Leap Card - What am I missing

grey_area

I'm interested in getting a Leap card for my daily commute from Stillorgan to the city centre on Dublin Bus. I thought the tax saver scheme offered by my employer would be the best option, but looking at the Dublin bus website, its cheaper to just get the weekly rambler pass?

Taxsaver Monthly Travelwide Dublin Bus - €132.00

Dublin Bus Weekly Rambler - €27.50 x 4 = €110

Am I understanding this correctly?

Atlantic Dawn

The taxsaver is taken from your wages pre tax so would work out cheaper.

Zaph

You're excluding the tax saving on the first ticket. Basically the €132 is repaid to your employed before tax and USC are deducted, so you're saving up to 51% of the €132, depending on your tax rate. There's a calculator here that shows how much you can save, depending on your circumstances.

athtrasna

Plus there are months you'd need five weekly tickets for

grey_area

Thanks, I was looking at this page www .taxsaver.ie/Ticket-Types/Ticket-Validity/Monthly-Travelwide-Bus-Only/ which didn't make complete sense to me!

If I purchase a Leap card now, can my employer add the taxsaver monthly ticket to it, or should I wait until I start the job next week? i.e. do they issue a new Leap card or can it just be added to one I buy this week.

Zaph

It depends on your employer and how they operate it. Where I work you can only apply for the taxsaver card once a year, and if you happen to start the month after they're issued then you'll have to wait 11 months for it to come around again. I've heard of other companies allowing people sign up at any time.

bisounours

Depends on your employer - mine offers the possibility every 3 months, OH's company only offers it once a year, best check with them.

Greenmachine

grey_area wrote: »

I'm interested in getting a Leap card for my daily commute from Stillorgan to the city centre on Dublin Bus. I thought the tax saver scheme offered by my employer would be the best option, but looking at the Dublin bus website, its cheaper to just get the weekly rambler pass?

Taxsaver Monthly Travelwide Dublin Bus - €132.00

Dublin Bus Weekly Rambler - €27.50 x 4 = €110

Am I understanding this correctly?

In reality there are 52 week in a year 52/12, is closer to weeks per month so tack another 13.75 per month on there.

52 weeks @ €27.50 p/w = €1430 p/a
1430/12 = €119.17 p/m

Then again there is also the 30 day rambler. @ €147.50 p/m. Depending on how often you use the bus on non work days. You might only need to buy 8 or 9 of these in a year. This product is for non-consecutive day, so potentially it could cover you for 6 full work weeks.
Potentially cost per annum in this case could be as little €1180 p/a.

Cost of the tax saver will depend on your tax band. If you are on the higher tax band savings will be greater.

Losty Dublin

With the pre tax saving, the Annual is going to cost you either €600 or €900 a year. Thats far less than the rambler is a per annum basis. Also, you wont need to be looking for €140 every few weeks as it is deducted out of your wages before it lands into your bank account. If you are using the bus on a daily basis then it's a no brainer.

The Annual pass covers you on the Nitelink as well as your regular bus services unlike the Rambler, if that's of any benefit to you.

Dravokivich

Losty Dublin wrote: »

With the pre tax saving, the Annual is going to cost you either €600 or €900 a year. Thats far less than the rambler is a per annum basis. Also, you wont need to be looking for €140 every few weeks as it is deducted out of your wages before it lands into your bank account. If you are using the bus on a daily basis then it's a no brainer.

The Annual and Monthly pass covers you on the Nitelink as well as your regular bus services unlike the Rambler, if that's of any benefit to you.

I'm a monthly user. It doesn't cover nitelink. Only the annual ticket does.

Losty Dublin

Dravokivich wrote: »

I'm a monthly user. It doesn't cover nitelink. Only the annual ticket does.

My bad, sorry.

LXFlyer

The rambler ticket is designed for more occasional users, who either pay the €2.60 fare or who are likely to make multiple bus trips.