What a disgrace, Luas Prices up 5.5%

dub_commuter

What a big disgrace this is., look how much they are going up by, when the country is in the economic state it is. The Herald and the press this afternoon are having kittens over it about how the prices should be going down and not up. At least CIE are not putting their prices up by such a large margin....oh hang on!!!

Yes, I'm being sarcastic, just found it incredible that the media are deciding to go on the rampage about how much the LUAS fares are going up, but seem to be very reluctant to mention that CIE are putting their fares up by almost twice that, so the fares going up on the LUAS is not really as bad as they are making out.

bazzer

Sex sells newspapers. Luas is sexy. Buses are not, so the attitude is: "Let them eat cake".

AlekSmart

The point should be made that LUAS fares have since Day 1 been set at a very expensive level when compared to the Dublin Bus fare structure.

Dublin Bus fares are and will remain one of the cheapest available in any EU capital city.....try finding a main stream western EU Capital City with a fare of €1.05 :pac:

Why the RPA were allowed to set LUAS fares at such a high level accompanied by a hugely over complex zone arrangement multiplied by 2 Green/Red lines is beyond me

InkSlinger67

Luas is sexy? Must be the red line!

AlekSmart

Well,headin in,it`s sexy as far as Blackhorse...then there`s a bit of a lacunae :P before it regains it`s sex appeal at Heuston.....:D

Cool Mo D

Dublin bus fares are only €1.05 if you're travelling within walking distance. To travel any distance on the bus it's a lot closer to €2. And Dublin Bus have the stupidest, most unclear fare structure of any company. A "stage" may have been relevant in the days of William Martin Murphy, but they are more than a little outdated now.

AlekSmart

Agree totally with Cool Mo D on the Dickensian nature of BAC`s secret fare/stage structure.

However the Fare/Stage combo is a requirement to preserve a cash flow for the company in the absence of a viable subvention from the Government. :rolleyes:

However the €1.05 fare tends to be the universally popular one with a huge amount going far further than " just down the road "...Bud.

However even at €2 one would be gettin a 21st century bargain...City Centre to Kilmacanogue....City Centre to Swords.....c`mon now thats cheep...and if you bother ur arsxe to buy a Travel 90 it drops to €1.80 at the moment

Trampas

dub_commuter wrote: »

At least CIE are not putting their prices up by such a large margin....oh hang on!!!

Yes, I'm being sarcastic, just found it incredible that the media are deciding to go on the rampage about how much the LUAS fares are going up, but seem to be very reluctant to mention that CIE are putting their fares up by almost twice that, so the fares going up on the LUAS is not really as bad as they are making out.

My tax saver pass for Irish Rail has gone up 20% since last year.

Buy a bike and you will have it paid off in no time. Might even get money of the boys in Leinster house to give you a few quid towards it

bk

London Bus, £1 (€1.07) for any length of journey.

dub_commuter

As said before, the obvious solution is to put cash fares up, and bring smart card fares down. For whatever the failing of the LUAS pricing, I feel it has the positive points of follows.

- Charging extra for peak tickets as singles to try and reduce the number of people buying two singles every day. The people who moan about this are the downfall of their own problems. The build up of people at ticket machines every day twice a day is incredible and this tries to deal with that

- By putting smart card fares up less than the price of the daily tickets, again tries to encourage more usage of smart cards and less usage of cash transactions. Obviously the Luas smart card project could be developed better, so it can add travel cards to it like the Oyster in London.

AlekSmart

AlekSmart wrote: »

However even at €2 one would be gettin a 21st century bargain...City Centre to Kilmacanogue....City Centre to Swords.....c`mon now thats cheep...and if you bother ur arsxe to buy a Travel 90 it drops to €1.80 at the moment

Got a Travel 90 there during the week, cost me €17 as usual but the price was blacked out with permanent marker. It looks like it says €23.50 underneath, if so then that's an insane increase in price. Though I did hear about CIÉ's financial woes earlier.

KC61

bk wrote: »

London Bus, £1 (€1.07) for any length of journey.

GBP 1 on Oyster but the cash fare is GBP 2.

bk

KC61 wrote: »

GBP 1 on Oyster but the cash fare is GBP 2.

True, but pretty much irrelevant, given the price difference almost everyone uses Oyster.

Plus Oyster is well integrated with other forms of public transport.

Yakuza

Karsini wrote: »

Got a Travel 90 there during the week, cost me €17 as usual but the price was blacked out with permanent marker. It looks like it says €23.50 underneath, if so then that's an insane increase in price. Though I did hear about CIÉ's financial woes earlier.

I bought one the other day, but it looked like the blacked out fare was 19.50 (which is still a lot more than 10% of €17!).

L1011

AlekSmart wrote: »

Dublin Bus fares are and will remain one of the cheapest available in any EU capital city.....try finding a main stream western EU Capital City with a fare of €1.05 :pac:

This was brought home to me when I found out that the flat fare on Brighton & Hove Buses was more expensive than an Outer Suburban 1 fare here (£1.80 vs 2 euros). Even their inner city short-hop fare; £1.30, is OTT for the miniscule area it covers - our equivalent is the 70c shoppers fare.

Apparently B&H Buses are cheap for regional UK operators!

Nalz

InkSlinger67 wrote: »

Luas is sexy? Must be the red line!

37 is a sexy bus

MiniD

The annual bus/rail/luas ticke has gone up by an average of 15%. I would expect regular fares to go up something similar.

According to this evenings RTE news, we will now have to pay more for a less frequent service. Great.

AlekSmart

True, but pretty much irrelevant, given the price difference almost everyone uses Oyster.

Plus Oyster is well integrated with other forms of public transport.

And this surely is the salient point which EVERYBODY,especially those at the very top choose to ignore when dealing with Dublins Public Transport problem.

Every damn Fare "adjustment" (These people inhabit a world where they can never admit to a negative) has to be in the time honoured tradition of across the board.
Jack up the cash fare to a FLAT €2. Adult and €2 Child ....!
Leave the Travel90 Ticket Unaltered at €17 Adult.

That Child bit is THE Important bit....the younger you begin the education process the easier it is to shape the future..

Get the CHILD familiar with the savings of using a Smart Card Prepaid ticket and paying .80c per journey or allow that child the benefit of paying for their reluctance to learn....there`s democracy for ye.

REDUCE the cost of ALL Taxsaver Scheme Public Transport Tickets by 10% IMMEDIATELY.
Make the damn thing CHEAP and IMPROVE the service quality and level across the board and yes,they will come !

Sadly over the past few years we have become accustomed to simply ponying up the money for everything without question and that has allowed lacklustre administrators to reign supreme.

How can the current Secretary General of the Dept of Transport be elegible for any bounus payments after her Departments collective failure to achieve anything concrete after spending €30 Million + on an Integrated Ticketing programme which as yet has delivered nought ?

And yes...bk is quite correct to point to the wonderful London Oyster model BUT remember that Oyster system has and continues to be HEAVILY promoted with a view to totally cashless operation within 10 years...

We,in our mad little statelet,run by half witted bumpkins,barely able to remove their snouts from the trough long enough to grunt,remain resolute in our opposition to reality.......Vote Yes to Lisbon...that`ll sort it all out....wait until the posters start going up !!!

antoinolachtnai

The 'headline' lowest fare doesn't really mean a lot.

The EUR 1.05 fare is subsidized to the amount of 54 cents on a per passenger basis according to 2007 figures. The per-trip subsidy in 2008 is going to work out about 59 or 60 cents. This is a big increase on 10 years ago.

That 59 or 60 cents excludes the capital grant, which I think is worth a further 10 or 11 cents. We are now headed for a 70 cents/trip support. That is quite a respectable subsidy.

The 2009 subsidy will be higher still. Fewer services will be provided however, and this will result in the appearance that the subsidy is not particularly good value for money.

Terrontress

There is no sense in comparing Dublin and London bus prices. In terms of frequency of services, particularly at off-peak times, information at stops and on board and flexible ticketing, London wins hands down. My one gripe with London Buses is that kids all get free transport and people with Travelcards have to pay no extra to board. This leads to people taking bus journeys that they ordinarily would not so the buses are always crowded and have to stop at every single stop!

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

Terrontress

There is no sense in comparing Dublin and London bus prices. In terms of frequency of services, particularly at off-peak times, information at stops and on board and flexible ticketing, London wins hands down. My one gripe with London Buses is that kids all get free transport and people with Travelcards have to pay no extra to board. This leads to people taking bus journeys that they ordinarily would not so the buses are always crowded and have to stop at every single stop!

dowlingm

This leads to people taking bus journeys that they ordinarily would not

From a congestion standpoint, that's a feature, not a bug. Since I got a metropass here in Toronto I get off the streetcar to get groceries and get back on rather than getting the subway home and then getting in the car.

D'Peoples Voice

Cool Mo D wrote: »

Dublin bus fares are only €1.05 if you're travelling within walking distance. To travel any distance on the bus it's a lot closer to €2. And Dublin Bus have the stupidest, most unclear fare structure of any company. A "stage" may have been relevant in the days of William Martin Murphy, but they are more than a little outdated now.

Must agree, it cost me EUR 1.70 to get the number 10 bus from Outside Sachs Hotel on Morehampton road over to Phibsborough church!
Neither Donnybrook or Phibsborough are way out of town I would have said!

Terrontress

dowlingm wrote: »

From a congestion standpoint, that's a feature, not a bug. Since I got a metropass here in Toronto I get off the streetcar to get groceries and get back on rather than getting the subway home and then getting in the car.

Sorry, I didn't explain myself properly. People in London get the bus for distances they would walk in Dublin because they either have a travelcard or are entitled to free travel. For a bus user travelling a long distance it's a bit annoying.

Trampas

why do people when they refer to london and public transport always refer to buses and not the underground.

The underground is not cheap £4 for a single or £7 for a day pass.

Terrontress

Trampas wrote: »

why do people when they refer to london and public transport always refer to buses and not the underground.

The underground is not cheap £4 for a single or £7 for a day pass.

I think it's £5.90 for a day pass for four zones which covers bus, tube, tram, commuter train, overground and discounts on river services. Bus only is £3 a day city wide. I think the £4 single on the tube is for cash. You can pay £5.50 for an Oyster and get £4 back as you leave your destination.