Student Travel Card

breakfasttime

Hi
I know that Trinity has the express student travel card service and I was just wondering if you have to be a member of the college to use it?
Thanks!

Kwekubo

You don't have to be from Trinity, you just need an acceptable student ID from your university or college.

Lawliet

Kwekubo wrote: »

You don't have to be from Trinity, you just need an acceptable student ID from your university or college.

Really, cause a friend of mine from UCD tried to get one this week and was told she had to be a Trinity student

Kwekubo

Lawliet wrote: »

Really, cause a friend of mine from UCD tried to get one this week and was told she had to be a Trinity student

I see. I haven't got my card for this year yet, but when I was in there at this time last year I distinctly remember people from another college (DBS, if I recall correctly) were getting travel cards. Perhaps the policy has changed this year, or perhaps it depends who is at the counter.

breakfasttime

I'll pop in and ask so! Thanks for the help.

Larianne

Lawliet wrote: »

Really, cause a friend of mine from UCD tried to get one this week and was told she had to be a Trinity student

Well I was in there yesterday and a girl in front of me from another college got the card there. Maybe it depends on who you get at the counter?!

My boyf and I got ours together, and he goes to Maynooth and there was no problem!
This was about a week ago.

Fluorescence

I go to griffith and couldn't get one there today

languagenerd

That's really weird, one of my friends from UCD got one there last year. Maybe depends who's on at the time?

Jammyc

I don't understand the logic of why someone wouldnt be served. Its not like they're ineligble, the form even asks what University you're studying in, which you have to fill in - studying in Trinity or not.

Lawliet

Jammyc wrote: »

I don't understand the logic of why someone wouldnt be served. Its not like they're ineligble, the form even asks what University you're studying in, which you have to fill in - studying in Trinity or not.

Maybe the people at the counter aren't told whether or not they should serve people from other colleges and some just assume they shouldn't

Daire McNab

Jammyc wrote: »

I don't understand the logic of why someone wouldnt be served. Its not like they're ineligble, the form even asks what University you're studying in, which you have to fill in - studying in Trinity or not.

Simply ticking a box does not prove that one is eligible for a Travelcard. Everyone, whether they attend Trinity or any other school/college, has to prove they are a student at the time of their application. The staff are all well aware of how the system works, as it is quite relevant to their job.

Jammyc

Daire McNab wrote: »

Simply ticking a box does not prove that one is eligible for a Travelcard. Everyone, whether they attend Trinity or any other school/college, has to prove they are a student at the time of their application. The staff are all well aware of how the system works, as it is quite relevant to their job.

And so showing a valid student card from a university that isn't Trinity doesn't count?

Daire McNab

No, it does. Anyone can get a Travelcard, they just have to prove that they are a student.

Larianne

For the people that got refused, did your form have the college stamp on it? Maybe that is the reason you were refused a card?

breakfasttime

I went and got mine today. I filled out the form while I was there and had to have a valid student card from my college to prove I was a student and that was all. There wasn't any hassle at all - which is quite confusing, seen as it seems to be hit and miss according to above posts

Daire McNab

IT IS NOT HIT AND MISS!!

To get a Travelcard, all one has to have is one of the following-

-A valid student photo ID card
-A letter from the school/college with course dates + photo ID
-A filled-in application form which has been stamped and dated by the school/college + photo ID

Anyone who fulfills any of the above 3 criteria gets a Travelcard, irrespective of what institution they attend. There is no luck involved.

Jammyc

Daire McNab wrote: »

IT IS NOT HIT AND MISS!!

To get a Travelcard, all one has to have is one of the following-

-A valid student photo ID card
-A letter from the school/college with course dates + photo ID
-A filled-in application form which has been stamped and dated by the school/college + photo ID

Anyone who fulfills any of the above 3 criteria gets a Travelcard, irrespective of what institution they attend. There is no luck involved.

Incorrect, a letter from the school/college is only required for postal applications, otherwise your student I.D. is sufficient to get you a travel card. Also, the form doesn't have to be stamped & dated by the school/college unless it is a postal application, and so the letter stamped by school/college is unnecessary in that case.

See here.

Daire McNab

Yes. A student ID card was one of the 3 different criteria, OF WHICH ONLY ONE NEEDS TO BE MET, that I mentioned.

Jammyc

I don't understand the problem then? It doesn't matter anyway!

In other news, I forgot to renew my card before Christmas and ended up paying heaps in adult fare getting in and out of town in the new year. Finally got the new card yesterday, grr.

languagenerd

Daire McNab wrote: »

IT IS NOT HIT AND MISS!!

To get a Travelcard, all one has to have is one of the following-

-A valid student photo ID card
-A letter from the school/college with course dates + photo ID
-A filled-in application form which has been stamped and dated by the school/college + photo ID

Anyone who fulfills any of the above 3 criteria gets a Travelcard, irrespective of what institution they attend. There is no luck involved.

I'm not sure you understand... We're not saying that people are not eligible for a Travelcard, we're talking about the Travelcard office in Trinity which would appear not to be sure about giving cards to people from other colleges. In which case, there is luck involved, because sometimes the people in the office accept other colleges' cards, and sometimes they don't.

Daire McNab

languagenerd wrote: »

I'm not sure you understand... We're not saying that people are not eligible for a Travelcard, we're talking about the Travelcard office in Trinity which would appear not to be sure about giving cards to people from other colleges. In which case, there is luck involved, because sometimes the people in the office accept other colleges' cards, and sometimes they don't.

I know the place we are talking about. They always accept cards from other colleges, as long as the cards are in date. The people referred to in this thread who have been refused a Travelcard would have failed to meet any of the 3 aforementioned criteria.

languagenerd

Daire McNab wrote: »

I know the place we are talking about. They always accept cards from other colleges, as long as the cards are in date. The people referred to in this thread who have been refused a Travelcard would have failed to meet any of the 3 aforementioned criteria.

Not necessarily, one of them's a friend of mine and I've seen her (valid) student card...

Daire McNab

She must've forgotten to bring it when she applied for the Travelcard. If she met any of the 3 criteria, she would've been issued with one on the spot.

Lawliet

Daire McNab wrote: »

I know the place we are talking about. They always accept cards from other colleges, as long as the cards are in date. The people referred to in this thread who have been refused a Travelcard would have failed to meet any of the 3 aforementioned criteria.

My friend presented a valid student card and was still refused, so you're wrong about them always accepting cards from other colleges.

Daire McNab

No. We always accept valid cards from other colleges. At least, we always have for the four and a half years I've worked there.

Lawliet

Daire McNab wrote: »

No. We always accept valid cards from other colleges. At least, we always have for the four and a half years I've worked there.

You can say that as much as you want, but it's simply not true to claim that everyone at the counter always accepts other students cards when there are people being turned away.

Steve Higginson

Lawliet wrote: »

My friend presented a valid student card and was still refused, so you're wrong about them always accepting cards from other colleges.

Are you sure your friend had their student card with them? Is it possible that they had forgotten it at the time and misinterpreted the reason they were refused as them being a UCD student rather than that they didn't have their ID with them at the time?

Daire McNab

Lawliet wrote: »

You can say that as much as you want, but it's simply not true to claim that everyone at the counter always accepts other students cards when there are people being turned away.

That is an entirely unsubstantiated claim. Unless you can categorically prove that someone was turned away for no other reason than they were a student of another institution, then you are merely repeating the same ridiculous, and baseless, assertion. I work there. I know everyone who does very well. We all know, and apply, the same rules. C.f. the 3 criteria above.

breakfasttime

hey thanks for the replies. I think its fair say trinity issues student travel cards to students attending any college as long as you have with you valid proof that you are attending your college - leave it at that?

Fluorescence

Daire McNab wrote: »

She must've forgotten to bring it when she applied for the Travelcard. If she met any of the 3 criteria, she would've been issued with one on the spot.

I had my valid student i.d. with me and was turned away. Stop making assumptions of incompetence please.

Steve Higginson

fluorescence wrote: »

I had my valid student i.d. with me and was turned away. Stop making assumptions of incompetence please.

What exactly were you told when you presented your form and UCD Griffith student card?

Daire McNab

fluorescence wrote: »

I had my valid student i.d. with me and was turned away. Stop making assumptions of incompetence please.

The only assumptions of incompetence are being made by people accusing us of rejecting people because they do not attend Trinity. Did your Griffith card have an expiry date printed at the bottom? If it did not, we would have rejected it. We never reject an applicant without clearly explaining why we are doing so.

Fluorescence

Steve Higginson wrote: »

What exactly were you told when you presented your form and UCD Griffith student card?

That I needed a valid TCD student card.

Daire McNab wrote: »

The only assumptions of incompetence are being made by people accusing us of rejecting people because they do not attend Trinity. Did your Griffith card have an expiry date printed at the bottom? If it did not, we would have rejected it. We never reject an applicant without clearly explaining why we are doing so.

*checks* Yeah it has an expiry date for September 2012. I will admit that it looks terribly fake though. The picture looks like it was taken with a camera phone and the card doesn't even have my course on it :rolleyes:. *shrug* I ended up getting my travelcard in Rathmines so it's all gravy.

Daire McNab

Hmm. Occasionally non-Trinity people accidentally tick the Trinity box on the form when they are purchasing the card here, which then leads us to ask for Trinity ID cards. In a similar manner, a lot of people enter the current year as their year of birth. Not saying you necessarily did this at all, but it's the only situation we've had before in which non-TCD students have been asked for a TCD card.

Otherwise, some wires must've gotten crossed somewhere along the way. Glad to hear you got your card in the end anyway.

Lawliet

Steve Higginson wrote: »

Are you sure your friend had their student card with them? Is it possible that they had forgotten it at the time and misinterpreted the reason they were refused as them being a UCD student rather than that they didn't have their ID with them at the time?

No, I was there when it happened she had her student card. I was standing too far back to overhear the reason she was refused but she got the impression it was because she didn't go to Trinity rather than any problem with her card or form. Didn't think much of it at the time tbh, I figured it was just standard procedure.

Edit: She was told she needed to have a Trinity student card

Daire McNab wrote: »

That is an entirely unsubstantiated claim. Unless you can categorically prove that someone was turned away for no other reason than they were a student of another institution, then you are merely repeating the same ridiculous, and baseless, assertion. I work there. I know everyone who does very well. We all know, and apply, the same rules. C.f. the 3 criteria above.

We have at least two reports of people with valid student cards being refused, and considering this argument is about whether or not students from other colleges are occasionally turned away, I hardly think the assertion that they are is "ridiculous" or "baseless".
Anyway I can't think of any proof I could provide to convince you this happened, and since you strike me as someone who can't comprehend the idea that they might be wrong, this argument is just going to go round in circles.

Daire McNab

Look, the facts are these-

I've worked there for four and a half years. I have been personally involved in training in all staff since then. Well over 50% of our Travelcards are sold to non-Trinity students. No-one has ever been refused just because they attend another college; there has always been a genuine reason. It is entirely possible that a customer whose application has been rejected could misunderstand the reasons behind said rejection; we don't control the customers' interpretation of English words. There would occasionally be misunderstandings on both sides, which would lead to a valid application being rejected. But, to repeat, NO-ONE IS EVER REJECTED BECAUSE THEY DO NOT ATTEND TRINITY.

I think the question which originated this thread has been well and truly answered, as has been acknowledged. It's all very well to say your friend got the impression she was rejected because she didn't attend Trinity. This does not prove anything- I'm getting certain impressions of you which are doubtlessly inaccurate. If I seem contrary, it's because this thread has been a succession of speculations and suppositions, when I know for a fact the rules and regulations which we apply, across the board, and which are personally overseen by me 100,000 times every year.

Bye now.

BlueCam

Daire McNab wrote: »

Look, the facts are these-

I've worked there for four and a half years. I have been personally involved in training in all staff since then. Well over 50% of our Travelcards are sold to non-Trinity students. No-one has ever been refused just because they attend another college; there has always been a genuine reason. It is entirely possible that a customer whose application has been rejected could misunderstand the reasons behind said rejection; we don't control the customers' interpretation of English words. There would occasionally be misunderstandings on both sides, which would lead to a valid application being rejected. But, to repeat, NO-ONE IS EVER REJECTED BECAUSE THEY DO NOT ATTEND TRINITY.

I think the question which originated this thread has been well and truly answered, as has been acknowledged. It's all very well to say your friend got the impression she was rejected because she didn't attend Trinity. This does not prove anything- I'm getting certain impressions of you which are doubtlessly inaccurate. If I seem contrary, it's because this thread has been a succession of speculations and suppositions, when I know for a fact the rules and regulations which we apply, across the board, and which are personally overseen by me 100,000 times every year.

Bye now.

Oh for christ's sake mate would you ever cop on to yourself? Your comments on this thread have been nothing short of vitriolic. There are at least two instances here of people who were turned away because they did not attend Trinity. Clearly, there are a couple of your staff members (or just one maybe) who seem to think they must only accept Trinity student cards.

You seem to be claiming to be some sort of manager of the shop - well here's a little management advice (trust me, I do BESS): instead of flying off the handle and telling your customers they're liars and can't understand English, maybe stick a flyer up in your shop to clarify with your employees that any student card can be accepted? That wasn't too hard now was it...

Daire McNab

BlueCam wrote: »

Oh for christ's sake mate would you ever cop on to yourself? Your comments on this thread have been nothing short of vitriolic. There are at least two instances here of people who were turned away because they did not attend Trinity. Clearly, there are a couple of your staff members (or just one maybe) who seem to think they must only accept Trinity student cards.

You seem to be claiming to be some sort of manager of the shop - well here's a little management advice (trust me, I do BESS): instead of flying off the handle and telling your customers they're liars and can't understand English, maybe stick a flyer up in your shop to clarify with your employees that any student card can be accepted? That wasn't too hard now was it...

I refuse to dignify this with a reply.

bscm

I do remember when I got mine done at the beginning of term, someone from UCD got turned away. The person said (and I remember this clearly, I was filling out the form beside them) "sorry, I'm not sure if we can serve you, you have to get it done at your own SU".

They had a legit student card and their registration documents, and brought this to the attention of the person serving them, but still got told "sorry, you have to go to your own SU".

Daire McNab

bscm wrote: »

I do remember when I got mine done at the beginning of term, someone from UCD got turned away. The person said (and I remember this clearly, I was filling out the form beside them) "sorry, I'm not sure if we can serve you, you have to get it done at your own SU".

They had a legit student card and their registration documents, and brought this to the attention of the person serving them, but still got told "sorry, you have to go to your own SU".

Well I'm not going to question what you heard, but all I can say is that it was not a staff member who said that. The most inexperienced of the 5 staff we had for Freshers' week first worked for us 2 years ago. Again, most of our business comes from other colleges. Anyone who works in the office for 5 minutes, even if they were not trained in, would be able to tell you that.

Daire McNab

Also, just to clarify, I am solely speaking about the Students' Union Front Office in House 6 of the College. The Student Travelcard pop-up area in the Arts block is run and staffed by the Travelcard company themselves, and has nothing to do with us.

Over and out.

ilovemybrick

BlueCam wrote: »

well here's a little management advice (trust me, I do BESS)

Snigger.

BlueCam

ilovemybrick wrote: »

Snigger.

Tongue in cheek.

corridon69

Is Trinity Student Union open at the weekend? Is it easy to find in the college?

Ahoyhoy

It's not open on the weekends but it is dead easy to find. When you come into Trinity via front arch turn left, go in the open door on the left and turn left inside that door and the office is facing you.

Unsurprisingly, you have to go left to find TCDSU.

I should point out I consider that a good thing, as long as it's not in the "give me back my taxes, burn the bondholders and then legalise it because you don't know what you're doing because my taxi driver said so" kind of way.

A Neurotic

On a different note, is anyone up for boycotting the Student Travelcard?

I have so much resentment for having to pay to avail of student discounts. Such a racket.

Fluorescence

A Neurotic wrote: »

On a different note, is anyone up for boycotting the Student Travelcard?

I have so much resentment for having to pay to avail of student discounts. Such a racket.

Nah. You get your €15 back after buying a single 30 day rambler. Plus all the other discounts are very useful

Lawliet

A Neurotic wrote: »

On a different note, is anyone up for boycotting the Student Travelcard?

I have so much resentment for having to pay to avail of student discounts. Such a racket.

I would but I get checked for it all the time on the train. I suspect Iarnrod Eireann are the reason for many travelcard sales

languagenerd

I make that €15 back in Boots and (used to) on CDwow, tis grand.

I assume it's because all the colleges have such different student cards that it would be hard for the inspectors to figure out if an obscure card was real or not - so with the travel card, they're all the same and easily identified.

Extrasupervery

I always buy a student travel card, it'd cost me something like a 60/70 quid for a return train ticket to Cork otherwise. The point of the card is to prove that I'm a student and therefore avail of corresponding benefits, no? Yet my TCD student card does just that.

There's no reason for USIT (it is USIT, right?) to charge us 15 quid for this other waste of plastic. It's silleh.