DART Tickets on Bus

MysticalSoul

I was on the DART on Friday evening, heading into town to see Chicago. The train stopped at Killester for quite some time, before we were told that the bridge that had been struck had been damaged, so would be some time before they would be able to move, and that the tickets would be accepted by Dublin Bus.

About 30 of us were at the bus stop at Killester after getting off the DART, and the bus driver and the first guy on the bus started discussing whether or not the DART ticket would be accepted. Firstly, the bus was directly across from the DART station, and 30 of us would not be lying. I have never experienced that before. After about 10 mins of "discussion" the driver finally rang through to someone to check :rolleyes:. One of the other girls in the queue to get on the bus said to me the same happened last week, and the driver refused the DART tickets, so everyone had to pay :eek:

Colm R

I saw this happening before at the bus stop next to Bus Aras behind the Customs house. The bridge over the Liffey was the one struck. And it was obvious with the crowds on the street that there was something wrong, yet the driver refused to accept our tickets.

P_1

I've had the same problem with Bus Eireann drivers refusing to accept my monthly rail ticket on the 101. I've just printed out a copy of the webpage that says that they should be accepted and have it in the wallet to just show the driver if there is any issue.

Not sure if this is an option for the OPs case, but there's a suggestion for ye.

Victor

Its perfectly right for bus drivers not to accept DART tickets until someone tells him to. For all he knew you could have been a big group kicked off a train for being unruly.

The problem lies in getting the information from on the ground with Irish Rail to on the ground with Dublin Bus.

AlekSmart

The problem lies in getting the information from on the ground with Irish Rail to on the ground with Dublin Bus.

Victor,as ever,has the answer...
Unlike in the olden days,when CIE was one big company,the situation now is all about revenue streams and their protection.

Essentially when DART have some "outage",Dublin Bus will be contacted OFFICIALLY and advised of the situation.

A Time based charging system is then brought into play whereby DART are charged an hourly fee for the useage of BAC`s facilities.

BusDrivers in and about the effected area SHOULD be then advised via radio that DART tickets be honoured but as with many things sometimes the call can be missed or the driver returns from a break unaware that the DART has gone down.....(again... )

The same system applies to Luas and works very well too,but one can be sure its NOT cheap !!!

MysticalSoul

It should not have taken a ten minute discussion before she rang to check though, that should have been her first port of call when she saw so many people, and not try to tell us we had to pay.

paulm17781

MysticalSoul wrote: »

It should not have taken a ten minute discussion before she rang to check though, that should have been her first port of call when she saw so many people, and not try to tell us we had to pay.

While I (as no fan of CIE) understand your frustration, it is up to DB / IE to tell the drivers of this, not the drivers to find out. If she let all of you on and there was no bridge strike, she could have lost her job. I don't agree with this but it is the rules of a draconian company. The problem lies with the complete lack of communication between what is effectively one company not the actions of one driver.