Annual bus and rail ticket not integrated, why?

caz34

I got my new tax saver bus and rail ticket today. Yet again I got two tickets,an Irish Rail smartcard and a separate ticket for busses. Up until last year it was always one ticket that worked for both, last year I was told it was to facilitate the introduction of integrated ticketing. Why can't we just have one ticket?

LXFlyer

Two different ticketing systems - they should be on a leap card next time around (one hopes). Previously it was a simple magnetic stripe ticket which was easily facilitated.

AlekSmart

lxflyer wrote: »

Two different ticketing systems - they should be on a leap card next time around (one hopes). Previously it was a simple magnetic stripe ticket which was easily facilitated.

10 years,€40+ Million and it now entails a substantial leap backwards in terms of functionality...?

Am I alone in my disappointment at the lack of sword-falling amongst SENIOR administrators involved in the ITS scheme ?

markpb

caz34 wrote: »

Why can't we just have one ticket?

Years ago, Irish Rail and Dublin Bus were developing their own contactless smartcard tickets (independently), they asked the DoT for permission to integrate them - only for existing integrated tickets (like the annual bus/rail on magstripe). The DoT denied them permission because the RPA were developing Leap already and they didn't want competition/confusion.

In the meantime, both companies put their annual ticket on the smartcard and their sisters ticket on the magstripe. This worked fine on the bus but failed in Dart stations because the contactless reader and magstripe readers were too close together. When a DB customer tried to insert their ticket to read the magstripe, the contactless reader read the card, didn't know what it was and rejected it. To fix this, both companies had to split their tickets in two which is why we have mess that's there now.

Fortunately, at some point in the future, the Leap ticket will be able to be pre-loaded with annual bus and rail tickets.

goingnowhere

The Dublin Bus mag stripe readers are notorious for corrupting tickets so the two card choice was made

Padraig Mor

Have just the one card for both down here in Corkland. Not that there is much use for the "smart" card aspect of it really..... Hell, they seem to have given up even checking for tickets these days.

Carawaystick

I'm fairly sure I got a pair of tickets in 2010 and a little notice saying they would be replaced with 1 ticket when the its rolled out later that year ....

Agree with Alec, heads need to roll.

I&#201 wrote: »

The Operator shall, in so far as possible, and, in any event, without discrimination integrate all Services provided by it with those of other public passenger transport services including by participating and complying with integration measures introduced by the Authority under Chapter 3 of Part 3 of the Act of 2008.
3.5 The Operator shall support and participate using all due skill, care and diligence in the development and operation of the Integrated Ticketing Scheme in accordance with the ITS Participation Agreement and shall comply with any lawful requirements of the Authority in relation thereto.
3.6 The Operator shall cease to operate an interim smartcard scheme established by it within a timeframe specified by the Authority in accordance with the ITS Participation Agreement.

If the Nta were serious they'd cut funding from Dublin bus and IÉ until they got their act together.

Just asked them for a copy of this participation agreement, won't hold my breath.

thomasj

I read somewhere (cant remember where) that personalised cards for users of annual card (presumably with photo on it) will be rolled out in phase 2

foggy_lad

thomasj wrote: »

I read somewhere (cant remember where) that personalised cards for users of annual card (presumably with photo on it) will be rolled out in phase 2

Considering they cant even manage a simple E-purse without serious issues relating to overcharging which damage customer confidence I cant see it getting that far, They have far more serious work to be doing at the moment instead of wasting time with personalised cards.

Dravokivich

foggy_lad wrote: »

Considering they cant even manage a simple E-purse without serious issues relating to overcharging which damage customer confidence I cant see it getting that far, They have far more serious work to be doing at the moment instead of wasting time with personalised cards.

eh... weren't the overcharging issues the fault of Dublin Bus' fares being raised early and the software on the machine the driver uses not charging the leap fares?

Those issues would not be dependant on card type.

LoGiE

goingnowhere wrote: »

The Dublin Bus mag stripe readers are notorious for corrupting tickets so the two card choice was made

Any offical word on this? My monthly bus/rail ticket has failed very month since getting on in January. I've phoned, emailed and spoken to staff in stations and either get a shrug or no response. It's absolutely infuriating during rush hour holding up dozens of people because my cards crapped out again.

Are we actually going to see both integrated into a smartcard this year? Working in IT myself I'd have the PM's dragged out and shot, the rollouts been so shoddy.

LoGiE