New Bus Fares

Dravokivich wrote: »

Jervis, Abbey St and Stephens Green aren't city centre any more?

Three locations that are already busy with Luas customers.
Having machines around Dame street, College Green and other busy bus stop locations is what's needed

The issue isn't with "Activating" the topup, it's with receiving it and the machines currently used by Dublin Bus aren't capable of allowing a leap card to so. Word is they are due to start getting new machines next year, so I expect they should be able to with them.

It'll be great if they do, but it should have been something they should have done from the start.

Dravokivich wrote: »

Tag on/off can't really be used on the bus as that validator generally doesn't know where it is.

Why can't they use the same tag off system as the Luas? You could tag on on the bus, and tag off at the bus stop. It would possibly cost a lot to implement (especially at busy stops like Dame Street and Eden Quay, where you'd really need a few of them due to the sheer volume of people at rush hour), but it could work.

To whoever said you should vote with your money, as I student I can't afford to not take the bus. I've to get two buses to college and two buses home. I also need to get a bus to get to work (when I'm called in - I've a zero hours contract). I can't afford to take however-many driving lessons at the moment. I've already got to borrow for my bus fare as it is!

I just saw on Twitter someone saying that with student fares, the weekly cap is €20 even though the five day rambler is €21.50? That's the way it looked when I read the new fares as well anyway. If that's true, it's crazy.

Dravokivich wrote: »

As I said, the validator on the bus doesn't generally know where it is. To do Tag On/Tag off, the destination needs to know the origin to calculate any rebates you should receive.

Ah right, I getcha now!

Chairman Meow wrote: »

Bus fares have incresed year on year now since like, 2006? Yet the service is as bad as it was back then. The onyl 'improvement' i see is the electronic bus timetables which seem most of the time, to make **** up as they go along. '3mins....2mins...7mins, no wait, 1min, no hang on, 25mins'
They have some ****ing nerve upping fares again.

The service is vastly improved in terms of reliability and accessibility compared to what was on offer in 2006. They make inexorable strides year on year. The RTPI is very reliable in my experience. Ironically, it is least effective the closer you are to the actual outbound terminus but the old timetable method is a reliable indicator in such cases anyway.

For sure, there will be some schedule deviations on a daily basis but as someone who gets four or five individual bus journeys a day five days a week (with travel on weekends) they are a rare occurence in my experience.

Anita Blow wrote: »

in general DB service is quite poor in terms of route choice & length. The fact that the 41c takes 55 mins to get into town from Swords, while the Swords Express can get in there in 20 minutes is testament to that. No wonder they're haemorrhaging customers with all these unrealistic route amalgamations.

blame network destruct. the routes take so long because of the nature of dublin busses service, its to make sure that as many areas and people can be served, maybe going back to the old way of fast routes and the slow community social routes when things improve again is what should happen.

Anita Blow wrote: »

Was the subvention even cut in the budget this year?

i believe so?

B0jangles wrote: »

Yes, and that is still dividing the ticket into 5 separately usable units instead of the 10 I currently have.

No matter how you spin it it's at the very best a reduction in choice.

if you travel to Blanchardstown from Shankill on one day and back on another day it would cost you €10.40 as opposed to €5.50

shankill-town €2.60
town-blanch €2.60
blanch-town €2.60
town-shankill €2.60

if you travel both ways only certain days. Each day would cost you €6.90 as opposed to €5.50

I'm a fan of the new €2.05 fare as it makes up the lion's share of my journeys but I could see your point if you have to travel in and out of Dublin to get where you're going.

it's all very well having unlimited travel but if you don't need/use it then it has no added value.