Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson
A couple traveling together to work situation the car wins on cost, fairly common. Most people don't do the numbers if they are fed up and see a price increase coming well they are going to walk away. Bear in mind there is a price on your own time and sanity
Sad fact is passengers are going elsewhere and its nearly entirely Irish Rails fault. They have failed to provide a decent reliable service, they are looking at 15-20% increase in annual ticket rates this year yet there is talk of fewer trains. Kildare line is the pits without question worst service in Dublin, I've got the graphs. Bus Eireann and others are doing well as a result. I know of several people swapping train for bus when their tickets expire.
Not everyone gets the tax benefit. Not everyone travels every day, Irish Rail don't provide a service of much use at certain times so you have to resort to the car or bus. If you are already in the car, you might as well keep going.
Plenty of reports from various stations of a drop off in demand
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Petrol has gone up by ~25% in the past year, diesel by even more. There is a price on your time too, and the train still beats the car from most places in the commuter belt.
It would be more interesting if the drop off in demand at the stations was offset by an increase in road use. There isn't any hard facts to support this though and any evidence is anecdotal at best. No wonder you only ended up in the Daily Star.