[article] Fares Fare

[Mark Gleeson]

You will find a nice article heavily featuring Rail Users Ireland in the Sunday Tribune today

This report is based on a investigation conducted by Rail Users Ireland into the weird fare structure Irish Rail have

Summary of the report, the report and its accompanying appendix are available http://www.railusers.ie/news/news.ph...2008&no=6.html

Needless to say Irish Rail are in denial

Text to follow

[weehamster]

www.tribune.ie

STUDENT fares that are dearer than adult fares and ticket vending machines that don't offer the appropriate discounts are among the major anomalies in Irish Rail's pricing system, according to a new rail users' report.

The 'Irish Rail Cannot Add' report by Rail Users Ireland (RUI) calls for a complete overhaul of the company's fare structure, which the group brands as "outdated" and "manifestly unfair" in many cases.

"Logically speaking, you would imagine a single ticket between two stations to be cheaper than, or at least the same price as, any other combination of tickets, but this is not so, " said RUI's Mark Gleeson.

"The fare you are charged depends on where you buy the ticket. Sometimes the website charges less than the ticket office, sometimes it charges more. The passenger has no way of knowing in advance.

"Over nine specific journeys, we found an average of 13 difference between the cheapest and most expensive quote from Irish Rail.

This is just ridiculous."

According to RUI, students are charged more than adults in short journeys of less than 16kms, with the lowest adult single fare costing 4.70 and lowest student fare costing 6.00.

A trip from Thurles to Templemore, for example, costs students - who are entitled to a discount - 1.30 more than adults.

Ticket vending machines in stations, which account for 40% of ticket sales, don't include discount fares for seniors or students, according to the report.

"If the booking office is closed for whatever reason, is the passenger forced to purchase a ticket they know is the wrong fare?" RUI asks.

"Will Irish Rail refund the difference to an affected passenger?"

Where a person is making a journey across two rail routes, RUI says the passenger is better off buying two tickets, as they will be charged at the rate of the most expensive route, regardless of how long they are spending on it.

For instance, they say a ticket from Cork to Balbriggan, which costs 68.10, should in fact cost 56.40.

"Similar situations apply for virtually every station in Munster to Dublin, " said the report.

Barry Kenny of Iarnrod Eireann dismissed the report.

"Any student knows that there are heavy discounts across the board, " he said.

"And it is normal practice across Europe to have discounts on routes in one direction to encourage people to use certain trains.

"This is a very dishonest way of presenting the information."

[Mark Gleeson]

Cheers, tribune website seems to spend a lot of time offline

We don't see anything dishonest about the information, we have clearly stated our destination, dates and so on

We provide a full appendix containing screenshots, photos and emails from Irish Rail to prove every single figure quoted.

Of course we picked the worse possible combinations but wouldn't you? We have discovered something very very wrong inside Irish Rail.

[Colm Moore]

"This is a very dishonest way of presenting the information."

I'd say "put up or shut up" to something like that.

[Mark Gleeson]

Phase 2 is coming

[chris]

Any chance of including the fact that trying to get a direct student ticket outside Connolly to NI just screws up the ticket price? I pushed the ticket offices in Drumcondra and Pearse to quote me a student through ticket to Lurgan and the prices were astronomically higher

[This is not to mention that you can only get a direct ticket to selected stations crossing the border the other way... even certain end of line destinations are left out like Rosslare, and main stations like Maynooth. You will be happy to know that Carrick on Suir is mysteriously included in this altogether strange NIR list.....]

[Mark Gleeson]

If you could provide examples of the fares involved we will more than happily look into the matter for you. The IE ticketing system can issue and is programed for student fares to every single destination in NI. Sounds like another glitch there is a different table for fares when you start anywhere other than Connolly-Dundalk for NI

The NI ticketing system is zonal based once you hit south of Dublin, the fares are quoted in distance bands so it gives you the station at the end of the correct band. Be interesting to see the student quote Lurgan - Drumcondra

The report focuses on issues which we can reproduce directly and where we can get multiple sources of information from Irish Rail which contradict themselves. We can of course create a blacklist of journeys. We are working on getting our fare calc page to work out the best combination of tickets, but until we understand the IE system it will have to wait

[KSW]

What I simply cannot understand is why you are charged for a single journey but at a return price!! Travelling from Gorey to Connolly at €15-30 return but if I just want a single one direction I still get charged for a return how is this fair? It should be at least say €8-00 then return save 70c not much but you get the idea!!

[Mark Gleeson]

We didn't argue that issue, though it is mentioned in the introduction. Irish Rail have an excuse to shut you down when you raise it

We quite deliberately focused in on issues which couldn't be talked out of. The actual fare itself wasn't the core issue in the report more that the fare for the same journey varied depending on how you purchased it

[Thomas Ralph]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

If you could provide examples of the fares involved we will more than happily look into the matter for you.

I can tell you a student single Sandymount to Belfast Central was €28.50 last year, and the same from Pearse was €23.50. Student single Belfast to Dublin was £12 at that stage. Unfortunately Translink took the IÉ tickets on arrival so I can't scan them.