How does a Leap card work?

Doltanian

I wouldn't be a very frequent user of Public transport as I usually drive everywhere.However next month I'll be in Dublin for two or three days throughout the month at different dates and was recently researching this Leap card.

My understanding is that I must pay €10, €5 for the card and €5 in pre loaded travel credit. Will my card then have €10 or €5 onboard? Is there an actual charge of €5 for the plastic card I mean? It says on their website, €5 deposit (refundable) with the refundable part confusing me.

e.g. I'm travelling Heuston to Abbey Street by Luas, I tag on at the start and off at the end? also is this how it works on the Dublin Bus also?

me_irl

5e is for the card so you can "preload" any amount when you're applying for one. I think 5e is the minimum, so you'll have 5e worth of travel credit. You would have to tag on at the starting station and off at the end. That's it.

https://about.leapcard.ie/faqs

devnull

Doltanian wrote: »

My understanding is that I must pay ?10, ?5 for the card and ?5 in pre loaded travel credit. Will my card then have ?10 or ?5 onboard? Is there an actual charge of ?5 for the plastic card I mean? It says on their website, ?5 deposit (refundable) with the refundable part confusing me.

The way it works is you will have ?5 credit on the card in the case outlined above.

However if you have positive balance on the card before making a journey, you can still make that journey if it would take you to no more than ?5 into a negative balance

So for example, if you had 24c on your card and the journey cost ?1.60 euro you could make that journey and you would be left with - ?1.36. However once you are in minus credit you cannot use the card anymore until you top up.

If you cancel/return the card they will refund the ?5 in addition to any credit on the card, if you are in minus figures when you cancel the negative balance will be subtracted from your refund.

I'm travelling Heuston to Abbey Street by Luas, I tag on at the start and off at the end? also is this how it works on the Dublin Bus also?

For LUAS and DART and Commuter Rail you tag on and tag off.

For Dublin Bus you tag on only and you may need to interact with the driver unless you are making quite a long journey since the validator on the right hand side of bus takes maximum fare, if you don't want to travel that far you will need to present the card on drivers ticket machine and tell him where you are going

See here for info on using LEAP on Dublin Bus
https://www.dublinbus.ie/Fares-and-Tickets/Leap-Card/

Delta2113

My balance is €2.28 - if i get a bus for €2.15 that will leave 13 cent balance. Am I correct in thinking I could then get a Nightlink for €5.29?

I never paid a deposit so I would save myself €5.16. Is this correct?

From what I remember you can only go as low as -€5, but I'm sure someone else with more knowledge will confirm that.

devnull

Delta2113 wrote: »

My balance is €2.28 - if i get a bus for €2.15 that will leave 13 cent balance. Am I correct in thinking I could then get a Nightlink for €5.29?

I never paid a deposit so I would save myself €5.16. Is this correct?

You can only go into minus figures up to €5 on an adult or student Leap Card and up to €3 on a child, providing your card is in positive territory when taking the journey which puts it into a minus figure.

Since the fare would take you to less than minus €5 you could not use the Leap Card for this journey.

Delta2113

Deleted User wrote: »

From what I remember you can only go as low as -€5, but I'm sure someone else with more knowledge confirm that.

- ok but i could still get another €2.15 journey and save €2.02?

Wishbone Ash

devnull wrote: »

...For Dublin Bus you tag on only and you may need to interact with the driver unless you are making quite a long journey since the validator on the right hand side of bus takes maximum fare...

Like the OP I'm also a very infrequent user of public transport. I get a bus about once a month. The fare is €3.30 for a journey of about 5kms. How would I know if this was considered a long journey or a maximum fare?

(My wife says I should get a leap card but I don't think it's worth my while except for not having to have the exact fare in coins).

punisher5112

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Like the OP I'm also a very infrequent user of public transport. I get a bus about once a month. The fare is €3.30 for a journey of about 5kms. How would I know if this was considered a long journey or a maximum fare?

(My wife says I should get a leap card but I don't think it's worth my while except for not having to have the exact fare in coins).

If you go to the driver they will give appropriate fare.

If it is €3.30 then on leap it is €2.60 and you use the validator beside the door for this amount.

Anything less go to the driver.
Place card on machine and state destination.

It will either be €1.50 or €2.15 on leap.

You also get a €1 discount if you use the bus again within 90 minutes also includes dart, some bus eireann and luas.

pjq

I'm also an infrequent user of Dublin Bus "services" ,
LEAP website says , " Using Leap , Bus: Touch on at the start of your journey only" not a mention of interacting with the driver.
"On-Line Top Up" is a joke as you have to collect the credit somewhere else.
I got the card to avoid looking for change before trips to Dublin, but this backward card is definitely not worth the effort.

Caranica

pjq wrote: »

I'm also an infrequent user of Dublin Bus "services" ,
LEAP website says , " Using Leap , Bus: Touch on at the start of your journey only" not a mention of interacting with the driver.
"On-Line Top Up" is a joke as you have to collect the credit somewhere else.
I got the card to avoid looking for change before trips to Dublin, but this backward card is definitely not worth the effort.

If you have an android device you can top up directly using the leap card app, it's brilliant

devnull

pjq wrote: »

I'm also an infrequent user of Dublin Bus "services" ,
LEAP website says , " Using Leap , Bus: Touch on at the start of your journey only" not a mention of interacting with the driver.
"On-Line Top Up" is a joke as you have to collect the credit somewhere else.
I got the card to avoid looking for change before trips to Dublin, but this backward card is definitely not worth the effort.

That's part of the reason we created the Leap Card Guide here and especially the part with step by step details about Dublin Bus and other operators and how to work out the number of stages for routes and how to pay for your tickets.

The online top-up needing to be collected when using Dublin Bus is due to technical limitations with current on bus ticketing equipment but this is due for replacement in the next year or so.

In the meantime, I'd suggest using the Android Top-Up App, or Auto Top-up if you are mostly only using the bus - see details on these options in the top-up section of this post.