General ticketing chaos in Cork this morning

[comcor]

Presumably, there is a general cause behind this like the station's ISDN line/Internet connection going down.

In summary

Pre-booked tickets not available for collection
TVMs not accepting Credit/Debit cards
Seat allocation not displayed on train
Booking office not open for the 06:15 to Dublin


In addition, apparently, a TVM can't accept two €50 notes.

Fortunately, the Ulster Bank ATM was working, which made things a bit easier for those trying to buy tickets.

In general, passengers were being encouraged to just board the trains.

In fairness to the ticket checker on the Dublin train, he has been doing his best with the array of people who have either no ticket or a reservation without a ticket collected. I suspect there may be a bit of havoc when people have to get through the exit barriers in Heuston.

As for the guy in front of me who couldn't get a ticket to Little Island, I suspect he got a free ride...

[Thomas Ralph]

This normally happens about twice a year for some reason.

A TVM will not accept two €50 notes to pay for a return from Cork to Dublin (costing €72, or has it gone up again?) because it's programmed not to give more than €19.90 in coin change. I can't remember whether this is a law, or because it's wildly impractical, or because if it gives 14 €2 coins to three consecutive customers it'll run out.

If this was over here, the ticket checker on the train would be celebrating because they get 5% commission on all on-train sales!

[Mark Gleeson]

There have been ongoing issues in Cork for a long time with this

The TVM's will take 50 euro notes but only if the change required is less than 18 euro. Its a central bank restriction. For comparison a UK ticket machine I have seen a max change 9.95 on the front

The issue was raised again with Irish Rail last week

The staffing hours at Cork are a disgrace

[comcor]

The odd thing is that I've never seen the booking office not open for the 06:15 train before.

I have complained that it tends to open at 6am or even 5 past, but it always gets there.

On the one morning the TVMs were in trouble, there was no sign of an open ticket office. A lot of hassle could have been saved had people been able to pay with cash at the counter.

Fortunately, as I had been able to buy a ticket having withdrawn cash from the ATM, I had a swift passage through Heuston. Things didn't seem as bad as I feared, with the main problem being for people with reserved tickets who still wanted to pick up their ticket so that they'd have it for the return leg.

[comcor]

The TVMs were not accepting credit/debit cards again this morning, although at least this time the other problems weren't happening.

Out of interest, why is the ticket office in Cork now in a prefab in the car park? They don't seem to be doing anything to the original ticket office.