Luas fares announced

John R

Connex have announced fares and timetables for the Green Line (Sandyford - Stephens Green) today.

A single from Sandyford to Stephens Green will be €2 a return fare will be €3.80

The minimum fare "from stop to stop" will be €1.30 and €0.80 for a child.

The service will run for 19 hours a day from 5.30am - 12.30am

Details of other fares have yet to be announced.

jank

hmmm seems steep when compared to other european countries.

Tom Dunne

Originally posted by jank
hmmm seems steep when compared to other european countries.

Can't that be said about most things in Ireland?

embraer170

Dare I say ridiculous.

Instead of a stop based system, I was hoping a zone one would be introduced (integrated with Dublin bus). Of course that was too much to ask.

John R

Originally posted by jank
hmmm seems steep when compared to other european countries.

Steep when compared to Dublin Bus and DART fares also.

DadaKopf

It's 0.75p to ride the buses in London inside one zone. €1.30 is equivalent to 0.88p, which isn't all that much dearer. And it's always down to the service the company provides.

That said, I'm not too enthralled about it being run by Connex (CON-ex), but they might do an OK job and give Dublin Bus a right kick up the hole.

Tommy Vercetti

the minimum fare isn't very minimal either

BuffyBot

Originally posted by DadaKopf
It's 0.75p to ride the buses in London inside one zone. €1.30 is equivalent to 0.88p, which isn't all that much dearer. And it's always down to the service the company provides.

That said, I'm not too enthralled about it being run by Connex (CON-ex), but they might do an OK job and give Dublin Bus a right kick up the hole.

London now has a £1 flat (bus) fare, irrespective of journey lenght/zones.

As for Connex - well, only time will tell. They've pretty much killed any chance of being liked within the UK, having lost their rail franchise due to the mess they made of it (or were given, depending on which side you believe). They've also sold their London Bus operations to National Express, possibly because they felt their brand was so badly damanged from the rail franchise debacle, leaving them with only bus operations is Jersey as their sole UK business.

However, they do have a better record outside the UK - so it might be possible that they will run the Luas quite well. Time will tell, I guess.

aerialhead

Connex just make me despair. They already lost TWO rail contracts in the UK, the second time, they had the audacity to ask for millions more to bail them out, and they still couldn't operate on time.

I'm just watching to see if any of the management team from those operations end up here.

And as for the fares!! What is the point of making the Luas dearer than the bus? With the number of bus lanes now in operation, where is the incentive to take the damn light rail?!

maxheadroom

Connex do a great job in scandinavia, so hopefully some of that expertise will be brought to bear here. As for the fares, they're way too expensive, and I'm worried as to how high the fares will be on the longer Tallaght route now... Hopefully once the ITS gets off the ground it will be competitive compared to these cash fares.

DadaKopf

If by 'Scandinavia', you mean Copenhagen, I read somewhere that their transport privatisation was a disaster. But I don't know if actually Connex operates there.

But it *is* typical of this government to go for the cheapest tender, instead of taking a bit of time (all of 5 minutes) to peruse Connex's track record (no pun intended).

BuffyBot: well, if it's £1, they've changed it in the year since I was last there. I beg forgiveness, please.

Sarsfield

Connex is a private company. If they can fill trams at €3.80 then why would you expect them to charge less?

I agree with the pricing. Iarnrod Eireann should be allowed to do the same. If they could set DART and suburban fares to control demand, they could still fill all their trains AND earn enough revenue to make further investment in the service.

With the current situation where they have to beg the minister to allow even minimal price increases, IE gets blamed for both the overcrowding and the poor service.

BuffyBot

If by 'Scandinavia', you mean Copenhagen, I read somewhere that their transport privatisation was a disaster. But I don't know if actually Connex operates there.

They operate in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.

But it *is* typical of this government to go for the cheapest tender, instead of taking a bit of time (all of 5 minutes) to peruse Connex's track record (no pun intended).

Connex's record in the UK, while woeful, doesn't appear to be indicitative of their performance worldwide. I travelled on the dreaded Connex South East franchise and it really was terrible. It made Iarnrod Eireann look like a dream. However, Connex ran a good bus service on the London routes it won contracts for with a fleet of clean, comfortable and modern vehicles and a good level of service. Perhaps it is a bit early to tar them as a disaster on the basis of the UK rail franchise experience.

BuffyBot: well, if it's £1, they've changed it in the year since I was last there. I beg forgiveness, please.

I think it was introduced last October/November for cash fares

Victor

http://home.eircom.net/content/unison/national/3199727?view=Eircomnet

Luas fares dearer than Dublin Bus
From:The Irish Independent
Saturday, 15th May, 2004

THE Luas still does not have a confirmed start date, but it has set its fares, it was announced last night.

A single journey on the entire length of the Green Line, between Sandyford and St Stephen's Green, will cost €2, and a return journey €3.80. A minimum fare of €1.30 will apply, or 80c for children.

This compares with a €1.65 single on Dublin Bus for the same journey, and a minimum fare of 85c.

Liam Cahill, spokesman for the tram service, said there would be 14 trams on the line, each with 80 seats and capacity for 300 passengers. The total journey will take 22 minutes, passing through 13 stops.

The trams will run at least every five minutes, for 19 hours on weekdays between 5.30am and 12.30am, and will start at 6.30am on Saturdays and 7.30am Sundays.

Operating company Connex has promised a free weekend for families immediately after the official opening of the service.

However, it remains to be confirmed when that launch will be.

Mr Cahill said: "We are committed to beginning the service before the end of June. We have not yet announced a public date."

The Red line, from Tallaght to Connolly Station, will run from August.

Helen Bruce

Slice

The Luas may be more expensive but it is also faster to get into town by Luas than it is by bus or car - Surely this has to be factored when considering the prices.

rs

John R has a point.

Personally I think the prices are bit steep.

But if you can save a significant amount of time on the journey, I doubt too many people will complain.

I'd gladly pay an extra 35 cent a journey if I knew that I'd be home in 45 minutes on a tram instead of an hour and a half on a bus.

Genghis

So there will be no integration whatsover with Dublin Bus / Irish Rail tickets? I won't be able to use my weekly Rail and Bus ticket on the Luas, then.

Victor

Originally posted by Genghis
So there will be no integration whatsover with Dublin Bus / Irish Rail tickets? I won't be able to use my weekly Rail and Bus ticket on the Luas, then.

There will be integration - at some point. The RPA are in charge of that project also.

LFCFan

Originally posted by Victor
There will be integration - at some point. The RPA are in charge of that project also.

Great, by then I'll have a bloody bus pass anyway

mollser

They'll lose a fortune for this very reason:

Fare dodging is going to be rediculously high, which will only be exasperated by the very high fares, thus increasing the incentive to dodge fares!

They appear to be running the fares system on the European honesty method, where they believe that they should pay for all fares at all times. (The Germans must be highly commended for this!). However, being Ireland, a hell of a lot of people are not going to pay the fares.

With no turnstiles, and no readers on the trams to validate tickets, people will take their chances of not getting caught. And, how are they going to have inspectors going around the trams during the rush hours, when the trams are going to be jam packed in a Japanese fashion.

In fact, so small are the trams, I have my doubts that anyone will be able to board this thing once it leaves Sandyford between about 8:15 and 9.

There will be integration - at some point. The RPA are in charge of that project also.

Good fcuk, its not like they've had long enough to sort that out now, is it????


Excellent - free transport to the city!!!

Genghis

mollser,

the RPA have been building a tram service for the last 4 years. There will be plenty of time to sort out the whole integrated ticketing thing later. YOu didn't expect them to be able to do two things at once, did you. C'mon man, get a grip!

Victor

Originally posted by mollser
They appear to be running the fares system on the European honesty method, where they believe that they should pay for all fares at all times. (The Germans must be highly commended for this!). However, being Ireland, a hell of a lot of people are not going to pay the fares.

It's relatively simple, put a [strike]customer service representative[/strike] ticket checker at every door of the tram.

Wrestlemania

Here's a question how do we actually pay for a ticket is there a conductor are there machines, can you buy them in a shop. This is baffling me.

Anyone know.

To be honest fares unfortunately are the sign of the times but if I live in say Tallaght and was out in town to 12, two or three euro from abbey street to the square would be very handy. And have a nice cheese burger as we go along

Victor

Originally posted by Wrestlemania
Here's a question how do we actually pay for a ticket is there a conductor are there machines, can you buy them in a shop.

There will be machines at every stop. Ticket checkers, no conductors. There may be other options, but I don't know yet.

Wrestlemania

Originally posted by Victor
There will be machines at every stop. Ticket checkers, no conductors. There may be other options, but I don't know yet.

Cheers Victor just like Germany and other places then.

Hopefully the vandals dont wreck them :mad:

thegills

Cheers Victor just like Germany and other places then

There are no ticket checkers at each tram door in Germany, just machines to validate your tickets at the entrance to the stations. There are plain clothes checkers who you might see once in a blue moon. In Germany though they have power and you have to carry a passport around; if you get checked and you have no ticket there's no way out, they'll get you eventually. How will this be policed on the Luas when you are not obliged by law to carry any fomal identification on your person. The fun will start when the Tallaght line opens.

Wrestlemania

Thats what I meant, oh defintely when the tallaght line, there is going to be some hassle as with buses the bus driver has some degree of protection and is needed in a place like that.Poor Luas driver.