The present mechanism of getting vouchers to the value of 1/480th of the annual ticket for a 2 hour delay or 1/960th for a 1 hour delay is not unreasonable. Maybe just refund half to the ticket holder and half to the government for taxsaver tickets.

This is no more complicated than the existing mechanism used for deduction from payment for mortgage interest release. Companies paying for taxsaver don't want to have to do a heap of paperwork to process a 4 euro refund that results in the employee getting 2 euro. This could easily take 10 or 15 minutes of a payroll operator's time for every delay which would cost the company far more than 2 euro.

It's the principle of the refund rather than the amount that matters and Irish Rail should be the ones who have to processes the paperwork mess since the refund is as a result of their omission.

Fair point - but just pointing out that it can be done!

Glad to hear the EU are on the case; this will force CIE to find a solution. It really shouldn't be a big problem.

The reality is even under the EU rules, with the exception of 1 route in the last 5 years, very very few people will become entitled to a refund and even then on the one route where these rules apply already we are still waiting for the NTA to take legal action against Irish Rail

The stumbling block on taxsaver tickets is the tax issue as any refund is a function of the tickets value so it becomes taxable and as the refund is cash the revenue have an interest. Extending the tickets validity also is an issue as you are receiving a non cash financial benefit which again is taxable

Got my annual bus and rail for next year and thankfully its a personalised leap card, about time too!

Was just wondering though, I was reading that for train you have to tag on and off. Is it necessary where you have the annual bus and rail?

Otherwise happy, will be great to use it across the board and top up for other forms of transport and only have 1 pass not 2 and/or id

They want you to tag-on and tag-off, not least for their records for service planning and fare distribution (with multi-operator journeys). I'm not sure if they will be prosecuting people for not doing so.

Unfortunately, for some reason, the Bus and Luas annual is still a ticket so a separate CIE ID is still required.

Surprised that hasn't been sorted yet, I thought luas combo tickets would have been the first.

On the leap card flyer I got that came with the ticket it stated

The ticket I got was an annual bus or rail, so thought bus and luas would have been close behind.

Here's hoping they give you a replacement as soon as they are launched and that you don't have to wait a year!

From Feb 1 all Luas+Rail, Luas+Bus and Luas+Bus+Rail will be on Leap

Will existing Bus+Luas just issued 1-Jan be converted to LEAP or do we have to wait until next year?

Wait till mid Feb and contact the provider who issued it. Highly probable they will reissue for you

I also have a new annual Taxsaver Leap card. Is there any practical implication in the event that I forget to tag off the train? If I happened to have credit on the card as well, would a charge be taken from it? If I didn't have credit, would my balance go negative, to be taken from the next time I do load credit on it?

I'm not sure how the whole thing would work.

Another question. I currently, have the Annual Short Hop Rail (Leap Card), if I top that up (occasionally I would take the (Dublin) bus home. What happens to that balance on 31st January 2014, do I claim a refund or is it transferred to my new Annual Short Hop Rail on 1st January 2015.

If you apply for a new annual ticket, it will be a "renewal" and the card will be updated as you pass through the turnstiles.

Irish Rail has being using this process for monthly rail only taxsaver tickets for several years.

Student cards cannot be renewed, but balance is transferred to the new card

Thanks for that.

Not tagging-off shouldn't be a huge problem, tagging-on is much more important.

I don't know the exact rules regarding cash on annual tickets, but will check.

Thanks Colm.

I have an annual rail Leap. I was recently on the train, not having tagged on, inspectors came on board, ran my card through the handheld device, took my details and told me that if it happened again, I'd be fined.

There is no need to validate a leap card if you hold a annual or monthly pass.

If the inspector gives you trouble get there name or number, they have to show ID by law