How to calculate Dublin bus fare

DjFlin

I was thinking today about the rising prices of tickets.

When I started college, a 5 Day Student Rambler was €15. Now its €16.50. Thats a 10% rise in two years. Which wouldn't be that big of an issue, if the buses on my route hadn't been cut by about 25%

AlekSmart

An excellent,if repeated topic.

The first issue requiring IMMEDIATE action from Dublin Bus is to ensure the integrity of whatever "system" it purports to operate.

Currently,although Dublin Bus claims to operate a Stage based Fare System....
http://www.dublinbus.ie/en/Fares--Tickets/Fare-Information/

.....actually utilising it correctly (and legally) as required ....

Stages

The number of stages travelled is calculated by deducting the boarding stage number from the alighting stage number

Passengers boarding between stage points pay the
appropriate fare from the preceding stage point.

Passengers alighting between stage points pay the appropriate fare to the next stage point.

All route stages are listed under the timetables.

....is well nigh impossible as the Company has endeavoured to remove ALL stage numbers from the respective Bus Stops.

It is worth noting that whilst stages are indeed listed under the timetables,they are in many cases ambiguously described with ample scope for mistake and subsequent unseemly argument.

I contend that NONE of the Companys fare-calculation requirements can be carried out presently (by Customers OR Staff),as the relevant identifying numbers have been removed.

DjFlin : I was thinking today about the rising prices of tickets.

When I started college, a 5 Day Student Rambler was €15. Now its €16.50. Thats a 10% rise in two years. Which wouldn't be that big of an issue, if the buses on my route hadn't been cut by about 25%
Today 16:39

DjFlin hits a home run here with the very pertinent point that the Company is continually being asked to erode any financial benefit of Pre-Paid Ticket Use in order to maintain a totally unsustainable €1.20 Baseline fare.

If it were my call,In the absence of any structured Government National Fares Policy,I would have made a HUGE song & dance out of freezing the cost of pre-paid smart card based tickets whilst upping the cash fare by c.10%+.

This is the same policy being adopted by the majority of our Utility companies now as they offer considerable discounts for on-line billing and direct debit payments.

However,all that being said....what can be done immediately and at minimal cost is to identify the stages to customers (and Staff) on the ground.
This was the standard practice with our Stage System for over 40 years,so both customers and staff are due an explanation as to why the decision was taken to envelop the process in a cloak of mystery.