Cheap web fares

[Thomas Ralph]

There appears to have been a reshuffle on what trains are eligible for the lower fares.

[Thomas Ralph]

At first glance Dublin-Cork €10 fares are available Mon 1000/1400/2100, Tue-Thur 1000/1100/1400/2100, Fri 1000/2100, Sat 0700/1400/2100, Sun 0825. Cork-Dublin €10 fare Mon/Fri 0505/0930/2030, Tue-Thur 0505/0930/1030/2030, Sat 0505/0630/2030, nothing on Sunday. Looks like a decent effort at redirecting people towards less-busy trains.

[Mark Gleeson]

There will be a major change in coming days. There should be more trains with cheap seats.

So the advice is book early, the earlier you book the more likely you are to get a bigger discount. Avoid booking the day of travel.

There is fixed 2 euro transaction fee for Laser/Debit and 3 euro for Credit cards. It will become clear in the coming weeks why this is the case and I think some people may be surprised.

A fix is in for visa debit cards, if you have a visa debit card and the system doesn't like it, let us know the bank and the first 6 digits of the card. Permanent TSB cards may not work right now as debit cards but will soon. They still work as visa credit cards though

[comcor]

Is there any possibility that they'll look at the pricing of routes that aren't to or from Dublin?

It always strikes me as absurd that a Cork-Killarney fare can be double a Cork-Dublin one, even though it's less than half the distance and the train is often half-empty.

[Mark Gleeson]

There are already discounted day return fares on that route

The lowest discounted online fare for an adult is 10 euro (for now anyway)

[comcor]

But day returns aren't great when you want to go for the weekend!

A 10 Euro one-way Cork-Killarney fare would be grand.

And, like I said, with a few exceptions the trains are mostly going round ith unoccupied seats.

[Colm Moore]

Originally Posted by comcor

And, like I said, with a few exceptions the trains are mostly going round ith unoccupied seats.

Any time I've seen a connection at Mallow, the train can be quite busy, but sure, I imagine things are thinning out at Killarney.

[Eddie]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

There will be a major change in coming days. There should be more trains with cheap seats.

I see my occasional Friday 7pm Dublin to Cork train has jumped up from €20 to €36 :-(. I hope this will be reducible in future by booking well in advance or I'll book well in advance and fly instead.

[maitias]

What sort of a discount would you get if you book earlier instead of the day of travel?
For instance if booked the Friday 17:00 to Cork tonight and return journey on the 18:30 what discount would I get? I could see any price difference from the €72 which is the full price.

[Mark Gleeson]

The full new system is working on one route currently. I can certainly confirm that all trains start at 10 euro and as seats are sold the price goes to 15 and so on until it hits the maximum fare as is current.

The fares won't get cheaper as the date of travel looms near, the sooner you book the cheaper the fare will be compared to what you will pay on the day. Booking on the date of travel should be avoided as the 10 euro fare will not be available regardless of seats sold.

I can't state what the lowest fare will be when the system goes fully live but lets face it, its going to be less than current. How low you will just have to wait.

If you are not traveling this weekend, wait till next Monday, something magical might just happen.

[Eddie]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

The full new system is working on one route currently.

It's the Galway route, as per The Sunday Times yesterday.

[Mark Gleeson]

Galway went live last Wednesday. There is more fun to come in the next month or so.

[haddockman]

Are the cheaper fares available for travel from intermediate stations?

[Mark Gleeson]

Yes

[Jferb]

Checked the 19:15 Tralee-Dublin service for today (Friday) on Thursday evening and it was showing at €36 despite the fact that there was virtually nobody booked on it at the time. So it seems that prices are being automatically hiked to the maximum before the actual day of travel??

Whatever the story, bookings on this particular service appear to have been absolutely decimated by this recent 'improvement'.

Fortunately I'm not travelling again until next weekend and now I have been warned!

[Jferb]

Just checked Saturday's and Monday's 19:15 services now and they too are priced at €36 despite being practically empty. Tuesday's is currently €10.

So that suggests prices are getting hiked 3 days beforehand??

[topnotch]

Originally Posted by Thomas Ralph

There appears to have been a reshuffle on what trains are eligible for the lower fares.

Yea it now appears that there are none.

[Colm Moore]

The National Plough Championships is on next week and some colleges are back.

This may have affected things http://railusers.ie/forum/showthread.php?t=12759

[Mark Gleeson]

I can now confirm FREE tickets are now online. Book far enough in advance on Dublin Galway and chances are a zero cost for you.



Now it becomes clear why there is a 2 euro transaction charge, you have to pay something to complete the transaction.

[Eddie]

I would have thought that Irish rail need to be careful about imposing compulsory charges like this. Better to have a 2 euro fare and a way of paying without charges like Ryanair, Aer Lingus, Irish Ferries and Stena Line all do.

Someone with enough of a mind to could challenge this easily.

Incidentally, much as I prefer travelling by train, I have just booked a 6 euro (with no transaction fee) Friday evening flight from Dublin to Cork in November which looks like it would have cost 36 by train, plus a transaction fee, if indeed I could book more than 28 days in advance. I hope Dublin to Cork becomes demand based soon. They lost me this time.