Bus Eireann online bookings

chewed

Why is the BE website still such a piece of cr@p?

I had to buy a ticket for my son online as he was getting a bus from Cavan. The bus was leaving in 15 mins. So I go online, book the ticket and then get a message saying "Thank you for booking.....etc." There was nothing in the message as to what to do next! It didn't say I would be emailed nor did it give me a MAC number. So I try to print, and I get this message "Error printing ticket. Please close the window and try again."!!! Then he calls me to say he was boarding, yet I still hadn't received any email. I actually had to talk to the driver on the phone to say I was waiting for my email confirmation. Luckily he was nice enough and let him on. It was 17 mins after I purchased the ticket that I finally received my email with details and was able to send to my son.

What a complete joke of a service!

Fred Swanson

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Quackster

The fact that our national bus company won't even allow visitors to our country to buy tickets on its website speaks volumes.

TheQuietFella

Quackster wrote: »

The fact that our national bus company won't even allow visitors to our country to buy tickets on its website speaks volumes.

Nonsense! I've travelled on enough journeys to see plenty of foreigners using this service!

Quackster

TheQuietFella wrote: »

Nonsense! I've travelled on enough journeys to see plenty of foreigners using this service!

Eh, read what i said.

The Bus Eireann website will only accept credit/debit cards that have been issued in Ireland. Which means foreign tourists are denied the opportunity to buy cheaper tickets online.

TheQuietFella

Quackster wrote: »

Eh, read what i said.

The Bus Eireann website will only accept credit/debit cards that have been issued in Ireland. Which means foreign tourists are denied the opportunity to buy cheaper tickets online.

Maybe you'll read what I said! I've seen enough tourists using the service (pre-booked tickets) complete with a MAC number & I'm quite sure that their credit
card wasn't issued in Ireland!

XPS_Zero

TheQuietFella wrote: »

Maybe you'll read what I said! I've seen enough tourists using the service (pre-booked tickets) complete with a MAC number & I'm quite sure that their credit
card wasn't issued in Ireland!

Perhaps they booked with someone elses card? or a currency card?
This does sound like the kind of anti-customer policy that is standard at CIE. You can't buy a ticket online between any two stations on the Island of Ireland but you can at the ticket office but NOT at the ticket machine, back before smart cards you could not get a Luas & Rail ticket at the Luas machines only in Irish Rail stations....this would be the least surprising thing to me ever.

Quackster

TheQuietFella wrote: »

Maybe you'll read what I said! I've seen enough tourists using the service (pre-booked tickets) complete with a MAC number & I'm quite sure that their credit
card wasn't issued in Ireland!

I have a number of non-Irish-issued cards and none of them have ever worked with Bus Éireann whereas they work fine with other Irish websites such as Irish Rail. So I am speaking from personal experience.

Others have reported the same experience here on Boards in the past.

Quackster

And another thing that really grinds with the BÉ website...

Recently I was buying a ticket to Dungarvan, a town I'm not really familiar with.

So I enter 'Dungarvan' and am presented with a rather unhelpful list of stops (Davitts Quay, Davitts Quay Opp Pub, Sexton St Village Flowers, Sexton St Opp Village Flowers, The Spring Garden Centre, The Spring Opp Garden Centre).

So whatever about what street I'm getting off at, the system should at the very least be able to automatically determine what side of the street I'm getting off at based on where I'm coming from! It's not exactly rocket science.

Fred Swanson

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XPS_Zero

I don't get how this is possible - isn't VISA and Mastercard meant to work anywhere on earth?
The only card I ever saw that did not work in Ireland, in my unfortunate stint in retail (shudder - downs a sip of whiskey from a flask - shudder) was American Express.

devnull

XPS_Zero wrote: »

I don't get how this is possible - isn't VISA and Mastercard meant to work anywhere on earth?
The only card I ever saw that did not work in Ireland, in my unfortunate stint in retail (shudder - downs a sip of whiskey from a flask - shudder) was American Express.

By default yes - but there are ways that you can block certain types of cards or from certain countries.

gazzer

Fred Swanson wrote: »

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I always use it on the day I travel to book my ticket

Fred Swanson

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chewed

How difficult is it to display the MAC number in the confirmation message???

XPS_Zero

I know Goldline drivers have a manifest given to them before they leave I always see them getting it at the two bus stations, surely BE have similar?
I ask because I've seen people getting on Goldline busses who did not get a MAC and the driver just asks for their name and crosses them off.

Surely this is easier?

Fred Swanson

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XPS_Zero

Well then there is the solution - perhaps they could come into the 19th century then, and get to telegraph stage?

They have wifi and plugs on board (much to my delight in the occasional chance I see an X1 that's a Bus Eireann) so a manifest should be easy enough to set up.

They'll probably want an allowance for operating one, plus a health n safety bonus, in case they get a paper cut