Monthly ticket Pricing

[deejer]

I have spent a fair amount of the last 3years commuting from Tipperary to Dublin. I moved up to Dublin for the last 6mths and I am now looking to move back down to Tipp again. I am not able to avail of the taxsaver ticket as my company only allow you to sign up to this once a year in April.

I live exactly 8mins from Limerick junction. Its an ideal location if you want to travel anywhere by train and I do use their service alot.

I looked into monthly tickets today as I would not be able to pay the Eur3,500.00 it would cost for a yearly ticket on my own. This is where I got a bit lost...... (below is an extract from taxsaver.ie (http://www.taxsaver.ie/Ticket-Types/Rail-point-to-point-tickets/))

http://www.railusers.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1402&stc=1&d=1317059716


Limerick is priced the same as Limerick Junction at ridiculous Eur660.00 (Limerick junction and Limerick City are 20min-30min apart)



Thurles which is approx 20min away from Limerick junction is Eur408.00, Eur252 cheaper :confused:



If I was to purchase a monthly ticket from Limerick Junction to Dublin for a year it would cost me the grand total of Eur7920.00, well over double the cost of the yearly ticket :confused:


Now I know this doesnt effect alot of people. If I had my taxsaver I would be happy paying my Eur290 off my gross salary every month for my CIE all services ticket. But what I dont understand is how someone sat down and worked out this pricing scheme and figured that it made sense. Maybe Im missing something here and someone can explain this to me :mad:

[Mark Gleeson]

Its complicated

3,500 is the maximum annual fare i.e. the all Irish Rail services annual is 3,500

So if you live more than 75 miles or so from your destination the annual ticket is capped at 3,500 but the monthly tickets are not. The normal function is annual is 10 times the monthly

660 euro per month Limerick Junc - Dublin, 54 euro is the standard return, so after 12 days travel the monthly is cheaper, thats the general ratio for monthly v return fares for all distances.

So the reality is the % discount on a monthly ticket remains constant regardless really of distance but if you are willing to pay upfront for an annual you get a serious discount.

Fare are not charged by distance but by blocks of distance so you can have two stations a distance apart with the same fare.

Many employers will allow you to get an annual and pay monthly, monthly tickets are also available through taxsaver. Another trick is get the 4 day 100 euro ticket which can work out cheaper.

There is a revision of the fare structure due soon and the pricing of annual tickets was discussed with the parties involved. The fare structure was devised 30 years ago where it was unheard of people commuting more than 30 miles. Irish Rail is currently not allowed change its fare structure until the NTA tell them what the new policy will be.

[deejer]

Thanks Mark - thorough response and thanks for the explanation


Fare are not charged by distance but by blocks of distance so you can have two stations a distance apart with the same fare.


There is a steady increase in price as you move down from Dublin. It jumps when you go from Ballybrophy to Templemore (about Eur100) but the jump of Eur252.00 from Thurles to Limerick junction i still dont get.

It means Im going to have to sit in my car every morning and go past the junction and drive the 20mins to Thurles to get the train from there. Which I have done often in the past as the Limerick train stops there and gets to Dublin earlier.

We get a raw deal in the Junction I think :(

[Mark Gleeson]

Limerick Junction - Dublin 172.16km, fare zone N
Thurles - Dublin 139.18km, fare zone L
Templemore - Dublin 126.71km, fare zone K

The zones are not equal in distance and not all letters are used. It is a fair distance from Thurles and Limerick Junction, Templemore is only up the road from Thurles. It is 10 miles from Ballybrophy to Templemore. The problem is one station can be on the high end of one zone and the next on the low end or the other way around result in strange variances

We graphed fares a while back and its almost linear in the 15-170 mile range

The new fares structure will we think be purely distance by the actual km, that will mean some prices go up and some down as everything levels out.