Changing to a Smart Card

Sanjuro

Hi. I'm commute from Ashtown to Tara Street daily. Once in the morning, once home. I currently buy a weekly ticket which costs me €18 a week. I've been considering switching to a Smart Card, however. I was wondering, will this save me much money or is the sole reason for doing it convenience. It's all about the costs for me. I'm looking for the cheapest option. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

snappieT

The Ashtown-Tara Street costs €1.80 each way with the smart card. I suppose if you only travel 5 days a week, then the smart card would be handier, and cost exactly the same. Don't forget those days that you're off work/are sick - it kills me to be wasting rambler days!

Sanjuro

That's brilliant! Thanks a million for that. I guess I'll be getting me a Smart Card!

KC61

Sanjuro wrote: »

Hi. I'm commute from Ashtown to Tara Street daily. Once in the morning, once home. I currently buy a weekly ticket which costs me €18 a week. I've been considering switching to a Smart Card, however. I was wondering, will this save me much money or is the sole reason for doing it convenience. It's all about the costs for me. I'm looking for the cheapest option. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

What if you decide that to take the train into town at the weekend?

You'll have to pay for it if you switch to the smartcard - with the weekly ticket you have that flexibility at no extra cost!

Sure the smartcard is handy, but for exactly the same cost you have the flexibility to make extra journeys with your weekly ticket.

maggy_thatcher

Sanjuro wrote: »

That's brilliant! Thanks a million for that. I guess I'll be getting me a Smart Card!

If you're looking for the cheapest possible option, have you considered getting a Taxsaver annual ticket instead? Even if you are only on the 20% tax bracket, an annual rail only ticket would cost you €721, whereas 48 weeks of weekly tickets would cost you €864. The more you earn, the cheaper the tickets get (for the super-rich, it only costs €463.50).

Sanjuro

maggy_thatcher wrote: »

(for the super-rich, it only costs €463.50).

The system is bizarre. But yeah, I will check that out. Although, the company I work for are a little iffy when it comes to tax things. As in the bike scheme and what have you. So I'll have to talk to them to see if there's something they can do.

schemingbohemia

KC61 wrote: »

What if you decide that to take the train into town at the weekend?

You'll have to pay for it if you switch to the smartcard - with the weekly ticket you have that flexibility at no extra cost!

Sure the smartcard is handy, but for exactly the same cost you have the flexibility to make extra journeys with your weekly ticket.

of course the smartcard should cap the spend to that of a weekly ticket to allow for this....

KC61

That would be even further than Oyster Pay-as-you-go as it only has a daily cap.

Carawaystick

Sanjuro wrote: »

The system is bizarre. But yeah, I will check that out. Although, the company I work for are a little iffy when it comes to tax things. As in the bike scheme and what have you. So I'll have to talk to them to see if there's something they can do.

remind them it saves them employers prsi to do it. that's about 10.7% so seventy quid or so into their pocket. also remind them that you have to settle up the tax even if they make a hames of it, so they've no liability.

How the greens didn;t make it compulsory for all co's to allow this I don;t know.