Leap card for Cork city

Eod100

Has anyone been able to use a leap card on buses in Cork city?

According to this they've been available since last month but hadn't seen any publicity for it..

https://twitter.com/TFIupdates/status/440821038620753920

calnand

yeah i started a thread last week about it, its available on most city buses

Eod100

calnand wrote: »

yeah i started a thread last week about it, its available on most city buses

Thanks, was talking to someone from Bus Eireann about it and they told me it wasn't available.. Any idea where you can get the card from?

calnand

I got mine in Dublin, the Bus station might sell them

Pablo Escobar

How does it work? Do you scan it as you enter the bus?

calnand

Pablo Escobar wrote: »

How does it work? Do you scan it as you enter the bus?

There's a touch pad right above where you take your ticket. Some buses have the leap card logo, depending on the age of the bus. But you just hold your card against it, and it makes a noise when it works.

Pablo Escobar

calnand wrote: »

There's a touch pad right above where you take your ticket. Some buses have the leap card logo, depending on the age of the bus. But you just hold your card against it, and it makes a noise when it works.

Thanks, I must get one. Are the machines fitted on all buses?

deRanged

The Centra at Victoria cross is advertising that they sell them - I only noticed that yesterday morning.
It's brilliant - I hope the trains will start accepting them now too.

JohnMearsheimer

I just got on the number 6 bus there about 5 minutes ago. I asked the driver about the Leap cards. He says they have been in operation since Monday. I'm going to get one after work I think.

Bacchus

Is there any site where you can find info on...
1. Where to buy the cards & how to top them up?
2. What the fares are?

I've looked on the official leap card site but they only have info for Dublin. Pretty pathetic that this wonderful development has happened to Cork public transport yet they can't throw up a simple web page with these two pieces of information.

The closest thing I can find is this.... https://www.leapcard.ie/en/PageSetting/ContentViewer.aspx?Val=YP3QDg1KGocnYwAy7%2b%2bvIjAPVbhiixQ2Q1PpMaqdBkumeTpcrSBZ1Ab4q5RR2OcGb1IMdPQGmC1dCQ0quqkF%2bvO9AGWGqIqILD9YXIVPxsL00IAhVrSIbbrx8mehFIuyQS2e%2febr7gJQoioQNUxZJDh9q1jWzthk%2byehkB89G74%3d

but the info is poor....

Where can I buy and top-up a Leap Card?

Travel Credit, 24 hour and 7 day tickets can be purchased at Leap Card agents (PayZone agents). Just look for the Leap Card sign. A list of Leap Card agents is available at; www.leapcard.ie

So..... where can I buy one?

Once I have a Leap Card, what are my ticket options?

You can use Travel Credit on your Leap Card to pay for single trips. Travel Credit fares are 16% cheaper than the corresponding cash single ticket.

Would it be so hard to just put the fares up for all to see?

Pablo Escobar

You can buy them in Spar, Centra and online (the website that you linked)

leahyl

This is great - I already have one as I bought it before Christmas when I was in Dublin for travelling on the Luas.

So do you just swipe it on the bus and it automatically takes the amount owed?

Corholio

Any possibility this could be just a trial period for the card here, hence the lack of publicity?

Bacchus

Pablo Escobar wrote: »

You can buy them in Spar, Centra and online (the website that you linked)

All Spars and Centras in town or just some specific ones?

Didn't spot that I could buy online and they post it out to you, cheers.

evilivor

Corholio wrote: »

Any possibility this could be just a trial period for the card here, hence the lack of publicity?

Go this earlier.

evilivor

Eod100

Got one earlier from the Centra at Victoria Cross.. Got them in 3 weeks ago and I was the 1st to buy one there apparently so the lads had a bit of fun trying to work out how to add top up etc! :P

Tried it on the bus but machine/card didn't work for some reason, hopefully it was just the machine..

Kinda weird alright there was basically no publicity about coming to Cork. I'd heard it was going to be April and only reason I came across that it was in Cork was cos I'm heading to Dublin soon and was planning to pick one up there.. Nothing up on the Bus Eireann site about it either as far as I can tell.

JohnMearsheimer

I just bought a personalised one off the Leap Card website. I threw €10 on the card to try it out, if it goes well I'll up it on topping up.

calnand

Yeah I've had a few times that it hasn't worked. I'm not sure if it's the scanners fault or that the driver hasn't been taught how to use it. The times its worked have been very smooth, and easier

JohnMearsheimer

I've been using my Leap card since Monday on the 206. The scanners haven't worked at all for me so the driver has to press a few buttons and my card is debited. I think the fare is €1.59. I'll continue to use it. It's a bit annoying you can't really top up on the website. You can pay for your top up on the website but the credit needs to be loaded on to the card in a participating top up site. It would be grand in Dublin where you have loads of Luas stops and participating shops but in Cork it's just not as convenient. I suppose it isn't too much of an inconvenience to go to Centra.

Eod100

JohnMearsheimer wrote: »

I've been using my Leap card since Monday on the 206. The scanners haven't worked at all for me so the driver has to press a few buttons and my card is debited. I think the fare is €1.59. I'll continue to use it. It's a bit annoying you can't really top up on the website. You can pay for your top up on the website but the credit needs to be loaded on to the card in a participating top up site. It would be grand in Dublin where you have loads of Luas stops and participating shops but in Cork it's just not as convenient. I suppose it isn't too much of an inconvenience to go to Centra.

If you register your card online you can see how much your fare is. Used mine on the 208 and was €1.59 so seems right. Only times I've used it, the bus driver just puts it on the scanner on his machine, are there meant to be scanners you use yourself on the bus? Mustn't have spotted them..

Yeah I noticed that, not sure how they could get around having to scan it to load on credit though.. Do all Centras sell them/allow top-up? I know there's the map with payzone shops on the site but wasn't sure how accurate that was..

JohnMearsheimer

Eod100 wrote: »

If you register your card online you can see how much your fare is. Used mine on the 208 and was €1.59 so seems right. Only times I've used it, the bus driver just puts it on the scanner on his machine, are there meant to be scanners you use yourself on the bus? Mustn't have spotted them..

Yeah I noticed that, not sure how they could get around having to scan it to load on credit though.. Do all Centras sell them/allow top-up? I know there's the map with payzone shops on the site but wasn't sure how accurate that was..

Thanks, I've registered the card. It's looks like I've only been charged for 3 of the 8 times I've used the bus this week. None of the drivers seem to know what to do with the card. The Centra on Grand Parade sell top ups, I asked when I was in there yesterday.

Dravokivich

JohnMearsheimer wrote: »

I've been using my Leap card since Monday on the 206. The scanners haven't worked at all for me so the driver has to press a few buttons and my card is debited. I think the fare is €1.59. I'll continue to use it. It's a bit annoying you can't really top up on the website. You can pay for your top up on the website but the credit needs to be loaded on to the card in a participating top up site. It would be grand in Dublin where you have loads of Luas stops and participating shops but in Cork it's just not as convenient. I suppose it isn't too much of an inconvenience to go to Centra.

It's a limitation of smart card technology. Has been discussed a lot in the commuting and transport forum. There seems to be a test project in place for "Auto Topup" which'll topup your card once the balance goes below a threshold and charge you via direct debit.

Eod100

Do you know if you happen to lose a card with credit on it, are you able to cancel it and get a refund of the credit on it? Or just able to cancel it to stop someone from using it and the credit would be gone?

Kinda wary of topping up by a large amount just in case I happen to lose it..

Dravokivich

Create an account on the website and register the card to it. Otherwise, according the the T&Cs they won't handle replacing or refunding it.

Eod100

Dravokivich wrote: »

Create an account on the website and register the card to it. Otherwise, according the the T&Cs they won't handle replacing or refunding it.

Have done that alright, so they'll refund me if I happen to lose it then?

Dravokivich

They should do, yeah.

shawki

This card is saving me so much money!

I've been let on twice for free because the driver couldn't get to work.

Seriously though the process of scanning the card is really slow that I now wait until I'm the last person getting on the bus so I don't have a load of people behind me glaring at me wondering why I'm holding up the queue.

namloc1980

shawki wrote: »

This card is saving me so much money!

I've been let on twice for free because the driver couldn't get to work.

Seriously though the process of scanning the card is really slow that I now wait until I'm the last person getting on the bus so I don't have a load of people behind me glaring at me wondering why I'm holding up the queue.

Why can't it be a simple process of scanning the card like in normal transport systems around the world. But no, here we have to make it complicated by forcing the passenger to interact with the driver so no time is saved using cash versus leap card.

Eod100

shawki wrote: »

This card is saving me so much money!

I've been let on twice for free because the driver couldn't get to work.

Seriously though the process of scanning the card is really slow that I now wait until I'm the last person getting on the bus so I don't have a load of people behind me glaring at me wondering why I'm holding up the queue.

Same happened to me actually!

Yeah sometimes it seems it takes longer than paying with cash even.. Only thing I can think of why the driver has to do it is to make sure the fare is actually taken from the card. But then on the Luas it's completely up to the passenger so guess that wouldn't be consistent.. Is it the same on Dublin bus I wonder?

namloc1980

Eod100 wrote: »

Same happened to me actually!

Yeah sometimes it seems it takes longer than paying with cash even.. Only thing I can think of why the driver has to do it is to make sure the fare is actually taken from the card. But then on the Luas it's completely up to the passenger so guess that wouldn't be consistent.. Is it the same on Dublin bus I wonder?

Dublin bus buses have 2 card readers. One that the driver has where he deducts exact fare, and another inside the front door on the right where you just scan if you have a weekly/monthly type ticket. No need to interact with driver. With flat fares on the vast majority of cork city bus routes having to interact with the driver is such a waste of everyone's time. On buses in London you never ever interact with the driver. You scan your card on a reader and it deducts a flat fare. Makes loading times so much faster.

JohnMearsheimer

I'm still happy enough with the card. It's still better value for me than buying a monthly pass. It would be great if I could tag the card myself without having to hand it to the driver. The free rides have come to an end on the 206, the drivers have figured out how to charge the card.

pwurple

Just bumping this to say they are still having problems on the cork buses with leap card. Used mine for the first time yesterday. I was on the 202. Had to queue up with the other cash payers to swipe where the driver is. Driver takes out his glasses and presses a few buttons to get it going. Then informs me he can't take a child fare on it, cash only for them.

It's WAY slower and more inconvenient than before. Doesn't make any sense for me anyway, as I only use the bus when I have children with me.

professore

Why the hell do they only have adult fares? Our 16 year old drives us mad looking for bus money for getting to school, half the time I think we both end up giving her bus money for the same trip, this would cut out all that messing.

Actually, just realised she just turned 16 so she should be using an adult card anyway. Off to the Centra.

namloc1980

Used the card around town for the first time and there are clearly issues to be worked out. I've used it on 4 journeys to date. On one of them the bus didn't have the new machine to read leap cards installed so I got a free spin! Woohoo!! And the other 3 times there was a problem with the driver taking 20 or 30 seconds to figure out how to deduct the fare. It was clearly a case of them being unfamiliar with and/or not being fully trained in using the cards.

pwurple

They shouldn't have to interact with it at all though, it has been badly installed if they have to push some buttons every time someone uses a leap card. It's missing the point totally.

namloc1980

pwurple wrote: »

They shouldn't have to interact with it at all though, it has been badly installed if they have to push some buttons every time someone uses a leap card. It's missing the point totally.

It would be great if that was the case. But for that to work you would need a flat fare for all journeys. Unfortunately routes like the 216 and 215 and suburban routes have a different fare structure to city bus routes.

shawki

I've gotten 15 free trips so far! Some Drivers are handy at it and can do it in 5 seconds others have given up trying and just let you on.

Bacchus

I was going to get it but I've heard all the stories. It doesn't seem to work most the time.... though the free trips sound nice

How have they managed to screw this system up so badly! It's quite unbelievable in this day and age. First of all, the scanner should be much more accessible, but still visible (and audible) to the bus driver so he can see/hear if people are tapping in. Second, it should be a tap on, tap off deal. If you don't tap off, you get charged the maximum fare. How simple would that be! None of this driver interaction nonsense which such a system should have cut out.

Also, given the system that they do have in place, heads should roll. They're a few months in to using it and still there seems to be a basic knowledge gap with the drivers on how to use it. OR (even worse) the system has basic flaws/bugs that should never have made it on to the bus in the first place.

Pablo Escobar

namloc1980 wrote: »

It would be great if that was the case. But for that to work you would need a flat fare for all journeys. Unfortunately routes like the 216 and 215 and suburban routes have a different fare structure to city bus routes.

It's not an insurmountable problem though. If people use the buses with the standard fare, the card should be capped at the daily rate,l. Then if they decided to use the 215 make them interact with the driver and scan the card to deduct whatever fare they require. It's simple really.

Eod100

Bacchus wrote: »

I was going to get it but I've heard all the stories. It doesn't seem to work most the time.... though the free trips sound nice

How have they managed to screw this system up so badly! It's quite unbelievable in this day and age. First of all, the scanner should be much more accessible, but still visible (and audible) to the bus driver so he can see/hear if people are tapping in. Second, it should be a tap on, tap off deal. If you don't tap off, you get charged the maximum fare. How simple would that be! None of this driver interaction nonsense which such a system should have cut out.

Also, given the system that they do have in place, heads should roll. They're a few months in to using it and still there seems to be a basic knowledge gap with the drivers on how to use it. OR (even worse) the system has basic flaws/bugs that should never have made it on to the bus in the first place.

Have had mine about a month or 2 and haven't had any problems. Have had the odd free fair but wouldn't really consider that a problem! :P

At the start it was a bit slow because drivers were getting used to it but now most of them seemed up to speed so there's never much of a delaying tapping on.

I think what's probably happened is that Bus Eireann are using the same system as Dublin bus ie driver has to push a button or 2. Might make sense in Dublin where you've different stages but fairly sure most (if not all) Cork routes have the same fair regardless of distance.

Definitely think the advantages outweigh the negatives tho.

namloc1980

Eod100 wrote: »

I think what's probably happened is that Bus Eireann are using the same system as Dublin bus ie driver has to push a button or 2. Might make sense in Dublin where you've different stages but fairly sure most (if not all) Cork routes have the same fair regardless of distance.

Most city routes have same fare but not all. 215 & 216 have 2 stage fares. Also leap is available on suburban routes 221, 222, 223, 226, 226A, 232, 260 and 261. Each of those routes have their own separate fare structures. As you say they are using the same machines as DB, no way they'd install different machines in Cork.

pwurple

namloc1980 wrote: »

It would be great if that was the case. But for that to work you would need a flat fare for all journeys. Unfortunately routes like the 216 and 215 and suburban routes have a different fare structure to city bus routes.

So do it right for the rest of them? My trip was on the 202.

TheChizler

namloc1980 wrote: »

Most city routes have same fare but not all. 215 & 216 have 2 stage fares.

Wha? I've always chucked my standard fare at the driver and had it printed on the ticket, is the Mount Ovel side different?

namloc1980

TheChizler wrote: »

Wha? I've always chucked my standard fare at the driver and had it printed on the ticket, is the Mount Ovel side different?

€2.20 is the cash fare on that part of the route.

abnr

I was checking the Leap card, but from where I stand it doesn't seem better value (excluding the free rides ) then the monthly pass.

If I travel every week day to the Airport Business Park I need to buy the suburban pass (92 Eur), it seems you can get a daily pass of 8 Eur, or weekly(7 days) for 35Eur (on the bus eirann site for leap card, which I can't link), this is for Red and Green Zone.
I should also mention I take 2 buses the 215 to town and the 226 to the Airport, so 4 rides per day.

So for a person that uses the bus everyday the leap card seems a lesser option, right? Or I'm I missing something?

mydiscworld

I get the 202 twice each work day. So far I've only seen the same 2 people using the Leap Card.

I'm thankful too, as it is way slower than cash. Takes drivers a while to adjust their machine to use it.

Thought the idea was to reduce dwell times?!

TheChizler

Been hearing ads on the radio and RedFM hosting a launch party for the Leap card in Cork in the coming weeks. I thought it was officially launched here months ago? Did they just realise that noone, including the drivers, knew what it was and are just rebooting abd trying again?

Hope they fix the on-board payment system. Any time I've seen it used the driver has to put on his glasses, peer at the display, and slowly select over 10 options on the machine before you get a ticket.

pwurple

I've kept using mine. The drivers are better at it now.