Rip off Irish Rail

tmc86

Can anyone explain to me the reasoning behind bumping up prices by Irish Rail?

They have increased them again and reduced the offerings of the €20 trains down to Cork.

It is riduculous that in this day and age there is so much difficulty in getting from Dublin to Cork and back - It's a comprimise between time or money.

The aircoach is the cheapest option but takes a crazy amount of time thanks to all the stops along the way and the company have failed to see the benefits of an express service which would travel along the motorway. I'm not saying these would be as frequent as the current service but maybe ever 2nd/3rd hour.

Now if I want to get to Cork in a reasonable time the train is the way to go however at peak it will cost around €75 return? - how is this justified when it would cost that for one person to drive up and back and still have petrol left over.

It's a farce. I wanted to go to Cork for the bank holiday and take the Friday off work but if I cant get a lift down I am not wasting my money on the train since it is peak prices Thursday evening and most of Friday and don't want to waste 8+ hours of the bank holiday sitting on a bus.

Rant over

ElNino

Cheaper online rail fares? Not necessarily

BRIAN O'CONNELL

SMALL PRINT: IRISH RAIL this week announced plans to bring in a new pricing structure reminiscent of budget airlines, based on cheaper fares for passengers who book in advance on the Dublin-Cork route. This follows trial runs on the Dublin-Galway route, whereby some passengers could avail of fares as low as €1 in recent weeks.

Under the new system, there will be €10 one-way fares available on all Dublin-Cork trains, but once these sell out, then the pricing structure returns to more expensive fares.

At 9pm on Monday, there were no special fares available online for a same-day Dublin-Cork return journey on Tuesday. All fares quoted were €36 each way, plus additional booking charges, of €2 or €3, depending on your payment method.

However, at Kent Station in Cork on Tuesday morning, a five-day return ticket for the same route could be bought for €71, with no additional booking charges, making it cheaper and more cost-effective to buy tickets at the train station.

In recent years, Irish Rail has launched a focused marketing drive promoting online fares and booking procedures as the most cost-effective way to book fares. although the new pricing structure has drawn criticism from some customers online.

Irish Rail spokesman Barry Kenny said the new system was set up to provide discounts for customers who book early on an increased number of trains. He didn’t rule out the possibility that fares may be sold for as little as €1, but no decision has been taken on offering fares this low as of yet.

Responding to the fact that it may be cheaper to buy tickets at train stations now instead of online, Kenny said: “An online booking system does have the added benefit of a seat reservation and single fares are always cheaper online . . . though clearly [discounted seats] are not likely to be available on busy trains the day before departure.”

He said that those customers who availed of €10 fares were delighted with the service, while others had queried the pricing structure change. “Booking habits will most likely change in response to this,” he said.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2011/0511/1224296685831.html

Looks like price gouging to me

munchkin_utd

no. Its not a rip off.
again as said on other fourms/ threads.

Irish rail only a few years back had NO cheap tickets for the general public.
Cork Dublin was 70Euro return, or 60Euro one way and that was that.
Pay the fare or spend 5/6+ hours on a bus

Now (similar to everyones beloved ryanair) by being flexible or booking in advance you can save money.
Busy trains (same as planes) cost more when the cheap tickets are sold out.

I fail to see the problem.
That there ARE cheap tickets in the first place is good.
That cheap tickets are not available in unlimited numbers is to be expected.

Should every train at every time just have all seats at a tenner?
I cant imagine how many 100's of million extra subsidy from the taxpayer that'd require. Your intercity ticket is already subsidised by 15 or 20 euro each way as it is ( IIRC)

tmc86

So their excuse is that they are offering €10 trains to Cork (which have to be booked 2/3 weeks in advance of the travel date) and instead have reduced the number of €20 tickets which used to be available even 2 days before a trip.

Their "low budget airline" strategy is effectively a way of raising prices under the pretence that they are doing us a favour by offering cheap trains when booked a couple of weeks in advance yet overall availablity of cheaper tickets has decreased substantially.

It's not as if train passenger numbers have fallen, if anything they have probably increased as a result of petrol prices so essentialy we are being done over twice.

tmc86

I'm not saying that every service should have cheap tickets, that wasnt the case before the price hike so obviously it won't be now. The peak services all still maintained their €36 one way price. The €20 tickets were at certain off peak times.

However now the price is €37 for peak trains and these services are generally very busy or nearing capacity (morning and evening services towards the end of the week)

So Irish rail are making €1 extra on each passenger during peak times in order to offer a €10 ticket to those customers who book in advance. I feel that the number of people who actually book that far in advance is considerably subsized by that extra €1 for everyone else.

The price is one side to it the other is the fact that Irish Rail are pretending that they are doing us a favour, its an advertising stunt which if doesn't work they will make more money from the price increases than before the new strategy however if more passengers do book in advance, they will be covered. Its a win win for them and the regular passenger loses out unless they are planning and book a trip 2/3 weeks in advance.

Now I'd love to be able to plan and book a trip 2/3 weeks in advance but that sadly isnt always the case. So next time I'll have to plan my trip well in advance and save money or plan a nice little return flight to Europe for the same money if not less than it would take me to get to Cork and back on the train if i was to book it a week in advance.

I have just checked Ryanair and for €3 less than a return ticket to cork I can fly to Paris and back.

si_guru

tmc86 wrote: »

I have just checked Ryanair and for €3 less than a return ticket to cork I can fly to Paris and back.

...Beauvais and back.

tmc86

Ha that's the one Si_guru!:pac:

That was my plan for the bank hol as I have friends in Paris but flights were 140 a week ago!

Maybe Irish Rail should follow the new "low budget airline" price strategy and bring prices down closer to the trip like everyone's favourite -Ryanair

munchkin_utd

tmc86 wrote: »

Maybe Irish Rail should follow the new "low budget airline" price strategy and bring prices down closer to the trip like everyone's favourite -Ryanair

although ryanair will increase the cost of a flight to silly money for services that are in demand
i.e. to get back from London on all flights from Gatwick tomorrow is 193 pounds one way.
but unlike ryanair, Irish rail has a standard (top) price whereas ryanair can, and does, just invent randomly high prices if they think they can get someone to pay it.

ejmaztec

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=69689121

Irish Rail are robbers, pure and simple.

Rezident

I don't understand the train prices, the "cheap online" tickets to Galway are around €50 but the bus for €20 is actually grand. Much better than it used to be int eh old days, and quicker with the new roads.

maxer68

If you think Irish rail is expensive, try traveling by rail on the UK. You'll think Irish rail is bargain basement

YFlyer

tmc86 wrote: »

I'm not saying that every service should have cheap tickets, that wasnt the case before the price hike so obviously it won't be now. The peak services all still maintained their €36 one way price. The €20 tickets were at certain off peak times.

However now the price is €37 for peak trains and these services are generally very busy or nearing capacity (morning and evening services towards the end of the week)

So Irish rail are making €1 extra on each passenger during peak times in order to offer a €10 ticket to those customers who book in advance. I feel that the number of people who actually book that far in advance is considerably subsized by that extra €1 for everyone else.

The price is one side to it the other is the fact that Irish Rail are pretending that they are doing us a favour, its an advertising stunt which if doesn't work they will make more money from the price increases than before the new strategy however if more passengers do book in advance, they will be covered. Its a win win for them and the regular passenger loses out unless they are planning and book a trip 2/3 weeks in advance.

Now I'd love to be able to plan and book a trip 2/3 weeks in advance but that sadly isnt always the case. So next time I'll have to plan my trip well in advance and save money or plan a nice little return flight to Europe for the same money if not less than it would take me to get to Cork and back on the train if i was to book it a week in advance.

I have just checked Ryanair and for €3 less than a return ticket to cork I can fly to Paris and back.

The railway line has to be built and maintained.

gypsy_rose

munchkin_utd wrote: »

Irish rail only a few years back had NO cheap tickets for the general public.
Cork Dublin was 70Euro return, or 60Euro one way and that was that.
Pay the fare or spend 5/6+ hours on a bus

:eek: 70 euro return?! you've got to be joking! I thought 50 euro return from Dublin to Westport was bad

foggy_lad

gypsy_rose wrote: »

:eek: 70 euro return?! you've got to be joking! I thought 50 euro return from Dublin to Westport was bad

Before the change there was a lot more low price tickets available up to 30 days in advance and a much better chance of getting cheap tickets fit next day travel.

Now there is only a few seats(literally) at the cheapest rate and there are more fares at higher rates than before. You can now only book 28 days in advance but fewer people will get the cheaper rates so will decide against rail and get the bus which in most cases is faster and a he'll of a lot cheaper.

ejmaztec

maxer68 wrote: »

If you think Irish rail is expensive, try traveling by rail on the UK. You'll think Irish rail is bargain basement

I don't think that U.K. Rail operates here.

keithclancy

ejmaztec wrote: »

I don't think that U.K. Rail operates here.

What else do you have to compare it to.

ejmaztec

keithclancy wrote: »

What else do you have to compare it to.

Being stabbed in the eye with a fork.

goingnowhere

There are ways to get a better deal if you plan ahead and even get discounts on the full price

If you are an O2 customer, on Tuesday you can get 10-15% off any booking

Some nice tips and explanations here
http://www.railusers.ie/passenger_info/online_tickets.php

Mr. Presentable

tmc86 wrote: »

I have just checked Ryanair and for €3 less than a return ticket to cork I can fly to Paris and back.

And then you have to take a train to actual Paris.........

garhjw

irish rail is badly managed. that is why they are unable to come up with a business model which enables them to provide competitive low fares

keithclancy

Vicious Circle though, people don't use the train becuase its rubbish, and CIE won't put money into the Service because people won't use the train.