€10 fares on all trains coming in weeks: Sunday Times

kn

There is an article in today's Sunday Times about train times and car journey times between our cities and comparing them now that the motorways have made car journeys quicker.

In the article Barry Kenny stated that the online promotional €10 fares that are available on just some trains will be extended to all trains shortly. To get the €10 fare you have to book them in advance. The first line that will be offering the €10 fare on all services will be the Galway line in the coming weeks.

Blink182rock

very good.. you don't have a link to the site where we can book

kn

Blink182rock wrote: »

very good.. you don't have a link to the site where we can book

www.irishrail.ie is the site.

Although the €10 fares are currently available on some services, they are available literally up to before departure for those services. What I gather they are doing is making the €10 fare available on all trains but you might have to book 14 or 21 days in advance I guess.

madmoe

The cheaper fares always seem to be at bad times! Mad early in the morning or like the last train at night....

danjo-xx

madmoe wrote: »

The cheaper fares always seem to be at bad times! Mad early in the morning or like the last train at night....

true but that's why they offer them..... to put bums on seats:D

johndoc

madmoe wrote: »

The cheaper fares always seem to be at bad times! Mad early in the morning or like the last train at night....

Horse****
Plenty of promo €10 promo fares at peak times. If there's a promo on, and you try to book it, I've never had any problems getting a train to suit

tommy21

johndoc wrote: »

Horse****
Plenty of promo €10 promo fares at peak times. If there's a promo on, and you try to book it, I've never had any problems getting a train to suit

Nope, not in my experience. Unless your peak times are like 10.30 or 11.30 in morn (Cork to Dublin) or 9.30 at night (Dublin to Cork).

Dman001

Was just looking at some of the prices on the Irish Rail website but couldn't find anyway €10 fare for the route I want to take. Absolute joke at some of those prices, and it is the same with Bus Eireann. I don't understand why you need a Student Travel Card to get the Student Fare, why cant you use your Student Card for your college? Public Transport is an absolute joke here.

tommy21

Dman001 wrote: »

Was just looking at some of the prices on the Irish Rail website but couldn't find anyway €10 fare for the route I want to take. Absolute joke at some of those prices, and it is the same with Bus Eireann. I don't understand why you need a Student Travel Card to get the Student Fare, why cant you use your Student Card for your college? Public Transport is an absolute joke here.

You can use your college id for bus eireann, but irishrail insist on milking a little more out of you.

madmoe

tommy21 wrote: »

Nope, not in my experience. Unless your peak times are like 10.30 or 11.30 in morn (Cork to Dublin) or 9.30 at night (Dublin to Cork).

Exactly Tommy21! I have found the same as you mate!

KerranJast

"Transport company in charging what they like at peak times and having promotional fares at quiet times to encourage demand...shocker!!". Hmm I need to shorten that if I want to get that job at The Sun.

Iarnród Éireann are just doing a Ryanair on it. Deal with it.

kn

KerranJast wrote: »

"Transport company in charging what they like at peak times and having promotional fares at quiet times to encourage demand...shocker!!". Hmm I need to shorten that if I want to get that job at The Sun.

Not quite. What they are doing is precisely to move away from that model which they are operating at present. As Tommy says on the line I use they offer the €10 fare on the 9.15 and 19.15 to Dublin and the 11.00 from Dublin. The intention is to offer the €10 fare on all services to those who book far enough in advance - presumably 14 or 21 days in advance.

JennyAnt

Is there a section on the site which shows all the €10 fares available?

kn

JennyAnt wrote: »

Is there a section on the site which shows all the €10 fares available?

I think there is. But what I do is enter the journey and date and all services then come up. Then just click the euro symbol on the right and the online price comes up.

tommy21

kn wrote: »

I think there is. But what I do is enter the journey and date and all services then come up. Then just click the euro symbol on the right and the online price comes up.

Only way I know how to do it too. At one stage they had a banner on the site that gave you the exact times, but this is now gone, and when it does appear leads to some other sort of promotion.

kn

Item on this coming up during Matt Cooper's programme.

JimmyAlfonso

Just heard that too and came on here looking for the info but guess he's got the scoop!

kn

From what I gather the cheapest fares will come available 4 weeks prior to travel and it will be a case of first come first served as fares will rise as demand rises.

cc87

So does that mean that you will end up paying more if you book the day before, than you would pay at the moment if you were booking the day before??

Spanish Eyes

I'd hazard a guess that the premium time trains will have to be booked well in advance, whereas (I hope....) the lesser used services will be on a first come first served up to time of travel as it is now.

That kinda makes sense, but I never see sense with Irish Rail really. We shall see...

tommy21

For those who missed, today's show is here: http://www.todayfm.com/Shows/Weekdays/Matt-Cooper/podcasting/LastWordPodcasts.aspx

See third link down.

dastardly00

I was just on the website booking train tickets, it was my first time using it in a couple of months. When did they decide to introduce a €2 transaction fee?..... a bit sneaky in my opinion as it wasn't always there :mad:

Bluetonic

dastardly00 wrote: »

I was just on the website booking train tickets, it was my first time using it in a couple of months. When did they decide to introduce a €2 transaction fee?..... a bit sneaky in my opinion as it wasn't always there :mad:

How is it sneaky? It's clear to see and not in any way hidden.

dastardly00

Bluetonic wrote: »

How is it sneaky? It's clear to see and not in any way hidden.

sneaky isn't probably the best word for it. But that transaction fee wasn't always there. Offering online specials, but then adding on an extra fee, reduces the saving that you are supposedly making by purchasing the ticket online in advance.

madmoe

I totally agree. Saving on one hand then taking it away from you again!!

milkycoffey

The (awkward) way I find out what the price is is just to put in the times and run your cursor down the right hand side where the € sign is and the price for that particular train will appear beside it.
They don't really like to advertise when you can get the cash off

Bluetonic wrote: »

How is it sneaky? It's clear to see and not in any way hidden.

The transaction fee was only for the credit cards before which is the way generally but they've introduced the €2 for the laser which doesn't make too much sense as I don't think it's charged elsewhere.:mad:

Glad to hear they're bringing in more €10 fares again though because they have been fazing them out for the last 2 months.
And don't forget to add in your code from O2 if you are travelling to receive 20% off.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055982408&page=5