Newry to Landsdowne Commute

[aWotW]

I am considering a commute from Newry to Landsdowne Road.

Would anyone know the following?

(1) The Irish Rail Ticket machines do not offer me a weekly ticket to Newry.
I assume I have to buy a weekly cross border ticket at a ticket office?

(2) Can I, on a Thursday at the ticket office in Landsdowne Road, buy a weekly ticket for Newry to Landsdowne and then make the first trip using that ticket from Newry the following Monday?

(3) Does any one know the price of a weekly ticket from Newry to Dublin, bought in GBP in Newry?
The Translink site does not seem to give the price.

(4) I've been looking at the taxsaver.ie site.
I saw the following on the leapcard terms and conditions page
"Certain adult Tickets such as monthly and annual Taxsaver Tickets cannot be used on this card and must be used on a Personalised Leap Card."

I guess leap cards will not work in Newry.
Assuming I was eligible and able to purchase an annual tax saver point to point trail ticket, would I get a paper ticket that I can use in Newry?
Could I also as part of the purchase get a leap card that will let me get off the Enterprise and go straight to the Dart?
Or would I have to get a paper taxsaver ticket from Newry to Connolly and a seperate leap card to use on the Dart?

[Colm Moore]

Hoping that you will be earning enough to make such a commute sensible, going the Taxsaver route would be important, as you can save up to about 52% of the price of the ticket. However, your employer will need to take part in the scheme. You can get through tickets between any two points on the Irish Rail / NIR networks and this is valid for all journeys within those zones, e.g. you will be able to use it on a trip from Lansdowne to Pearse. Check the limits for Newry, it might be that you can travel south of Lansdowne for the same price

Weekly tickets should be available in the ticket office. Monthly tickets might be available in the ticket office. You will need to check the photo ID requirements. Annual tickets are likely to only be available on a personalised Leap Card.

All tickets can be bought in advance, but make sure you specify (and check) the date.

Depending on currency fluctuations, there may be a price difference on where you (your employer) buys.

Are there ticket gates at Newry where you need to validate a ticket? It is likely that you will be able to use the Leap Card as a 'flash pass' that you show the ticket checker. There is a validator for transfer passengers on platform 5 in Connolly Station.

AIB have a private platform access at Lansdowne. I'm not sure if others can use it.

You do not need two tickets / passes. This will not be cheaper. That said there are some funny things that happen with single / return tickets, where two tickets can be cheaper.

[Mark Gleeson]

Weekly/Monthly/Annual tickets exist and can be issued by both Irish Rail and Translink. Monthly tickets require CIE ID card. Price is available from Irish Rail for any station pair upon application

From a practical point of view an Irish Rail issued ticket will be a lot easier to deal with

Taxsaver is the really the only way to make this commute work, you will get an old style Irish Rail smartcard not a leap card and this will be endorsed 'Lansdowne Rd - Newry' so the folks in Newry will know what it is

There is no need to tag-on/off if it is an annual/monthly ticket, its valid regardless, so proceed directly between any connecting trains.

But you should tag on/off when you encounter a turnstile or validation post. Your next months ticket has to be downloaded to the smartcard so you have to tag on/off to ensure this gets picked up.

[Eddie]

Presumably, to qualify for a Taxsaver ticket, you must be both resident and work for a company in the Republic?

[Colm Moore]

Originally Posted by Eddie

Presumably, to qualify for a Taxsaver ticket, you must be both resident and work for a company in the Republic?

Any one can buy any ticket. They will of course have to follow the transport operators eligibility rules, e.g. for a child or student ticket.

People paying tax in Ireland are entitled to avail of Taxsaver. There are swings and roundabouts though - they might not be able to avail of certain free NHS services at their residence, but should be able to get Child Benefit from the DSP. aWotW, you should investigate this properly.

[Padna]

AFAIK, those resident in NI but working in the ROI are still able to access all NHS services in NI. They are also eligible to apply to the HSE for an ROI medical card if their income is below the normal limits.

If they pay PRSI in the ROI (as they normally will if they work full-time there), their EHIC card (for travelling to other EU/EEA countries) should be issued by the HSE rather than the NHS (as it's based on where one pays social insurance rather than on residency).

[aWotW]

Thanks for the replies.

I've been buying daily return tickets in Newry.
There are no machines or validators.
There is a ticket booth and a separate turnstile where someone checks your ticket.
My ticket has been manually checked on every trip departing Newry.

I tried to buy a weekly ticket from Newry to Landsdowne at the ticket office in Connolly station.

I was hoping with a weekly ticket that I would be able to walk from the platform the Enterprise arrives at in Connolly to the Dart platform without going into the main station and then back through the validator gates.

The staff member tried to issue a ticket but gave up saying the machine would not let them.
I got the impression they would have been able to issue a Newry to Connolly ticket.

I asked in Newry station the price of a weekly ticket to Connolly on 31st May 2016 and it was GBP 76
Assuming I am reading the http://www.irishrail.ie/fares-and-ti...dublin-belfast correctly the equivalent is EUR 79.50

I've found the http://borderpeople.info/ site to very useful.

The Irish Rail smartcard endorsed 'Lansdowne Rd - Newry' sounds like a solution.
I've been looking into Taxsaver at my employer.
My employer has outsourced the administration of buying the tickets to a 3rd party.
The 3rd party only offer the options of
"Newry to Connolly" or "Newry to Booterstown"
I asked if they would give me a price for Newry to Landsdowne and the answer was no.

[Mark Gleeson]

The fares are by distance zones, so Newry Booterstown is the one you want, and it is valid for Lansdowne Rd - Newry and any combination between.

The booking office machine should be able to issue the ticket, the fare exists so you have a right to it. In fact you could claim a refund due failure to get the ticket you want

[Colm Moore]

Originally Posted by aWotW

The staff member tried to issue a ticket but gave up saying the machine would not let them.

The staff member may not know the relevant codes.

If I have it right, the stations codes for the stations are:

100 Dublin (Connolly)
125 Lansdowne Road
126 Sydney Parade
127 Booterstown

[Mark Gleeson]

Irish Rail may have removed from the machine everything bar single/return for cross border. The self service ticket machines used to have all the stations in Northern Ireland and all the fares

There is a manual ticket issuing process in this case, the ticket type and destination is selected and the fare entered manually from the whats my fare book