DART ticket system - infuriating

OK-Cancel-Apply

I get the DART from Blackrock to Tara Street every morning, and I'm quite dissatisfied with both the ticket vending machines and the ticket checking machines.

Firstly, more often than not, at least one of the two ticket vending machines at Blackrock is broken or full, and many times BOTH are, and that leads to big queues for the desk. A lot of the time, it's due the touchscreen's loss of sensitivity, thanks to the rain (whose idea was it to have them both unsheltered?)

Now, the ticket checking machines. W...T...F?? I thought it was enough of a bottleneck at Tara Street having one gap where a man nods you through, but these machines are a fecking joke:

1) Most of the time, 2 of more of the machines are broken, leading to backtracking chaos.

2) The doors take around 1.5 seconds to open, causing huge delays and lines of people waiting.

3) If you happen to move faster than a 90-year-old (which around, say, 100% of the morning customers do) and you approach the doors before the 1.5 seconds has elapsed, they won't open AT ALL, until you take a good step backward (into the person behind you). Most people still don't realise this, and start looking around not knowing what to do.

Number 3 happens every morning, and causes chaos all over the place, with people trying to turn back, use different machines (while they fail to notice the door suddenly opening) or find another machine that actually works. It's a joke.

Then another bottleneck - the tiny (and slow) automatic doors that lead out of the station. Argh!!

Something (I don't know what..) tells me that Iaranrod Eireann could EASILY remedy this daily chaos by reprogramming the machines to A) open 3 times faster and Not stay closed if you are half a metre away and C) make sure they are all working before each wave of passengers arrives. I bet they are just 2 lazy/apathetic to do it.

Maybe someone who works for them could explain? Why does all this happen?? What was wrong with old turnstiles? Sure the odd chancer would hop them, but come on...at that time of the morning?

Oh, and when you go past the ticket inspector or your way out (when you can't find a working machine) I assume the blank stare, or being completely ignored means "You can go through", right?

Sorry, just had a bad day today, and it wasn't helped by all the usual BS with train tickets.

Victor

Can I ask you to print this out and give it to the staff to read tomorrow? Also copy it to the station master and to Irish Rail. If they don't know, they can't fix it.

Exit validation via the new turnstiles have improved revenue by about 10%.

Also talk to these people: www.railusers.ie

Jay D

they are a pain in the balls alright at times, missed a train over them in the past.

OK-Cancel-Apply

I don't have time to print it out and hand it to the staff. Besides, I'd probably word it somewhat differently. I may take a chunk out of it and put it in an email.

Victor, can you tell me why the turnstiles open so slowly, and refuse to open when some is standing near the plastic gate? Also, do you know why there are ticket vending machines exposed to the rain?

By the way, I once witnessed a customer asking a staff member what was going on with the ticket machines, and the staff member sort of shrugged and said something about it not being his responsibility. But that sort of attitude is nothing new for Dublin, so I can't say I have a specific problem with I.E. staff.

Victor

OK-Cancel-Apply wrote: »

Victor, can you tell me why the turnstiles open so slowly, and refuse to open when some is standing near the plastic gate?

I don't know, it is possibly a setting. there was certainly a problem at the start with people either (a) forgetting to take their ticket or (b) taking the wrong ticket.

Also, do you know why there are ticket vending machines exposed to the rain?

Stupidity. Or lack of space. I don't know which.

By the way, I once witnessed a customer asking a staff member what was going on with the ticket machines, and the staff member sort of shrugged and said something about it not being his responsibility. But that sort of attitude is nothing new for Dublin, so I can't say I have a specific problem with I.E. staff.[/QUOTE]