Smart Card Questions!!

dan_d

I'm not a usual user of this forum, but I've a question I hope you guys can answer.

I know there's been some serious jigs and reels over Smartcards in the last few years, but I can't find the answer to this question anywhere.

The pre-paid Smartcards that now appear to be available on the rail lines (I'm on the Dublin-Dundalk line)...can these be used on Dublin bus aswell yet?? I'm not worried about the LUAS, won't be using that.But if I could get the one card for the bus and train, and just top it up when necessary, it would be unbelievably great. (I'm not holding out too much hope on this working out, btw!!!)

My transport use is not daily, so I'm looking for a ticket with a good bit of flexibility.

Stevek101

The Dublin Bus/Luas ePurse ticket is currently on trial. Its said to be working well on the selected DB routes and with all Luas services. The initial ePurse card was suppose be released in April with DART/Commuter services joining later in the summer.

The project has recently been delayed till mid-late summer 2011. However Dublin Bus, Luas, DART and Commuter services will now go live together, at least this is the current plan...

markpb

dan_d wrote: »

The pre-paid Smartcards that now appear to be available on the rail lines (I'm on the Dublin-Dundalk line)...can these be used on Dublin bus aswell yet??

If you mean the Irish Rail ePurse card, then no - they're not interchangeable with Dublin Bus. If you mean the weekly/monthly Irish Rail tickets then sort-of. The smart card part is not usable on DB smartcard readers but the magstripe part is. This is entirely because the Dept. Of Transport ordered them not to even though it was technically simple.

The new ITS card (which is in pilot right now) will work across all three operators.

goingnowhere

The ITS ePurse ticket is NOT under trial currently its at least a month away. ITS annual tickets are being tested currently


Irish Rail smartcard is only good within the circle formed by Balbriggan/Howth/Greystones/Hazelhatch/Maynooth and M3 Parkway

Carawaystick

goingnowhere wrote: »

The ITS ePurse ticket is NOT under trial currently its at least a month away. ITS annual tickets are being tested currently


Irish Rail smartcard is only good within the circle formed by Balbriggan/Howth/Greystones/Hazelhatch/Maynooth and M3 Parkway

It works down south as far as Kilcoole (but only a few times a day)

I got a new annual bus and rail tickets. Last year the smartcard readers in Rush and Lusk and Balbriggan wouldn't read the smartcard but the ones in Connolly/Tara/Pearse would.
This year it's the reverse...
The mind bogggles.

goingnowhere

Irish aRail wrote:

The Smart Card can be used for rail travel between stations within the 'Short Hop Zone'. This Zone includes all stations in the Dublin area from Greystones to Balbriggan and Commuter Stations from Dublin City Centre to Maynooth and from Dublin Heuston to Hazelhatch

https://www.irishrail.ie/smartcard/pages/welcomeHelpIV.jsf

Kilcoole is not on the list and is not fitted

dan_d

Thanks for that link goingnowhere....I did scour the Iarnrod Eireann site last night, but I just couldn't find anything to tell me what I needed to know. (cunningly hidden!)

I also emailed IE to ask the question - they've sent me 2 emails to tell me they'll endeavour to answer the question ASAP, but they haven't sent me answer yet. Guess it fits into their overall "not there yet, but getting there" motto...

Right, well thanks guys. I knew it was hoping too much to think I might be able to get one card that I could top up at will and use between the bus and train. Basically I'll be going from Rush/Lusk to town 2 or 3 nights a week....sometimes it may be a case of getting the train in and the bus home, depending on which leaves sooner (usually neither do, they all leave town at the same time:rolleyes::rolleyes:), and I was trying to figure out the most economical way to do it.Don't want to buy a monthly combined bus and rail ticket because it's not worth it, but nor do I want the weekly versions because I may use them for 6 journeys one week, then once the next week, so again, not the best option. I noticed the smartcard top up options on the machine the last day, and was wondering would this be an idea.

Thanks again.

LXFlyer

dan_d wrote: »

Thanks for that link goingnowhere....I did scour the Iarnrod Eireann site last night, but I just couldn't find anything to tell me what I needed to know. (cunningly hidden!)

I also emailed IE to ask the question - they've sent me 2 emails to tell me they'll endeavour to answer the question ASAP, but they haven't sent me answer yet. Guess it fits into their overall "not there yet, but getting there" motto...

Right, well thanks guys. I knew it was hoping too much to think I might be able to get one card that I could top up at will and use between the bus and train. Basically I'll be going from Rush/Lusk to town 2 or 3 nights a week....sometimes it may be a case of getting the train in and the bus home, depending on which leaves sooner (usually neither do, they all leave town at the same time:rolleyes::rolleyes:), and I was trying to figure out the most economical way to do it.Don't want to buy a monthly combined bus and rail ticket because it's not worth it, but nor do I want the weekly versions because I may use them for 6 journeys one week, then once the next week, so again, not the best option. I noticed the smartcard top up options on the machine the last day, and was wondering would this be an idea.

Thanks again.

I would suggest getting both an Irish Rail smartcard and a Dublin Bus 10 Journey Travel 90 smartcard ticket, the latter being available at any Dublin Bus ticket agent.

The Dublin Bus 10 Journey Travel 90 ticket is excellent value, costing EUR 18.50, and is valid for approximately 18 months and allows you to take 10 journeys during that period. For each of those journeys you can use an unlimited number of buses provided you board the final bus within 90 minutes of boarding the first.

So for example you could board a 7 in Blackrock at 1800 inbound. Take a 16 at 18.45 from O'Connell Street to, say Drumcondra, and then board a 33 at 19.25. All of that will count as one journey and cost you EUR 1.85.

For you, it would allow you to travel home for EUR 1.85 on the 33, which is much cheaper than the cash fare.

Similarly the IE smartcard offers you a discount on the cash fare, but is not quite as generous as the DB Travel 90.

dan_d

Unfortunately the 90 minute window doesn't work, as I'll be in the city for much longer periods than that.

But thanks anyway. I picked up a Smart card today, so I'll start with the trains and see how that goes.

Thanks everyone.

LXFlyer

dan_d wrote: »

Unfortunately the 90 minute window doesn't work, as I'll be in the city for much longer periods than that.

But thanks anyway. I picked up a Smart card today, so I'll start with the trains and see how that goes.

Thanks everyone.

You are missing my point! The 90 minutes feature is an added bonus. You can just use it for a single journey each way on the 33 and 33X (that would mean 2 journeys used).

By getting the Travel 90 ticket you can get the bus for EUR 1.85 into town from Rush rather than paying cash - the cash fare between Rush and the city on the bus is far greater.

Therefore by having both the IE Smartcard and the Dublin Bus Travel 90 smartcard you have more options and better flexibility- you could go in by train using that card and return by bus using the Travel 90 or v.v. and still save money on both legs. The Travel 90 smartcard is valid on both the 33 and 33X.

I would assume that you would be likely to make more than 10 single journeys by bus in the next 18 months - if so spending the EUR 18.50 on the Travel 90 ticket is a worthwhile investment.

dan_d

Oh sorry! Got you now:o
Thanks!

LXFlyer

Note the difference in single fares:

Irish Rail Smartcard - EUR 4.00
Dublin Bus Travel 90 - EUR 1.85

It's a huge difference and the Travel 90 is valid on the 33X.

Carawaystick

goingnowhere wrote: »

https://www.irishrail.ie/smartcard/pages/welcomeHelpIV.jsf

Kilcoole is not on the list and is not fitted

http://www.taxsaver.ie/Ticket-Types/Annual-Tickets/Annual-DARTCommuter-Rail-Only/ says it's in the short hop zone. I've a smart card annual ticket, so the smart card regeime extends to Kilcoole

Victor

There is a link to the Irish Rail smart card pages on the front of their site using this icon:

Carawaystick wrote: »

http://www.taxsaver.ie/Ticket-Types/Annual-Tickets/Annual-DARTCommuter-Rail-Only/ says it's in the short hop zone. I've a smart card annual ticket, so the smart card regeime extends to Kilcoole

No. There are no readers at Kilcoole.

TaxSaver would appear to be wrong.

goingnowhere

The op's question was about the epurse smartcard - it is not valid at Kilcoole

Annual tickets are valid as they don't need to be tagged on or off

For technical reasons only 1 station in Dublin can be smartcard available without readers thats Broombridge

Carawaystick

goingnowhere wrote: »

The op's question was about the epurse smartcard - it is not valid at Kilcoole

Annual tickets are valid as they don't need to be tagged on or off

For technical reasons only 1 station in Dublin can be smartcard available without readers thats Broombridge

If only one station in Dublin can be smartcard available ( technical reasons such as lack of bombproofness is it) then surely one station in Wicklow can be included.

Are Dunboyne and the M3 stations included? They are on an annual ticket.

L1011

How do you get the refund between the default fare (4.30 I think) and the actual fare for, say, Connolly to Broomebridge on a smartcard?

Victor

MYOB wrote: »

How do you get the refund between the default fare (4.30 I think) and the actual fare for, say, Connolly to Broomebridge on a smartcard?

Either you are a registered Broombridge user or you have to phone them.

L1011

Victor wrote: »

Either you are a registered Broombridge user or you have to phone them.

Archaic, but at least there's something there.

markpb

MYOB wrote: »

Archaic, but at least there's something there.

I thought so too but it's hard to see a workable alternative in a place like Broombridge. IIRC you just need to register once and it can figure it out automatically after that.