The Leap Card Thread

[Mark Gleeson]

Day and 7 day capping is under test on Irish Rail currently.

[Jack O'Neill]

Applied for the Auto Top Up trial, interestingly the confirmation email states that the it can be activated on Irish Rail facilities.

"Your application will be processed within three days. Then, you will be able to activate Auto Top-Up by simply using your Leap Card as normal on any Dublin Bus, Irish Rail or*Luas service. Please note, for the trial you will not be able to activate Auto Top-Up on Bus Éireann, Wexford Bus or Mathews commuter services.*

Important note – once you have applied for Auto Top-Up you will have 21 days to activate it. After that time your application will automatically expire and you will not be able to use or re-apply for Auto Top-Up. The activation and any auto top-ups received will be visible on the “View My History” section of*www.leapcard.ie"

Welcome also the Irish Rail capping trial - are they working on multi travel mode capping?

[Mark Gleeson]

Swords Express has at least one bus accepting leap card as well.

[Colm Moore]

Note that you also need a positive balance for auto top-up to be activated

[comcor]

I noticed a bus in Cork (route 202) this morning that had a smart card reader installed. Is a roll-out beyond Dublin being planned?

[Mark Gleeson]

The standard Bus Eireann ticket machine is the almost the same as the DB one

It doesn't imply anything... yet

[Thomas Ralph]

Why won't they take credit cards for auto-top-up?

[haddockman]

Risk of chargebacks. A person could consume many auto top ups via a stolen card before the owner would even realise. Months later the transactions would be refunded leaving leapcard in the lurch for the money.

At least with a dodgy DD it can be detected much quicker so the card can be suspended.

[Thomas Ralph]

You can request a direct debit be reclaimed for up to 13 months after the date of the transaction.

[Mark Gleeson]

There are limits on auto top up frequency, once in 7 days I think is the limit

Its a trivial operation to hot list a card to block it, call Leap, next day will be blocked and auto top up will be blocked.

Few points
1. Since the card has to be registered to do auto top up, no one else can find out if you have auto top up
2. The TVM's do not show if the card has auto top up on


There also issue with credit cards expiring which would result in issues. If change your current account band they redirect DD and SO to the new one so no break in service

[haddockman]

Originally Posted by Thomas Ralph

You can request a direct debit be reclaimed for up to 13 months after the date of the transaction.

May be in the UK but certainly not in Ireland.

It is very hard to get banks to refund DD's period.

[Thomas Ralph]

It is a matter of EU law (Payment Services Directive) so you most certainly can get this in Ireland.

[comcor]

Roll out to Bus Eireann in the Eastern Region is starting

http://www.buseireann.ie/news.php?id=1304&month=May

[comcor]

It seems Cork will get it in the new year.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakin...ds-596549.html

No word on whether that is bus, train or both.

[Mark Gleeson]

It will be Bus Eireann, Cork almost has a flat fare situation on city buses

Irish Rail has been busy with turnstiles gates in Mallow and Cork recently so we will see leap there possibly in the future

[Kilocharlie]

Sallins, Newbridge and Kildare are also being fitted out with turnstiles. Does this mean that Leap coverage will be extended to these stations or even a medium/long hop zone?

[Mark Gleeson]

Drogheda and Dundalk have them as well. Its part of a nationwide project

Annual and monthly tickets nationwide will go onto leap, as will the DSFA pass.

Its not realistic to allow tag on/off nationwide as the minimum balance required would be huge. The Dutch have tried this and it doesn't really work in practice

[comcor]

A couple of questions

If you have a monthly pass on a LEAP card, is it possible to put credit on as well for when you go outside the area covered by your pass or do you need a second card. In particular, if I end up with my monthly pass for Cork buses on a LEAP card, could I use it in Dublin if there's credit on it.

Also, why is it necessary to have turnstiles for a LEAP system to be in place. LUAS doesn't use that and in The Netherlands, it's only the main stations and metro stations that are turnstiled - everywhere else has a LUAS style validator.

[Kilocharlie]

Originally Posted by comcor

A couple of questions



Also, why is it necessary to have turnstiles for a LEAP system to be in place. LUAS doesn't use that and in The Netherlands, it's only the main stations and metro stations that are turnstiled - everywhere else has a LUAS style validator.

Turnstiles have more to do with ticket validation and fare evasion than Leap capability. Why else install them at stations outside the Leap zones such as Newbridge or Drogheda?

[Mark Gleeson]

Yes you can mix and match products and cash. You can have real fun on Dublin Bus and can get a ticket issued for a companion using your credit and get the annual/monthly/capped ticket validated