The Leap Card Thread

[James Howard]

The reason I went to the barrier was that as I had joined the train at Edgeworthstown where I couldn't tag on, my understanding was that I would have been travelling without a ticket if I boarded a northbound DART.

@berneyarms I suspected that was the case that the system wasn't able to cope.

The customer service agent for leap wasn't able to explain to me that what I was doing wasn't possible. She suggested I just boarded the DART without doing anything which to me just seems wrong.

What's particularly annoying was that I was told I no longer needed my old leap card so as it was a photo one, I cancelled it and got my credit refunded. I guess I'll have to organise myself with a second card. The leap card really is quite a mess.

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by James Howard

The reason I went to the barrier was that as I had joined the train at Edgeworthstown where I couldn't tag on, my understanding was that I would have been travelling without a ticket if I boarded a northbound DART.

@berneyarms I suspected that was the case that the system wasn't able to cope.

The customer service agent for leap wasn't able to explain to me that what I was doing wasn't possible. She suggested I just boarded the DART without doing anything which to me just seems wrong.

What's particularly annoying was that I was told I no longer needed my old leap card so as it was a photo one, I cancelled it and got my credit refunded. I guess I'll have to organise myself with a second card. The leap card really is quite a mess.

To be honest it is the funding for public transport and consequently the fare structure that is the problem.

LEAP has to work around that.

The simple solution is just have one card for your period pass and a second for the epurse - that's the only work around I'm afraid.

In the greater scheme of things your situation, while not uncommon, is a minority of LEAP users, and unless the fare structure changes to a zonal one there's not likely to be an alternative solution.

[James Howard]

So if Leap card doesn't work for me, why the hell did they migrate my TaxSaver on it and say that I didn't need my old leap card? Surely it doesn't take even more that the 55 million euro they've already had to be able to advise customers properly.

There are thousands of people using point-to-point TaxSaver tickets who have occasional need of the epurse so this is not a particularly tiny edge-case. Whatever about such a basic requirement being missed in the original software development plan, their customer service agents should at least be aware of the issue.

There is also the matter that I've probably been ripped off several times before for this without noticing. So they are basically making extra money from this flaw in the system.

[Kilocharlie]

Originally Posted by James Howard

So if Leap card doesn't work for me, why the hell did they migrate my TaxSaver on it and say that I didn't need my old leap card? Surely it doesn't take even more that the 55 million euro they've already had to be able to advise customers properly.

There are thousands of people using point-to-point TaxSaver tickets who have occasional need of the epurse so this is not a particularly tiny edge-case. Whatever about such a basic requirement being missed in the original software development plan, their customer service agents should at least be aware of the issue.

There is also the matter that I've probably been ripped off several times before for this without noticing. So they are basically making extra money from this flaw in the system.

Exactly the same issue I raise a few weeks ago when the Kildare (County) - GCD service starts. The only solution is to have to 2 leap cards in the Integrated ticketing system. The real issue was the decision to migrate the point-to-point tickets to Leap which is causing these anomalies.
There is no issue at present with Heuston side as there is no overlap between point-to-point and DART/Commuter. This will change with the PPT service.

[Inniskeen]

I have a rail smart card which I believe has the same functionality as a LEAP card. I have not attempted to load any credit to avoid the type of messing and confusion descriped by previous posters. I simply use a separate LEAP card for trips not covered by the rail ticket. To be honest I wouldn't have sufficient confidence that the Irish Rail machines wouldn't attack my e-purse and I really couldn't be bothered with the hassle of attempting to get a refund.

[James Howard]

Yeah, in hindsight, I should have been equally suspicious of the system. Why do we always expect and receive such a level of cock-up in public sector projects in Ireland? It's just depressing - it is nothing to do with a lack of money. Leap had a budget of 55 million euro.

Correction - it had a budget of 27 million euro but they spend 55 million on it.

[berneyarms]

To be honest - the point-to-point season tickets should never have migrated to LEAP.

They should have remained on IE smartcards and if people wanted to use LEAP epurse they should have been informed to get a separate LEAP card.

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by James Howard

So if Leap card doesn't work for me, why the hell did they migrate my TaxSaver on it and say that I didn't need my old leap card? Surely it doesn't take even more that the 55 million euro they've already had to be able to advise customers properly.

There are thousands of people using point-to-point TaxSaver tickets who have occasional need of the epurse so this is not a particularly tiny edge-case. Whatever about such a basic requirement being missed in the original software development plan, their customer service agents should at least be aware of the issue.

There is also the matter that I've probably been ripped off several times before for this without noticing. So they are basically making extra money from this flaw in the system.

Frankly - oversight I would imagine. Based on previous performance, I suspect that it wasn't thought of.

You're quite right - it should have been obvious.

But while numerous people may have point-to-point tickets I do think that you would find that the vast majority of them will just use that part. The numbers who need to use the epurse on rail I would imagine would have been quite small. The vast majority of commuters just do their standard commute on public transport.