And you thought Irish Rail's fares didn't make sense
 

Fun and games on the other side of the Irish Sea...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6442947.stm

That strategy is illegal on IE you can't rebook to continue on the same train. That said I can save you a heap by doing it on certain routes, but if you are caught you risk getting stung

IE have section 6 to get you on the buying a ticket beyond your destination which is cheaper

What about this then:

Say you want to go from Cork to Heuston on the 07:30 on a weekday morning. The cost on the internet is €56.50 according to the Irish rail website.

Now, if, for example you were to buy a ticket to, say, Tullamore, for €47, and then break your journey in Heuston, and then not get around to travelling on to Tullamore, you have made a saving of €10.50.

Taking the 07:30 to Heuston, having a latte in Cafe ToGo and then and getting onto the 11:10 is a legitamite way to travel......

(canteen isn't seen by Irish Rail staff is it? I should be ashamed of myself public servant and all)

Thats illegal but its hard to catch you

It actually reminds me of something my father used to do. He used to travel to Belfast for work. In the days before there was a regular flight, this meant a long train journey.

Anyway, he had prepaid contract tickets, but these were only valid for travel in the Republic, so he used to go to the ticket desk in Kent Station to buy a return from Dundalk to Belfast to complete his journey. From what I understand, it used to cause confusion sometimes, but he always got the ticket.

It would appear that what he was doing was technically illegal though.

????

You go from Cork, presumably get off a Portarlingotn and hang around there for a few hours to save €10.50? Take out the costs of the coffess, maybe a bun, a newspaper.... wheres the saving there?

We can show you much better ways of doing it.....

And yes, IE does read the canteen. Mark and myself had a bit of fun yesterday spying in on the spies, we even worked out their names and internal e-mail addresses.

Actually the weekday day saver return ex Cork is €44.00 so its not worth the hassle

How about this classic from Bus eireann...

I buy one way ticket to Balbriggan From automatic machine in bus aras for 5 euro. Getting on the bus,person in front asks driver for same ticket,and gets it for 4 euro

So once again it's the pre-bookers that use the internet that get penalised instead of rewarded.

What is the weekday day saver Cork to Tullamore?

I travelled by train from Cork to Athlone recently via Heuston (this a bit longer than changing in Thurles and Portarlington but much less hassle and is a route given in journey planner). The monthly return Cork to Athlone is cheaper than the Cork-Dublin ticket.. How are they meant to catch you if you don't continue to Athlone? Don't think they can..

Slightly unrelated question about travel rules.. If you buy an online ticket, say monthly return Cork-Dublin, with pre-booked seat but don't make the train you are booked on, can you take a different train with that ticket? (Of course you wouldn't get the pre-booked seat)

Hmmm. So in terms of internet pricing it is cheaper to do it that way??!!