Mag-stripe monthly ticket is corrupted

sitstill

I have a student monthly short-hop ticket for May that I bought in the Dart station yesterday, the first. It's a magstripe ticket and so far I have used it twice on the Dart and twice on the bus. The ticket is already corrupted and the validators are rejecting it since this morning. Its very annoying. Is it possible to get it exchanged for another one?

Mycroft H

sitstill wrote: »

I have a student monthly short-hop ticket for May that I bought in the Dart station yesterday, the first. It's a magstripe ticket and so far I have used it twice on the Dart and twice on the bus. The ticket is already corrupted and the validators are rejecting it since this morning. Its very annoying. Is it possible to get it exchanged for another one?

Nope, its a real flaw with the mag stripe tickets. Not much you can do with it. I would just end up flashing the ticket to the driver rather then trying to get it stuck in the machine.

bk

They should really switch to RFID paper tickets by now.

In Amsterdam even the €2.60 single fare ticket * is a paper RFID ticket, so the tech most be cheap by now.

I'd imagine they would make the money back anyway with the elimination of the magstripe readers and their maintenance.

* This is the cheapest ticket you can buy with cash on a bus. It is actually a travel 60 giving you 60 minutes unlimited travel across all bus/tram/metro.

Eventually they could add 10c to each rfid paper ticket or the normal cost if you add the ticket to your own existing leap card. To promote leap card and reduce waste.

LXFlyer

If you go into Dublin Bus HQ on O'Connell St, they will exchange it for you.

Victor

lxflyer wrote: »

If you go into Dublin Bus HQ on O'Connell St, they will exchange it for you.

Unlikely, as Irish Rail issued the ticket.

Probably best to got back to the station of purchase or a main Irish Rail station.

Mycroft H

Victor wrote: »

Unlikely, as Irish Rail issued the ticket.

Probably best to got back to the station of purchase or a main Irish Rail station.

I've had a row with a customer manager in Connolly over it. The flat out refused to replace the ticket without forking cash over for a new one.

My solution. Only use the ticket in dublin bus. All other times use the manned barrier to get in and out with IR.

BlueCam

BX 19 wrote: »

I've had a row with a customer manager in Connolly over it. The flat out refused to replace the ticket without forking cash over for a new one.

My solution. Only use the ticket in dublin bus. All other times use the manned barrier to get in and out with IR.

This used to happen me all the time when I commuted from Bray into college. Whenever it happened near the end of the month I didn't bother however once it happened about 2 days after I got the ticket, similar to the OP. Complained at Pearse Station and they at first refused to replace it. Pointed out that under the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act 1980 it was illegal to provide a good which was not fit for the purpose intended. In the case of a ticket that's meant to let you through a barrier but which doesn't - that fits the bill pretty well. They backed down very quickly and replaced it there and then.

Using the manned barrier is a complete nuisance - there's often not someone there in Pearse, there's often a queue, and regardless it generally takes them about 10 seconds to look at the ticket before letting you in. That's enough to miss a train if you're running.

Ridiculous that they still haven't sorted this out - it's been 3 years since I had the same problem.

sitstill

lxflyer wrote: »

If you go into Dublin Bus HQ on O'Connell St, they will exchange it for you.

I went to Dublin Bus today. They exchanged it for a ticket that is a smart card on the bus and magstripe on the Dart. Happy days. Such a pain the way it was.

dogmatix

Sorry about reviving an old thread but I am having the same problem with my Monthly bus and rail short hop ticket. Sometimes I get two weeks of hassle-free usage before it starts failing, sometimes it starts to fail after only three days or so.

Does anyone know why this is?

Staff at the stations usually say it’s because the ticket is being corrupted by proximity to such things as mobile phones or ipods etc but I’m very carefully about keeping the ticket away from such devices. I’ve even tried storing the ticket in metal business card holders, seems to make no difference.

I have heard it is caused by differences between the validators at the railway stations and on buses, so that if you are using it to get through the barriers at Hueston for a week or so and then one day it is raining so you decide to hop on a no 90 bus instead of walking, it then corrupts the ticket. Any thoughts?

Julius Seizure

I'm not so sure about that part, my bus and lluas would fail as well. Got it replaced and still wouldn't work.

goingnowhere

Dublin Bus validators are notorious stay away from them

Irish Halo

BlueCam wrote: »

Ridiculous that they still haven't sorted this out - it's been 3 years since I had the same problem.

3 Years? This was a problem when I started uni in 1998, if I remember correctly it was always after using a Dublin Bus validator (I usually used the train) that the ticket stopped working.