Hidden Fare Increases

[Mark Gleeson]

We have become aware of some rather suspect fare increases on the Sligo route.

Standard single Dublin Sligo is now €40, its was €38 after the January increase, €36.50 before. Thats in breech of the approved 5% increase.

http://www.railusers.ie/news/news.ph...008&no=12.html

We have received written confirmation that an investigation has begun in response to our complaint. Thankfully this is being carried out by the Department of Transport not Irish Rail.

[clockwork orange]

Friend of mine bought a 38e single Dub-Sligo from the booking office in Drogheda last week. So they obviously don't know about it.

[Mark Gleeson]

Irish Rail are quoting €40 http://www.irishrail.ie/your_ticket/fares_enquiries.asp

Fares to Carrick on Shannon have changed as well

DoT received complaint Tuesday last week so they could have been reverted already The DoT are surprisingly quick to respond when a clear case exists. We have been working on fare calculation using the official 2008 fares tables which believe it or not arrived from Irish Rail themselves so we copped a change occurred somewhere in May/June, then they went and hung themselves by admitting to the increase

http://www.railusers.ie/forum/showpo...78&postcount=1

Given the matter is under investigation it indicates that there is substance to our complaint, if IE had got approval that would be known (and signed off) by the very person who is doing the investigation

[ACustomer]

As if the €40 fare were not enough, what about discounted Internet Fares? These are offered on all Intercity routes out of Heuston and are very good value. They do not, according to the information on the IE website, apply to Sligo. So you can get from Wesport to Dublin for €12 each way or €24 return, but Sligo will cost you €40.

Furthermore the greater number of services on the Sligo line (8 versus 3 on the Westport) offer better scope for designating off-peak lower-prices trains.

Does IE operate a coherent marketing policy and do people who run Connolly-based services co-ordinate anything with their Heuston colleagues? I thought the GS&WR ceased to exist as a separate entity over 80 years ago!

[Mark Gleeson]

Heuston is a separate administrative domain

That said its 29 euro day return any train Mon-Thurs + Sat to Sligo and that discount has applied for years, best deal to Cork is 32 euro, previous best was 46.50 from Cork, normally 64.50

[Dkettle]

OK I'm not used to this line, but I travelled one way from Mullingar to Dublin Connolly yesterday, and was charged €24.50 for the privilege. I had looked at the fares on railusers.ie last week and saw one way was €19.50, which I thought was high enough.

The nice man in the station told me to buy my ticket on the train, the nice man on the train told me that I couldn't buy a one way ticket on Sunday, so I ended up with a monthly return. Given that I visit this part of the country once a year and I only ended up on the train because my wife didn't want to come to Croker, this is totally useless to me. I haven't really experienced this kind of thing travelling Cork to Tralee or Dublin, am I just naive?

BTW the train was superb, way nicer than the CDE's. We got into Connolly 10-15 mins early. Coffee was awful though, I will be joining the boycott!

[Mark Gleeson]

According to official documents kindly provided by Irish Rail the single fare on a Friday or Sunday is 19.50 the return fare is 24.50

Monday-Thursday & Saturday the fare is 16.90 single or return

For journeys greater than 138km the single fare is always the same as the return on the Sligo line, but Mullingar is only 81km

You where ripped off and you are entitled to the €7.60 difference in cash. File a written complaint to Customer Services Northern and Eastern Connolly Station

You where not sold the ticket inline with your expressed needs

[clockwork orange]

Could it be that this is an increase in the 'single at saver fare' and not the plain old 'Adult single'.

[Mark Gleeson]

There is no adult single fare on most routes, there is a single fare for adults with a slightly different name but the same conditions apply to both

We can confirm the Sligo fares have changed

[lasno]

I last used the train on July 4th and an upgrade from Dublin to Limerick cost me €12. Now I see that the upgrade costs €20. When was the increase introduced?

[Mark Gleeson]

Originally Posted by lasno

I last used the train on July 4th and an upgrade from Dublin to Limerick cost me €12. Now I see that the upgrade costs €20. When was the increase introduced?

July 6th I think

[clockwork orange]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

July 6th I think

Is that on all trains or does it cost more for peak services?

[Mark Gleeson]

All first class services

No increase on the Citygold rates which applied to selected trains only

[clockwork orange]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

All first class services

No increase on the Citygold rates which applied to selected trains only

Thanks