TFI Leap Card Guide & FAQ (Updated Jan 2020)

Hi folks,

Anyone came across this issue before...

I top a card up online so will need to use app to convert the topup to the card itself. However the card is missing.

Its registered so i can just report same and get another. But would i still be able get the credit

davetherave wrote: »

On Dublin Bus is it possible to use an annual ticket on a personalised card and get travel credit additional fares in the one go.

The same you can get on, go to the driver and get for example two €2.25's from a cash purse. Can you go to the driver and tell him there is an annual ticket and and you want two €2.25's in the one go if there are three of you travelling. I had two guys up from the country who only had notes so I said I'd cover them. The driver got the annual ticket (turns out looking at the travel history he didn't) but then said after hitting a few buttons that he couldn't access the cash purse on it.

I can't say I've ever asked for this since getting the taxsaver so I don't know if it is possible or he just wasn't sure of what to do.

Yes this is totally possible,as long as there is enough credit in the purse to cover the amount.
If you first validate your annual ticket on the remote validator,then return to the Drivers T.I.M,it should then automatically go to the Purse/Companion screen.
The only limit is the amount of credit in the Purse.
It is also totally possible to validate the Annual on the T.I.M,but somewhat longer winded,and therefore less popular.

Does anyone know if there are any plans to allow the use of mobile phones for leap card - similar to apple pay for credit cards?

B_ecke_r wrote: »

why can't we just tag on and off using debit card like the tube in London?

It's not a simple change. It will probably require new card readers at every Dart station and Luas stop and on-board every Dublin Bus, GAI bus and any other operator who want to support it. It will then need a new back-office system to make it all work. It will almost definitely happen in Dublin but it won't be quick and it won't be cheap.

Why does it take so long for top up to appear? It's happened to me twice now where I've topped up before 10pm, yet when I tried to tag on my bus ticket, it wasn't valid. Anyone know if they're doing something to work on speeding up the top up?

Stheno wrote: »

Can you only buy the personalised card online? Any idea how long it takes?

I ordered mine on a Thursday and had it the following Monday or Tuesday. It was speedy enough!

L1011 wrote: »

The bus load locations could be problematic if the bus in question was unused for a day or two quite possibly. Presuming this is one of the private operators as DB/GAI aren't load locations?

Online topup for load location collection will likely die off when either Apple allow full NFC support or Apple phones drop below a certain % of usage.

Yeah, it's a private operator.



Is there any way I can top up and collect my ticket without getting on the bus? That would allow me to get the ticket sooner?

Can anyone make sense of my transactions here?

The 01/09/2019 9:14pm deduction  €9.09 - €2.25 should have left me with €6.84.

The 06/09/2019 7:04pm transaction  €3.04 - €2.25 should have left €0.79.

Have I misread something here?

Vic_08 wrote: »

Looks like 2 x 2.25 was taken, why it doesn't show though ???

Ring the Leap helpline 1850 824824 or 01 5171528, they are not available on Sun so Mon-Fri from 7am - 7pm.

Yeah it looks like I was charged €4.50 on the 1st by Goahead and €3.80 on the 6th by Dublin Bus. I missed the last bus last night because the driver said there was no money on it. I was fuming :mad:

I tagged on and got on the luas today at Jervis. Driver announced that the Luas would not be going any further because there was a delay up ahead. I tagged off again.

Will my leap card be charged for a journey? I forgot to check when i was tagging off if my balance decreased.

Qrt wrote: »

Yeah, a one zone fare.

I emailed them and they will refund it. Same thing had happened to me on Saturday when a Luas i was on had to be terminated in Abbey Street because of some parade on O'Connell Street.

To be fair to them they replied fairly quickly and told me that i'd be getting a refund.

sligeach wrote: »

I forgot to tag off when I got off the train. Can I go back and tag off? How long before it would just charge me for another journey instead?

First, check your car status on the ticket machine.

If you swipe your card on the validator within 90 minutes of previously tagging on, it should tag you off. If you do it after the 90 minutes, it will tag you on again.

sligeach wrote: »

I went down to the station about 5 hours after I got off, checked the machine and it said I was still tagged on. So I scanned my card and it took another €2.20 off instead of refunding €2.20. I should have left it alone, just made things worse for myself. It's a bit of a scam, they got money for nothing. I should skip paying the next day.

The great thing about asking a question is you often get answers. In this case Victor told you the cut-off is 90 minutes, you went and tapped after 5 hours and had a deduction.

The card holds the state but it contains no clock, only when it interacts with the system does it update based on the data exchanged, at this point it was determined your card had been logged on for too long so the previous journey was timed out and another journey started.

This is not a scam, it is how it is supposed to work and let's not ignore the fact that it was your error in not tapping out and ignoring the cut-off time.

I would strongly advise you not to skip paying based on some belief that you are justified because of this, it will not be accepted as a valid excuse if you are caught.

Ring the Leap helpline and explain the situation, preferably without accusations of criminal activity on their behalf or a bad attitude generally and they may adjust your balance accordingly.