreased in cost.

There certainly wasn't a "big increase" in cost.

Annual tickets are still available.

rawn · 16-09-2014 12:56pm

Probably a very stupid question but sure, isn't the stupid question the one not asked? :P

I have a student travelcard, topped up with a 5 day Rambler. The OP says that student fares are capped on DB at €5 per day. Does that mean I cannot spend more than €5 worth of bus fares before it charges me extra (which defeats the purpose of a rambler IMO), or that no matter how many fares I use in a day, it won't go over €5 (if that even makes sense)?

Also, it was mentioned that with a rambler you tag in the bus at the scan point on the right hand side to use up a day. But if I am only going to use one journey that day I can avoid using up a whole day if I tag on at the driver's scan point?

loyatemu · 16-09-2014 1:09pm

London taking steps to move away from Oyster:
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/sep/16/london-tube-contactless-payments-underground-oyster

LXFlyer · 16-09-2014 1:29pm

rawn wrote: »

Probably a very stupid question but sure, isn't the stupid question the one not asked? :P

I have a student travelcard, topped up with a 5 day Rambler. The OP says that student fares are capped on DB at €5 per day. Does that mean I cannot spend more than €5 worth of bus fares before it charges me extra (which defeats the purpose of a rambler IMO), or that no matter how many fares I use in a day, it won't go over €5 (if that even makes sense)?

Also, it was mentioned that with a rambler you tag in the bus at the scan point on the right hand side to use up a day. But if I am only going to use one journey that day I can avoid using up a whole day if I tag on at the driver's scan point?

If you want to use the epurse and not a day off the rambler ticket, then use the driver's machine. If you want to use a day from your rambler then use the righthand machine.

Using the epurse on a student LEAP card you will not pay more than €5 in a day, or €20 in any given Monday-Sunday period.

To use a day of a 5 day rambler ticket will cost you €4, and a day from the 30 day ticket will cost you €3.33.

Ramblers suit more occasional users who can stump up for the ticket up front.

Epurse suits those who prefer to pay as they go along.

Brigantes · 23-09-2014 11:43am

So I'm getting a Bus Eireann Tax Saver ticket for the first time this year. They've gone over to the Zonal Leap Card, fair enough. Zone 2 to Dublin, that makes sense.

Daft question, but how does it work? I get on and ask for what? A day return, a 7 day ticket or a 30 day ticket? Do I have to present my Leap Card on every single trip or does the bus driver print me out a ticket?

How does the top up thing work? According to the blurb, "Once you have received your Leap Card with your initial Taxsaver product, your employer will continue to renew your monthly or annual Taxsaver product as at present. However instead of receiving a new card each time, you will now go to any Payzone Leap Card agent where you will present your card to the instore validator where your Taxsaver product will be loaded onto your card."

So I go into Spar and do what each month?

Thanks.

LXFlyer · 23-09-2014 11:53am

Brigantes wrote: »

So I'm getting a Bus Eireann Tax Saver ticket for the first time this year. They've gone over to the Zonal Leap Card, fair enough. Zone 2 to Dublin, that makes sense.

Daft question, but how does it work? I get on and ask for what? A day return, a 7 day ticket or a 30 day ticket? Do I have to present my Leap Card on every single trip or does the bus driver print me out a ticket?

How does the top up thing work? According to the blurb, "Once you have received your Leap Card with your initial Taxsaver product, your employer will continue to renew your monthly or annual Taxsaver product as at present. However instead of receiving a new card each time, you will now go to any Payzone Leap Card agent where you will present your card to the instore validator where your Taxsaver product will be loaded onto your card."

So I go into Spar and do what each month?

Thanks.

As you are getting a taxsaver ticket, shortly before the month end it will be ready for loading onto the LEAP card.

To do that you go into your payzone agent before the end of the month and ask them to do a balance enquiry.

By doing that, it will load the new ticket each month onto the card.

When getting onto the bus, you just place your card onto the ticket machine and the driver will see you have a pass. You don't ask for anything as the ticket is already on the card.

Brigantes · 23-09-2014 11:55am

lxflyer wrote: »

As you are getting a taxsaver ticket, shortly before the month end it will be ready for loading onto the LEAP card.

To do that you go into your payzone agent before the end of the month and ask them to do a balance enquiry.

By doing that, it will load the new ticket each month onto the card.

When getting onto the bus, you just place your card onto the ticket machine and the driver will see you have a pass. You don't ask for anything as the ticket is already on the card.

OK, that's straightforward enough. Clearly I over-analysed it!

Thanks!

LEAP CARD - Updated Summary of Cards/Functionality Available - September 2014

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