QR ticketing - Doesn't seem to work at all

PixelCrafter

Just boarded a Cork bound train at Dublin Heuston, and a high % of passengers are using online ticketing, nobody seemed to be able to get them to scan. There was a very busy full MK4 waiting to go and they just abandoned the ticket checks and opened the barriers.

The system seems to just not work.

I have tried scanning them from the iOS Wallet on a relatively new iPhone and from the PDF on Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra in recent days (first time using the train for a while) and neither of them have ever opened the barrier.

On the way up I couldn't get the barriers to open as my Dublin bound ticket had the same issue in Cork and wasn't validated.

They need to sort it out.

it looks to me like the QR code they're using is far too dense and is making it very difficult for the camera to scan it in less than ideal conditions at a busy ticket barrier. How much info could you possibly need to encode for a train ticket !?

Also the website isn't making it very obvious that you can download it to the iOS wallet and it's just not supporting the Android ecosystem at all - no integration into Google Wallet or Samsung Wallet.

The Irish Rail app should just fully integrate into both ecosystems, if they're going to be serious about e-ticketing.

I'm amazed this was rolled out live - clearly put a lot of money into scanners and barriers but it just doesn't work. I doubt this is some in-house system. Most of these are developed by serious external expertise and specialist ticketing providers.

The other pet peeve, is like the Mk3s before them, they seem to have broken or disabled all the vestibule doors on the MK4 - so you get to hear all the squeaks and rattles of the couplings the whole way to Cork.

Irish Rail always seem to manage to aim and miss by that annoying margin that makes what could be a good product just that bit crap.

The Mathematician

My experience is that if you increase the size of the QR code to the size of your phone, then it eventually works perhaps 90% of the time. It is far too fiddly though.

Surely the obvious move would be to remove the barriers and check the tickets on the train.

PixelCrafter

There were hundreds of people all trying to go through and a high % had QR codes - no way you can spend 45 seconds + on every ticket. They just gave up.

Whatever it's doing it's just not working - I hope they are getting the vendor to sort it out, as it's just not suitable for the job at all as it's configured at the moment.

OisinCooke

My man experience with them is on the Waterford line and if I add them to my Apple Wallet, it works perfectly at Heuston, but because there is no barrier at the other end of the line in Waterford I can’t be sure if there’s an issue with using the ticket twice.

I think though that I recall using them to get to Cork, and the first scan in Heuston working, but the scan to get out of the barriers in Kent didn’t work.

Another thing is if you order multiple tickets in the one order, you can add them to your Wallet and swipe between them, but it seems that only the first ticket scans, the rest don’t… another issue.

I definitely think that it’s not too much of an issue, as in Heuston there is usually someone waiting at an open barrier just glancing at the tickets as you go fast, but if they want to make it a good way of fare checking and not just buying tickets, certain improvements need to be made.

The ability to add the ticket to your Apple/Google Wallet is very handy though I have to say.

PixelCrafter

You can't add it to Google wallet - not supported.

p_haugh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124139657#Comment_124139657

They use the .pkpass format which Google doesn't yet support through the built-in "Add to Google Wallet" functionality unlike Apple. However, Google Wallet does support the manual uploading of that format. Shame they don't offer the option to download the .pkpass file format for those not on Apple.

thenuisance

Out of curiosity I printed out the ticket just to see if that worked. Didn't work at Heuston. They either need to fix it or abandon it

Buffman

I've had the QR code scanned ok on the train with the app display, printouts/screenshots won't work as the resolution isn't good enough to scan apparently.

But I've never gotten it to work properly at any exit gate, now I just go for 'collect at ticket machine' option to avoid any messing around.

bk

I got to say I'm not a fan of QR tickets, they are finicky at the best of times. I'd rather they used NFC tickets, much more reliable IME, though you might still need QR backup for phones without NFC (not that many any more).

Wexbud

Even the Irish Rail physical yellow tickets sometimes don't register through the barriers, particularly through Connolly. I have a few of the tickets that went through the ticket barriers that got scuffed