Leap card distribution expanded (hahaaaa) to An Post / Point Point Outlets

G_R

The debit/credit card appears to be tied to leap card, not the app. I tried to top up my friends card when his phone died, and when I held his card to the back of my phone and chose top up, it wanted his app PIN and charged it to his card.

So, long story short, the shop company card won't work.

mikeybhoy

Put it this way saying in store top ups are not needed due to the app is a bit like RPTI poles should be removed due to the RTPI app

devnull

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119294650#Comment_119294650

That's why I really am hoping that PostPoint add a lot more stores before this launches in 2023. Maybe they will, time will tell.

Do we know who the other bidders were in terms of the Leap contract? I wonder if one of them went in with PayZone as their partner and thus this option was not open to Cubic.

mikeybhoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119294846#Comment_119294846

Yes it wouldn't be an issue if every shop that does payzone adopted it and would have the additional advantage of selling stamps and the parcels service. I remember when Leap was launched not every shop did it initially.

I'd say shops who don't do it may adopt it if they lose business as a result. But that would result in a period where Leap will be unavailable for a period of time in said shops.

L1011

The shop in Maynooth station does a surprising amount of Leap topups considering there are three TVMs - single queue if you're already getting coffee, I guess. It would be quite handy if they became a PostPoint, albeit there's not a lot of space for the parcels services.

FishOnABike

A five year contract does not bode well for the development of public transport. Leap cards are an antiquated concept and with contactless payment unlikely to be launched until 2024 public transport is not being made easy to use.

On a recent trip I was able to buy tickets for return tram journeys from my destination airport to the city centre (we need one of those too) before leaving Ireland and travel on public tranport at my destination using contactless payment (debit or credit card, Apple pay, Google pay) without having to worry about buying a separate single purpose card or fob, top-ups, leap apps, currency exchange, etc... and a daily fare cap of about €5 and busses so frequent it would almost be quicker to hop on a bus than walk to the end of the street - totally frictionless conveniece.

That's how public transport should be delivered. If we want people to use public transport it needs to be easy, not the least worst choice.

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119296753#Comment_119296753

How many parents are going to let their kids have anything except a single purpose card?

(They tried a low value multi-purpose cash card in my home town: failed miserably in the first few weeks, when kids spent the weeks bus money on sweets in the first day.)

FishOnABike

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119297472#Comment_119297472

Children / school / college going ages travelled for free on public transport within the area covered by the bus service. How's that for promoting use of a public transport service? As consequence city centre traffic was very light.

I found this article online https://www.thejournal.ie/transport-leap-card-4300842-Oct2018/ We're still talking about years away before we can tap our debit/credit card, phone or watch to pay for public transport. If other cities/countries can do it why can't we?

If we want to encourage people to use public transport we need to make it an easy option.

As a tourist I could use and pay for public transport there as conveniently and easily as a local. We need to do the same here.

LXFlyer

The contracts for contactless etc. have been awarded by the NTA.

Rollout is expected in early 2024.

bk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119298886#Comment_119298886

Unless something has changed in the past two months, the contract isn't to be awarded until end of 2023! Which is absolutely ridiculous:

https://www.mobility-payments.com/2022/05/26/irelands-national-transport-authority-prepares-to-accept-bids-for-large-next-generation-ticketing-project/

They really need to get going with this. It is definitely not rocket science.

BTW some interesting points from the above article.

It seems they are considering to also change the physical leap cards from the current card to an EMV card. I wonder will that mean you would be able to use the leap card as a prepaid debit, in shops etc. and not just on the bus. And if they do, hopefully they will have a way to limit it to just public transport for the children's leap cards.

They are also considering the ability to load prepaid tickets on EMV cards, so possibly you could load daily passes, etc. on your credit/debit card!

bk

BTW Payzone took a High Court case against the NTA in relation to this contract and seem to have lost the case. I'd imagine relations between Payzone and the NTA are strained as a result.

https://ie.vlex.com/vid/payzone-ireland-ltd-v-868822816

As an aside, while I'm very glad that the iPhone top-up app exists, I do think it is a relatively poor app and it could be much better.

It annoys me that it doesn't support Apple Pay (or Google Pay on Android), which would make using it much easier then having to put your card details into the app and trusting that they can keep your card details safe.

Also it really annoys me that the app requires you to enter a 4 digit PIN code to use a saved credit card. Why not just use touch or face id on devices that support it?

It really comes across as a least effort app.

Finally sohludn't they just integrate this functionality into a single TFI app, along with the Journey Planner app and the TFI Go app. One app for all your transport needs.

mikeybhoy

It'll be an absolute nightmare when this happens after the move to An Post is complete. https://twitter.com/TFIupdates/status/1546767346269929472?t=Tm_lCm087ios7HcbnnqAeg&s=19

mikeybhoy

What's the story with this move. It's December now and I haven't seen much advertisement of it by the NTA to the general public or much expansion to the Post Point network.

p_haugh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119970865#Comment_119970865

Seems to have happened already. Was in the newsagents today and someone asked to top up their leap card, cashier told them that they would need to go to a shop that offers PostPoint to do it now.

Strange that there was no official announcement, or if there was it wasn't greatly advertised...

Dravokivich

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120579200#Comment_120579200

The contract with Cubic referenced earlier in the thread came into place last week.

p_haugh

Thanks for that.

Still mad how the NTA/TFI haven't released any form of statement or announcement that this change has come into effect, a lot of people will be finding out the hard way.

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120582084#Comment_120582084

I’d have thought that was par for the course if I’m being honest.

Peregrine

The official launch is this week. Not sure why it's late.

Mrs OBumble

Mr O'Bumble topped up at a Spar on Tuesday, but his card balance display on my phone says the topup was at An Post.

Fwiw

Hotblack Desiato

That'd be expected for a transaction going through Post Point.

Anyway this nonsense is what finally prompted my OH to give up on topping up in shops and use the app.

Madd Finn

**** ridiculous!!!

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120795635#Comment_120795635

No, there are more postpoints than post offices. There are just far, far less than there are payzone outlets.

markpb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120795710#Comment_120795710

They have to be activated and topped up before first use. You could theoretically stock cards that are ready to use but they’d be incredible theft risks for the shops.

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120797276#Comment_120797276

Shops regularly manage far greater theft risks.

Dravokivich

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120797290#Comment_120797290

They are incredibily difficult to manage without a deposit.

Dravokivich

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120797405#Comment_120797405

Except this is money. They don't tend to leave money laying around in shops. Even scratch cards have to be activated and tend to be put up in limited numbers to mitigate risk and that's for a far lower amount than can be gotten by yanking a handful of leap cards with just a deposit and a minimal amount of credit to make use of 1 trip.

Lots of newsagents and petrol stations don't even have their staff handling money anymore, the tills are practically safes now.

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120798426#Comment_120798426

How do you think they manage gift cards that they sell?

markpb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120798449#Comment_120798449

Gift cards are treated identical to Leap cards - they have to be activated and topped-up prior to first use.

Dravokivich

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120798449#Comment_120798449

Do you ever think of the question you are asking?

bk

The obvious solution is for the NTA to hurry up and just introduce the next gen ticket, which will allow you to pay by tap to pay credit/debit cards and Apple/Google Pay by phone, etc.

Also while I’m whining, it is ridiculous that you have to enter your credit card details every time you top up by the app! They should just support Apple/Google Pay for ease of use, until they get the next gen ticketing done. It would be so easy to implement.