Are fares going up on Dec 1?

Lifelike

It's an absolute disgrace that fares are going up yet again. The price of a 30 day rambler has now risen from €110 to €147.50 in just 2 years. That's a 34% increase! All Leap, pre-paid and taxsaver fares should be frozen at their current levels for at least 2 or 3 years given the scale of the increases in the past few years. If the transport companies need more cash that badly they should start charging travel pass holders 50c a journey and stop going after those who already pay top-dollar for everything :mad:

devnull

Lapin wrote: »

'Use the Leap Card to save dosh' they tell me.

Yay I say

No good to you if you commute on Expressway they tell me

Fuck off with your fare increases then I say :mad:

Expressway services are not under the authority of the NTA, they are simply set by Bus Eireann since they are commercial services.

jacko1

so the current cork-cobh return is €8.50 cash but will now be €9.20 when Leap comes in for IR in Cork - hardly attractive !

Joziburg

All of this on the day it's announced traffic levels back to boom levels....so much for attracting people to use more public transport!

LXFlyer

Irish Halo wrote: »

This means a saving for me when back home visiting as the folks are (were) in Outer 2.

Does this also mean that those travelling into what was Outer 1 and Outer 2 can just tap on the right hand side validator and be charged the €2.60? This always wound me up and would speed up dwell times for those routes.

Yes it does.

the groutch

Good to see the Xpresso zones merged, so it's now more likely to be used by those living in Zone 2 who actually need it, rather than those taking it because it's the bus that comes first.

Surprised that they merged 4-7 stages with 8-13, I thought they would have merged 1-3 with 4-7, to increase the entry point.
Also thought they would widen the gap between cash and leap fares further than they did.

The t90 withdrawal is of no surprise, they've been "out to get it" for years, and was only a matter of time.

Of course, as already mentioned, none of the increases would be required if they introduced a nominal charge for certain categories of FTP holders.

Doesn't seem to affect me too much on Dublin Bus as I regularly hit the €27.50 per week cap anyway.

AlekSmart

Karsini wrote: »

Doesn't seem to affect me too much on Dublin Bus as I regularly hit the €27.50 per week cap anyway.

The Caps being left untouched is point being overlooked by many.

These adjustments represent another of the "Little Steps" which appear to define the principles by which the NTA wishes to operate in relation to Integrated Ticketing.

cgcsb

To be fair to the NTA many people(most?) will see a reduction in their leap fares when taking into account the luas fare decreases and the scaling back of that Dublin Bus 'stages' nonsense.

The increases on Iarnród Éireann are unforgivable especially given that there is presently no leap alternative in most cases. But I suppose if the Wuurkers weren't willing to put up with a temporary 1% pay cut and cuts to overtime and bonuses, then we have to cough up.

Greenmachine

cgcsb wrote: »

To be fair to the NTA many people(most?) will see a reduction in their leap fares when taking into account the luas fare decreases and the scaling back of that Dublin Bus 'stages' nonsense.

The increases on Iarnród Éireann are unforgivable especially given that there is presently no leap alternative in most cases. But I suppose if the Wuurkers weren't willing to put up with a temporary 1% pay cut and cuts to overtime and bonuses, then we have to cough up.

I can look forward to being robbed even more now. 1/3 of the time I end up being charged for 4-7 stages on my 3 stage journey. Now I can look forward to being charged for 13 stages and at the new rate.

Stevek101

Greenmachine wrote: »

I can look forward to being robbed even more now. 1/3 of the time I end up being charged for 4-7 stages on my 3 stage journey. Now I can look forward to being charged for 13 stages and at the new rate.

Just state the fare rather than the destination. I still see drivers moving up the fare stage after taking transactions.

LXFlyer

Stevek101 wrote: »

Just state the fare rather than the destination. I still see drivers moving up the fare stage after taking transactions.

I'd second that - the fare stages are listed on each timetable online and it's worth checking the fare from that.

Just remember that if you board between stages, the fare starts from the previous stage point, and if you exit between stages, the fare finishes at the next stage point after that stop.

If I'm using pay-as-you-go I always check the fare first and quote it to the driver rather than the destination.

Greenmachine

Stevek101 wrote: »

Just state the fare rather than the destination. I still see drivers moving up the fare stage after taking transactions.

All well and good but, they sometimes just choose a higher fare or ask for the stop. I have paid cash fares when there was no money on the leap card and ticket printed the correct destination, cost €1.80.
I think it is an issue with the machines on some routes. I queried a driver after he demanded the higher fare on one journey. I brought up the fare calculator using the buses wifi . Gave the drive a quick show of it, when getting off.

Also have been told that there was no product on my card a day after loading a 5 day rambler on the card and using a single day, the day before. This happened when I went to swipe at the side, and the machine was out, the driver asked me pay via his terminal. When I asked to use a day on my rambler he said, there was no product on the card.
So I said I would take the next bus, where I scanned on the side correctly.

Dravokivich

Greenmachine wrote: »

All well and good but, they sometimes just choose a higher fare or ask for the stop. I have paid cash fares when there was no money on the leap card and ticket printed the correct destination, cost €1.80.
I think it is an issue with the machines on some routes. I queried a driver after he demanded the higher fare on one journey. I brought up the fare calculator using the buses wifi . Gave the drive a quick show of it, when getting off.

Also have been told that there was no product on my card a day after loading a 5 day rambler on the card and using a single day, the day before. This happened when I went to swipe at the side, and the machine was out, the driver asked me pay via his terminal. When I asked to use a day on my rambler he said, there was no product on the card.
So I said I would take the next bus, where I scanned on the side correctly.

The driver has to manually increment the Stage, if they don't it's not an issue with the machine, it's with that specific driver. However in their defense, it's not always easy for them to identify the cross over point from one stage to another as I believe there's no markings for them any more. The issue should be directed towards Dublin Bus for the ambiguity, not the drivers.

Lapin

devnull wrote: »

Expressway services are not under the authority of the NTA, they are simply set by Bus Eireann since they are commercial services.

When the Leap Card was first introduced there were proposals to extend it's validity to all public transport nationwide (including Expressway) services.

As a passenger, I along with thousands of others see Bus Éiteann as a public transport division of CIE and don't care about the internal structure of the company.

LXFlyer

Lapin wrote: »

When the Leap Card was first introduced there were proposals to extend it's validity to all public transport nationwide (including Expressway) services.

As a passenger, I along with thousands of others see Bus Éiteann as a public transport division of CIE and don't care about the internal structure of the company.

Well I'm afraid that you need to start viewing Expressway as a commercial unsubsidised service like Citylink or Gobus. Whatever you like to think, they are completely stand alone commercial services.

LEAP will probably roll out on Expressway stage in the future. But given the commercial nature of the service I wouldn't be expecting cheaper fares or zonal products to be valid.

But before that happens there's plenty of other work to do.

itsnotmyfault

Can't believe the price of the 30 day rambler is going up again. Is it possible to load more than 1 rambler on to a leap card?

LXFlyer

itsnotmyfault wrote: »

Can't believe the price of the 30 day rambler is going up again. Is it possible to load more than 1 rambler on to a leap card?

You can load up to five of them.

SparkySpitfire

lxflyer wrote: »

You can load up to five of them.

If you can afford it (!)

Greenmachine

Dravokivich wrote: »

The driver has to manually increment the Stage, if they don't it's not an issue with the machine, it's with that specific driver. However in their defense, it's not always easy for them to identify the cross over point from one stage to another as I believe there's no markings for them any more. The issue should be directed towards Dublin Bus for the ambiguity, not the drivers.

He brought up his stop on his console, the stops were labelled differently in some cases than the dublin bus website.
for what is worth I do agree with simplifying the number of fare increments. In Other countries you can select the number of zones yourself, 1, 2, 3, 4, hold your card to the reader and press the appropriate button. It even removes the need to swipe off.

ressem

lxflyer wrote: »

Well I'm afraid that you need to start viewing Expressway as a commercial unsubsidised service like Citylink or Gobus. Whatever you like to think, they are completely stand alone commercial services.

LEAP will probably roll out on Expressway stage in the future. But given the commercial nature of the service I wouldn't be expecting cheaper fares or zonal products to be valid.

But before that happens there's plenty of other work to do.

The Citylink drivers appear to disagree.

One was overheard discussing with a passenger that while
Citylink get €2 per passenger using a travel pass on the multistop services, Bus Eireann get a flat €250 per bus per day which is approximately €5 per passenger.
And that the Go Be is being run at a loss in competition with Aircoach on the Cork - Dublin route.

Any Bus Eireann people that can refute that?

LXFlyer

ressem wrote: »

The Citylink drivers appear to disagree.

One was overheard discussing with a passenger that while
Citylink get €2 per passenger using a travel pass on the multistop services, Bus Eireann get a flat €250 per bus per day which is approximately €5 per passenger.
And that the Go Be is being run at a loss in competition with Aircoach on the Cork - Dublin route.

Any Bus Eireann people that can refute that?

Well you heard wrong.

The CIE Group gets a fixed lump sum per annum for the DSP Free Travel Scheme which hasn't changed for quite some years.

It is not a per bus or per passenger amount.

At this stage the amount they get is nowhere near what it ought to be in terms of numbers carried.

the groutch

Dravokivich wrote: »

The driver has to manually increment the Stage

was there not plans to upgrade the system to have it increment automatically?

Stevek101

the groutch wrote: »

was there not plans to upgrade the system to have it increment automatically?

There were plans to link it in with the GPS but who knows what happened with that. Software was developed as far as I know.

end of the road

Idbatterim wrote: »

god forbid the poor vulnerable pensioners or those ridiculous amount of people with free travel passes would be asked to stump up anything, this is how off the rails it is here, one section are absolutely sacrosanct and the other are totally disposable and asked to cough up again and again!

in the case of the pensioners rightly so. they payed taxes all their lives and we'l benefit from it also when we get old.

end of the road

SparkySpitfire wrote: »

Full bus drove past my stop YET AGAIN.

because in your own words, it was full

SparkySpitfire wrote: »

When are fare increases actually going to be used to provide the service I want to pay for?!

what type of service do you want to pay for

end of the road

Lifelike wrote: »

It's an absolute disgrace that fares are going up yet again. The price of a 30 day rambler has now risen from €110 to €147.50 in just 2 years. That's a 34% increase! All Leap, pre-paid and taxsaver fares should be frozen at their current levels for at least 2 or 3 years given the scale of the increases in the past few years. If the transport companies need more cash that badly they should start charging travel pass holders 50c a journey and stop going after those who already pay top-dollar for everything :mad:

that would probably be unmanagable

ebbsy

end of the road wrote: »

in the case of the pensioners rightly so. they payed taxes all their lives and we'l benefit from it also when we get old.

True, but It's the scumbags who ain't out looking for work etc that should'nt have them. Priority should be the elderly, blind etc.

_Kaiser_

end of the road wrote: »

what type of service do you want to pay for

How about one that stops for him for a start?

- That shows up when it's supposed to 99% of the time
- That isn't infested with the antisocial element plaguing some routes
- That are clean and comfortable and you're not jammed in like sardines
- That doesn't cost almost as much as the same trip by car or take twice as long
- That doesn't take unnecessary detours into "An Lar" or every random housing estate it passes
- That doesn't sit parked up for 15-20 mins because DB can't manage its driver changes properly
- That has an easy-to-use, reliable efficient fully integrated ticket system
- That stops pissing away money on new buses that are arguably worse than the ones they replace and which have plenty of life left in them given how they go on to another few years of private operator service

Hell, I'd even consider a service like that

end of the road

ebbsy wrote: »

True, but It's the scumbags who ain't out looking for work etc that should'nt have them. Priority should be the elderly, blind etc.

absolutely, couldn't agree more