Iarnród Éireann Commuter Ticket Price Increase 1 November 2008

KC61

Brace yourselves for this news, which comes from a letter from IÉ to Taxsaver Scheme administrators.

Basically all Short Hop Monthly and Annual Tickets are to increase in price significantly from 1 November 2008, due to a combination of increased costs and in an effort to have a consistent pricing structure for the Short Hop zone and for longer distance commuters.

The increases are:

Short Hop Rail Only Tickets
Annual Commuter Rail/DART
Current Price EUR 890
New Price EUR 1,030

Monthly Inner Short Hop Zone
Current Price EUR 90
New Price EUR 103

Short Hop Rail & Bus Tickets
Annual Short Hop Bus/Rail
Current Price EUR 1,035
New Price EUR 1,190

Short Hop Rail & LUAS Tickets
Annual Commuter Rail/DART and LUAS
Current Price EUR 1,250
New Price EUR 1,435

Monthly Short Hop Rail and LUAS
Current Price EUR 125
New Price EUR 143

Short Hop Rail, Bus & LUAS Tickets
Annual Commuter Rail/DART, Bus and LUAS
Current Price EUR 1,520
New Price EUR 1,750

Annual Commuter Rail, DART, Feeder Bus and LUAS Heuston-Connolly
Current Price EUR 1,090
New Price EUR 1,230

Monthly Short Hop Rail, Bus and LUAS
Current Price EUR 152
New Price EUR 175

The letter goes on to say that any other changes to Taxsaver prices will be advised in due course.

ardmacha

So much for moderate price increases.

How can the difference between Rail and Bus and Rail, Bus and LUAS tickets be justified in any rational system? If you include the LUAS, all 2 lines of it, then you don't necessarily travel more, just by a different mode. This is not integration.

Short Hop Rail & Bus Tickets
Annual Short Hop Bus/Rail
Current Price EUR 1,035
New Price EUR 1,190

Short Hop Rail, Bus & LUAS Tickets
Annual Commuter Rail/DART, Bus and LUAS
Current Price EUR 1,520
New Price EUR 1,750

paulm17781

I have an annual ticket for Bus and Luas, while I'd love to have added rail the 500 euro difference was enough to put me off.

loyatemu

short hop bus and rail:

2005 - €910
2006 - €945
2007 - €980
2008 - €1035
2009 - €1190

an impressive 31% increase over 4 years. Good to see the govt doing their best to tackle inflation.

KC61

loyatemu wrote: »

short hop bus and rail:

2005 - €910
2006 - €945
2007 - €980
2008 - €1035
2009 - €1190

an impressive 31% increase over 4 years. Good to see the govt doing their best to tackle inflation.

I think that the large increase for Short Hop tickets has been on the cards for sometime unfortunately. It really boils down to the point that has been argued on this site many times and is referred to in the letter, namely:

"in an effort to have a consistent pricing structure for the Short Hop zone and for longer distance commuters".

Ste.phen

Is that increase more or less than the normal inflation rate?
(I'm actually not sure - not trying to be a smartarse)

Tipsy Mac

Close to a 15% increase for me. I suppose my fuel and electricity bills have gone up greater than this but people should expect subsidies to reduce costs and encourage public transport use. 15million is been spent on climate change awareness, this would purchase 75 new buses for Dublin Bus.

AlekSmart

The Real point here is that not for the first time we see a central Government which truly does not grasp what Public Transport is actually about.

With the exception of the Tax Saver scheme (Which SHOULD be a standard centrally administered and COMPULSORY,a la PRSI,scheme)we have no indication that Government actually WANTS any more customers using Public Transport.

With wholesale Motor Spirit prices now retreating dramatically the impetus is being lost as the Minister for Transport wonders aloud if Dublin actually requires any more Buses at all......:o

Watching and listening to recent performances from Brian Cowen and his lesser Ministers I have been left with a rather uncomfortable sensation that these lads have NO IDEA about what to do next....am I alone in being scared ??? :rolleyes:

thomasj

KC61 wrote: »

I think that the large increase for Short Hop tickets has been on the cards for sometime unfortunately. It really boils down to the point that has been argued on this site many times and is referred to in the letter, namely:

"in an effort to have a consistent pricing structure for the Short Hop zone and for longer distance commuters".

So what does this mean for the longer distance commuters?

KC61

thomasj wrote: »

So what does this mean for the longer distance commuters?

I would imagine that the percentage increase will be significantly less than for the Short Hop zone.

IÉ appear to be attempting to address the disparity in commuter ticket prices between, for example, tickets bought at Gormanston (outside the short hop area) and Balbriggan (inside the short hop zone), which has been a constant complaint over the years as the numbers of longer distance commuters has soared.

Unfortunately, for those of us in the Short Hop Zone, it's a fairly hefty rise to take in one go.

thomasj

KC61 wrote: »

I would imagine that the percentage increase will be significantly less than for the Short Hop zone.

IÉ appear to be attempting to address the disparity in commuter ticket prices between, for example, tickets bought at Gormanston (outside the short hop area) and Balbriggan (inside the short hop zone), which has been a constant complaint over the years as the numbers of longer distance commuters has soared.

Unfortunately, for those of us in the Short Hop Zone, it's a fairly hefty rise to take in one go.

Thats an understatement, between this and the pay parking debacle its not doing their popularity any good they seem to be getting a bit of a bashing and deservidly so. Sounds like the joint commitee tore into them yesterday!

BluntGuy

Well it's a 15 - 31% increase by the looks of it.

Fine by me.

Well... if there'd been a 15 - 31% improvement in the services.

Sadly though, an Ireland where that has happened exists solely in our imaginations.

In this Ireland, such a price increase is unwarranted and comes at a very bad time for consumers.