Taxsaver ticket

kryptonmight · 05-12-2013 3:13pm #1

I recently got my annual bus and luas taxsaver travel ticket. I have never had one of these before, do I need to put it into the old metal card readers on the bus or do I just touch it against the reader like I do with my leapcard?

The card just seems to be flimsy card like a regular luas ticket, which makes me think it has no chip in it.

the card isn't valid until January so I haven't had the chance to use it yet.

KD345 · 05-12-2013 3:17pm

Touch it against the Smart Card reader when you enter the bus.

kryptonmight · 05-12-2013 5:23pm

KD345 wrote: »

Touch it against the Smart Card reader when you enter the bus.

Thanks.

Do you have to touch on and off on the luas with those tickets as well?

markpb · 06-12-2013 4:37pm

kryptonmight wrote: »

Do you have to touch on and off on the luas with those tickets as well?

The information flyer on the NTA website says you should tag on and off for Luas but I suspect if everyone with monthly and annual tickets did that, the platforms would quickly grind to a halt. Time will tell.

Ardeehey · 06-12-2013 4:45pm

No need to do anything on the LUAS with it at all, just jump on and off, have it on you obviously for checks but no tagging on/off.

markpb · 06-12-2013 5:00pm

Ardeehey wrote: »

No need to do anything on the LUAS with it at all, just jump on and off, have it on you obviously for checks but no tagging on/off.

That's what I thought but NTA say otherwise:

Leapcard.ie

The ticket that you ordered has been electronically loaded to your TaxSaver Leap Card. You can use your TaxSaver Leap Card on the services where your ticket is normally valid.

If your ticket is valid for Luas, you should Touch On at a Validator on the platform before you get on the tram and Touch Off when you get off the tram.

ballooba · 06-12-2013 5:19pm

I would think the requirement to tag on/off is for reporting reasons. Dublin Bus presumably don't have to worry about such statistics (distance travelled).;) This information would be valuable for accounting purposes and for planning.

markpb · 06-12-2013 5:28pm

ballooba wrote: »

I would think the requirement to tag on/off is for reporting reasons. Dublin Bus presumably don't have to worry about such statistics (distance travelled).;) This information would be valuable for accounting purposes and for planning.

I totally agree with that but if they're moving to a system where the vast majority of passengers are using the validators, they need to relocate them and add a lot more of them ay busy stations. The current platform layout only works well if a small number of people are using the validators.

ballooba · 06-12-2013 5:29pm

markpb wrote: »

I totally agree with that but if they're moving to a system where the vast majority of passengers are using the validators, they need to relocate them and add a lot more of them ay busy stations. The current platform layout only works well if a small number of people are using the validators.

In practice I doubt many annual pass holders use the validators? I know I wouldn't bother.

markpb · 06-12-2013 6:32pm

ballooba wrote: »

In practice I doubt many annual pass holders use the validators? I know I wouldn't bother.

It all depends on if NTA enforce it, I guess. It's hard to see how they could (it wouldn't really be fare evasion) but the data is useless if they don't.

mikemac1 · 06-12-2013 11:29pm

I recieved my 2014 DB & Luas tax saver ticket from my employer. Just a light flimsy card and I wouldn't mind transferring this onto a leap card if I could. Less chance of the ticket getting bent and unusable and also I could load the leap card with some cash for the odd time I use Bus Eireann on Dublin - Ashbourne

I read the leap website and this is possible, I just need to order a personalised leap card first

kryptonmight · 02-01-2014 10:29am

Well I tried the ticket this morning on the Luas tag on/off machine and nothing seemed to happen, no beep or anything. Either I did it wrong or those tickets aren't supposed to be used to tag on and off.

goingnowhere · 02-01-2014 10:55am

kryptonmight wrote: »

Well I tried the ticket this morning on the Luas tag on/off machine and nothing seemed to happen, no beep or anything. Either I did it wrong or those tickets aren't supposed to be used to tag on and off.

Sounds like you have not been issued a LEAP enabled ticket.

So it will work on the leap card reader on Dublin Bus, and is to be shown for inspection on Luas on request

LXFlyer · 02-01-2014 11:22am

Unless you have been issued with a LEAP card then it won't tag on/off on LUAS - it's just a "flash pass", in other words you just need to show it to an inspector if asked.

Validate as normal on Dublin Bus..

kryptonmight · 02-01-2014 1:06pm

Nice one, thanks for the replies.

Carawaystick · 02-01-2014 8:41pm

Ahh
Integrated ticketing
Coming to Dublin soon*

*in geological terms

kryptonmight · 03-01-2014 1:10pm

Are they adding Leap onto the annual cards?

I got my annual bus/luas ticket in December but it only was valid from 1st of January and it doesn't have Leap on it.

Are they planning to replace existing cards?

markpb · 03-01-2014 1:19pm

kryptonmight wrote: »

Are they adding Leap onto the annual cards?

I got my annual bus/luas ticket in December but it only was valid from 1st of January and it doesn't have Leap on it.

Are they planning to replace existing cards?

Monthly and annual Luas tickets are being issued on Leap cards already, I presume DB tickets will happen soon.

thomasj · 03-01-2014 1:55pm

Annual bus and rail is loaded onto personalised leap cards as well.

I started using mine from day 1 its perfect. Have been using the ticket on bus and rail no problem and have loaded credit and tagged on and off on luas as well.

I haven't even being taking it out if my wallet, its great having just the 1 travel card with integrated Id

thomasj · 03-01-2014 1:56pm

markpb wrote: »

Monthly and annual Luas tickets are being issued on Leap cards already, I resume DB tickets will happen soon.

There are people I work with that got the bus only taxsaver option and they got leap cards.

goingnowhere · 03-01-2014 1:57pm

You cannot currently get a combined Luas+other operator Leap Card

Dublin Bus, Irish Rail and Dublin Bus + Irish Rail tickets are now on Leap

icdg · 03-01-2014 2:33pm

Brings the situation back to the original situation of one card for both bus and rail - for the past three years or so the annual bus and rail tickets had been "dis-integrated" to two separate cards, now they are back to one. With the advantage that now you can use the ticket as a Leap card on Luas and Bus Eireann (for this you have to buy credit, of course).

Now what I have been wondering is, what happens at the end of the year when we renew our season tickets? Will we be issued new Leap Cards each year or will the new season ticket simply be added to the existing Leap Card?

thomasj · 03-01-2014 2:56pm

icdg wrote: »

Now what I have been wondering is, what happens at the end of the year when we renew our season tickets? Will we be issued new Leap Cards each year or will the new season ticket simply be added to the existing Leap Card?

Well looking at my leap card details online and it says its valid until 2018, so hopefully common sense will prevail and it will be added to the existing card.

Dravokivich · 03-01-2014 3:11pm

icdg wrote: »

Brings the situation back to the original situation of one card for both bus and rail - for the past three years or so the annual bus and rail tickets had been "dis-integrated" to two separate cards, now they are back to one. With the advantage that now you can use the ticket as a Leap card on Luas and Bus Eireann (for this you have to buy credit, of course).

Now what I have been wondering is, what happens at the end of the year when we renew our season tickets? Will we be issued new Leap Cards each year or will the new season ticket simply be added to the existing Leap Card?

Monthly taxsavers are avail as well. So I doubt they'll be sending out new Leap Cards every month for them.

markpb · 03-01-2014 3:39pm

icdg wrote: »

Now what I have been wondering is, what happens at the end of the year when we renew our season tickets? Will we be issued new Leap Cards each year or will the new season ticket simply be added to the existing Leap Card?

Any subsequent tickets should be available for collection when you tag on at your specified location (Luas, Dart andPayzone, not sure about DB). I'm not clear exactly how this will work, i.e. how early before the start of the ticket can it be collected, if you'll know that it was collected, etc.

kryptonmight · 03-01-2014 5:12pm

I'm confused now. How come my new annual ticket for Dublin bus and luas is just a flimsy paper ticket and not a leap card?

I have a separate leap card that i had been using and i will keep it incase I decide to use the dart or something. But it would be nice to have all in one card and just be able to add credit for the services that are not part of the annual ticket (ie Irish rail)

goingnowhere · 03-01-2014 5:19pm

kryptonmight wrote: »

I'm confused now. How come my new annual ticket for Dublin bus and luas is just a flimsy paper ticket and not a leap card?

I have a separate leap card that i had been using and i will keep it incase I decide to use the dart or something. But it would be nice to have all in one card and just be able to add credit for the services that are not part of the annual ticket (ie Irish rail)

Combined Luas+another operator is not available on leap currently

kryptonmight · 03-01-2014 5:27pm

goingnowhere wrote: »

Combined Luas+another operator is not available on leap currently

Ah ok, that explains it.

Hopefully they will roll that out soon!

Victor · 06-01-2014 9:11pm

Luas-only Monthly and Annual Taxsaver Flexi tickets are being issued on Leap Card.

Multi-operator tickets will be issued on Leap Cards within the next few months. Be sure to read any instructions issued.

The December & January Luas/Bus tickets are still being issued on interim smartcards via Taxsavers (swiped on bus, visual inspection on Luas) until then.

The important part is to keep the card up to date and avoid travelling without valid passes and prevent them from accidentally using previously reported lost cards that will have been hotlisted. The primary reason is to make sure that cardholders avoid incurring Standard Fares for either; not collecting/ renewing their Taxsaver tickets*, or travelling with a hotlisted card/ product.

Not many people understand that their card has to be kept up to date with their ticket orders. A lot of people think that it is an online system that checks their account details every time they tag their card or it is inspected. Unfortunately smartcard systems don’t work that way and require the card to be kept up to date. We accept that it requires a change in behaviour from the previous paper tickets, but this is no different to the requirement to validate your card on entering a bus, or entering or leaving a train station.

* Sometimes there are delays at the employer level in clearing payments, which too can cause delays in distribution of tickets to cardholders.

podgeandrodge · 06-01-2014 9:23pm

so if I am getting a Luas ONLY taxsaver yearly card soon, and this is in the form of a leap card, and I load credit onto it, is it clever enough to know not to take credit away when travelling on Luas and only charge it when getting a bus?

LXFlyer · 06-01-2014 9:25pm

Yes it is.

Victor · 06-01-2014 9:58pm

podgeandrodge wrote: »

so if I am getting a Luas ONLY taxsaver yearly card soon, and this is in the form of a leap card, and I load credit onto it, is it clever enough to know not to take credit away when travelling on Luas and only charge it when getting a bus?

Yes.

There had been an issue with Irish Rail annual tickets and e-purse functionality, but I'm not aware of any with Luas.

Feel free to come back to us with any observations.

kryptonmight · 07-01-2014 10:46am

Tried my ticket on the bus yesterday and it seemed to work fine.

Regarding multi operator annual tickets, will existing tickets be re-issued as leap cards at some point? My annual ticket just started this month.

LXFlyer · 07-01-2014 11:33am

Unless you specifically request it, you will keep your ticket until it needs to be renewed in January 2015.

kryptonmight · 03-02-2014 10:39pm

I got a job offer last week and assuming there are no hiccups, I will most likely be leaving my current workplace who I have an annual taxsaver ticket through. I won't need the taxsaver ticket anymore as the new job is close to where I am living.

Can I just give the card and ID back to my current employer without having to pay the remaining price of the ticket? As it stands I asked them to deduct the payment over 12 months and the ticket has only been valid since the start of January this year so I have only had payment deducted from one wage packet so far.

LXFlyer · 03-02-2014 11:32pm

kryptonmight wrote: »

I got a job offer last week and assuming there are no hiccups, I will most likely be leaving my current workplace who I have an annual taxsaver ticket through. I won't need the taxsaver ticket anymore as the new job is close to where I am living.

Can I just give the card and ID back to my current employer without having to pay the remaining price of the ticket? As it stands I asked them to deduct the payment over 12 months and the ticket has only been valid since the start of January this year so I have only had payment deducted from one wage packet so far.

You should return the ticket to your current employer and then they can get a refund of the unused portion.

Davexirl · 04-02-2014 7:46pm

Is the 'Annual Short Hop Commuter Rail, DART & Dublin Bus' ticket a Leap Card with a digital photo on it?

LXFlyer · 04-02-2014 7:48pm

Since February 1st such tickets are now issued on a LEAP card, yes.

Carawaystick · 05-02-2014 1:38am

kryptonmight wrote: »

I got a job offer last week and assuming there are no hiccups, I will most likely be leaving my current workplace who I have an annual taxsaver ticket through. I won't need the taxsaver ticket anymore as the new job is close to where I am living.

Can I just give the card and ID back to my current employer without having to pay the remaining price of the ticket? As it stands I asked them to deduct the payment over 12 months and the ticket has only been valid since the start of January this year so I have only had payment deducted from one wage packet so far.

Strictly speaking, this is a private matter between you and your employer, your contract should outline what happens here ( but I bet it doesn't)

Your employer has bought a ticket for you either as a bonus
or as a salary sacrifice
or as some hybrid where some of the cost is a bonus and some is some salary sacrifice.

If it's salary sacrifice, you will have some written evidence of these change to your terms and conditions. And they'll more'n likely say you agree to deducting the cost of an annual ticket from your pay, so the balance will more than likely be withheld from ble to both get a refund for the remainngyour final pay, if you choose to leave.

Your employer, if they were a-holes, may be able to both get a refund for the remaining months and deduct you the cost as you agreed in writing to get the tax relief. Unfortuneately. ble to both get a refund for the remainng
It's the thing with being the one real tax break for the working person, it can screw you too.

Collie D · 06-02-2014 2:18pm

kryptonmight wrote: »

I got a job offer last week and assuming there are no hiccups, I will most likely be leaving my current workplace who I have an annual taxsaver ticket through. I won't need the taxsaver ticket anymore as the new job is close to where I am living.

Can I just give the card and ID back to my current employer without having to pay the remaining price of the ticket? As it stands I asked them to deduct the payment over 12 months and the ticket has only been valid since the start of January this year so I have only had payment deducted from one wage packet so far.

As poster above said it probably depends on your employer. I know in my annual application to join the scheme it states that if we leave the company we have to pay the balance out of our final pay-cheque but that's my company's rules - nothing to do with Taxsaver.ie. I also have some vague memory of them being non-refundable but I'm not certain on this point.

kryptonmight · 06-02-2014 3:17pm

Balls. Just checked, looks like I will be deducted the outstanding amount.

Can I get a refund or something from Dublin bus directly? I won't need the ticket after i change jobs.

LXFlyer · 06-02-2014 3:24pm

kryptonmight wrote: »

Balls. Just checked, looks like I will be deducted the outstanding amount.

Can I get a refund or something from Dublin bus directly? I won't need the ticket after i change jobs.

If your employer insists on deducting the full amount, there is nothing you can do - that's their prerogative.

They bought the ticket from Dublin Bus, not you, I'm afraid. It is absolutely up to your employer what they do.

I'd have to question why you ordered an annual pass and then barely a month later decided to change jobs?

kryptonmight · 06-02-2014 3:50pm

lxflyer wrote: »

If your employer insists on deducting the full amount, there is nothing you can do - that's their prerogative.

They bought the ticket from Dublin Bus, not you, I'm afraid. It is absolutely up to your employer what they do.

I'd have to question why you ordered an annual pass and then barely a month later decided to change jobs?

The job offer was unexpected, I wasn't looking around for something else.

Nice empty pay packet for me this month then.

murphy2 · 06-02-2014 4:03pm

Cancelling Annual Tickets / Smart Cards

Iarnród Éireann/Dublin Bus

Please note that Annual products are based on a 10 month rate, with two months free and this discount is withdrawn if the ticket is cancelled so the refund/credit is based on the regular monthly rate by the number of months used.
Your Annual ticket/card must be returned to Iarnród Éireann/Dublin Bus from your employer by Registered Post or Courier no later that 5th of the month.
If you cancel your DART/Commuter Rail, Dublin Bus Only, Short Hop Rail & Dublin Bus, Rail & Luas or Dublin Bus & Luas ticket/card before eight months have expired then you may be due a refund on your ticket.
If you cancel your Point-Point Intercity ticket before ten months have expired then you may be due a refund.
Annual Tickets purchased through the taxsaver Commuter Scheme normally have employer conditions that can vary from company to company. It is advisable to seek clarification with your company administrator before seeking a refund.
There is no refund given to Replacement Annual Tickets that were lost, stolen or destroyed during the year.
Refunds on Annual Tickets will be calculated as follows: The cost of the appropriate Monthly Ticket multiplied by the number of months used is deducted from the amount paid for the Annual Ticket. There is no administration fee involved.

Just took that off the taxsaver website, so it looks like your employer can be refunded the majority of the ticket so hopefully they pass that benefit on to you and you receive some pay this month :-)

LXFlyer · 06-02-2014 4:07pm

Yes - but it is up to the employer to decide whether they bother to do that or not!

Phil.x · 04-03-2018 10:20am

A short hop rail ticket through tax saver scheme is €109.34 per month if paying 20% tax.

Am I right in thinking it would cost me more than what I'm paying to leap at €100 per month if I got this tax saver ticket.

Where is the saving?

magicbastarder · 04-03-2018 11:18am

well, if you're currently spending €100 a month, a ticket costing €109 will be more expensive. no saving for you.

howiya · 04-03-2018 11:22am

Phil.x wrote: »

A short hop rail ticket through tax saver scheme is €109.34 per month if paying 20% tax.

Am I right in thinking it would cost me more than what I'm paying to leap at €100 per month if I got this tax saver ticket.

Where is the saving?

For the same ticket, the weekly cap on Leap is €37. So if you were reaching the cap there would be a saving. Most people don't though. If you do two journeys a day 5 days a week you won't hit the cap. The value is in the unlimited nature of the ticket and obviously if you were paying 40% there would be a saving on the price of the ticket.

Taxsaver ticket

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