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Dublin train ticket machines + Credit Cards

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  • 28-07-2009 9:29pm
    #1
    Random
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19,082 ✭✭✭✭


    Was getting a train the last day from Maynooth to Tara St. The machine wouldn't take coins - only notes or Credit Card / Laser.

    Looking at a sign on the machine it said min transaction €5 with a card, but the machine screen suggested exceptions were being made as the machine was out of change.

    Is there usually a minimum cost? I remember being in the subway in LA / Washington and just using my credit card in the machines even for $2 fares .. dead handy!


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    #2
    godtabh
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 23,204 Mod ✭✭✭✭godtabh


    Random wrote: »
    Was getting a train the last day from Maynooth to Tara St. The machine wouldn't take coins - only notes or Credit Card / Laser.

    Looking at a sign on the machine it said min transaction €5 with a card, but the machine screen suggested exceptions were being made as the machine was out of change.

    Is there usually a minimum cost? I remember being in the subway in LA / Washington and just using my credit card in the machines even for $2 fares .. dead handy!

    i used my laser card on saturdy for €3.10

    as far as i know it costs alot if you are only buying small amounts on cc for the shop and thats why they have a min transaction value


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    #3
    J_Dublin15
    Registered Users Posts: 217 ✭✭J_Dublin15


    Slightly off-topic, but does anyone know why the ticket machines are not fitted with chip and pin devices? At the moment they are an easy target for people to commit credit/debit card fraud with, Only a few weeks ago I was at Cork Station and I saw two gentleman talking about this very subject and that they frequently borrow someone elses card without them knowing to pay for tickets as they don't need chip & pin.

    Surely from a security point of view the fact you could rob anyones card and just use it in the machine is a severe security issue? The chip and pin machines are avaliable and have been implemented on similar machines in other countries, so I wonder why it has not happened in Ireland.

    There really is no excuse for taking such a lax attitude to security, however Irish Rail would be far from the only company in this country to have this attitude, as I recall LUAS allowed this too. Tesco and Superquinn did at self service checkouts too and there was quite a fuss created about this which meant it got fixed.


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    #4
    L1011
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 67,854 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1011


    Cost, I suspect. Tesco took pay at pump off petrol stations due to the cost of fitting chip and pin after retailers lost protection against fraud for unverified transactions, for instance. The encrypting pinpad devices are also VERY flimsy compared to the machines and this is a country full of idiots that'd actively try to damage them...


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    #5
    fh041205
    Registered Users Posts: 992 ✭✭✭fh041205


    Luas machines are the same. Always thought it was very strange that they cards didn't need to be verified. Would be all too easy for someone to swipe a card and print out all the tickets they need.


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    #6
    Random
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19,082 ✭✭✭✭Random


    I liked not having to put a PIN in. For such small transactions like that I'd be happy to take the risk :)


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    #7
    fh041205
    Registered Users Posts: 992 ✭✭✭fh041205


    Unless you lose it and someone charges 20 monthly tickets on it an sells them on for half the price.


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    #8
    zagmund
    Registered Users Posts: 2,501 ✭✭✭zagmund


    I don't get it - the smallest little shop in a shopping centre has chip and pin - what's the problem with the likes of Tesco & Irish Rail ? I know someone said cost, but as above, teeny tiny shops don't have a problem so how come the large shops do ?

    I arrived down to the station a while back (probably 2+ years ago) without any cash and tried to buy a ticket on credit card, but I got stuck with the minimum purchase problem. I can't remember how I got around it, but I may have got back on my bike and cycled to work instead. If they are really concerned about the cost of using the cards then why not give people the option to pay an extra 20c or 50c or whatever if they want to buy a ticket below €5 ? At least that way some revenue is generated instead of the customer walking (or cycling) away.

    z


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    #9
    J_Dublin15
    Registered Users Posts: 217 ✭✭J_Dublin15


    Some good points here - Pretty much All the machines in the UK Rail network now have chip and pin from what I've seen I know a few of the operators simply didn't take credit cards for a while from self services machines just after chip and pin became mandatory and you could only do so from the ticket office, but on my last visit they all had devices fitted in every station I went to.

    Speaking of cards being verified at LUAS, those machines seem very picky in what they take, a few friends of mine have had problems when visiting Ireland, they seem to only take Ireland issued cards, which is a bit strange, as a VISA is a VISA, seems a little bit silly blocking say UK issued cards out like my friends have found.


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    #10
    Random
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19,082 ✭✭✭✭Random


    fh041205 wrote: »
    Unless you lose it and someone charges 20 monthly tickets on it an sells them on for half the price.
    This didn't occur to me at all. Never bought such tickets. Fair point.


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    #11
    L1011
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 67,854 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1011


    fh041205 wrote: »
    Unless you lose it and someone charges 20 monthly tickets on it an sells them on for half the price.

    You report it lost, Luas loses the cost of the 20 tickets as the credit card company won't cover it as they don't use chip and pin....


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