"Leap" into the unknown: The feedback thread

LXFlyer

ASOT wrote: »

Quick question I just got a new job so will be moving from driving to work to taking the bus instead due to parking fees in town, il be getting a bus in and out of town 5 days a week,, what's the cheapest way to go about this? It's been a long time since I used public transport regularly!

That depends upon what trip you will be making each day - without knowing that we don't know what the fares would be!!

ASOT

lxflyer wrote: »

That depends upon what trip you will be making each day - without knowing that we don't know what the fares would be!!

My bad it would be Ballymun into College Green 5 times a week!

LXFlyer

From Ballymun to College Green, then fares should be:

Cash - €2.80 each way; LEAP - €2.05 each way

If you only do 5 return journeys that will work out at €20.50 per week using LEAP, but either way LEAP will cap your fares to €27.50 maximum per week if you make additional journeys.

So no-brainer #1 - get a LEAP card from any Payzone agent. More information on LEAP is available here and at www.leapcard.ie.

If your employer participates in the Taxsaver scheme then have a look at that - www.taxsaver.ie has all the information. Basically your employer can buy a monthly/annual bus pass for you, and then deduct the cost from your gross salary resulting in the actual cost of the ticket being reduced by the rates of PRSI, USC and PAYE that you pay.

Whether that makes economic sense to do will depend upon your own circumstances and the amount of travel that you intend to do.

Hopefully that gives you some food for thought!

bk

ASOT wrote: »

My bad it would be Ballymun into College Green 5 times a week!

€2.05 using Leap Card is your cheapest option.

A monthly ticket if you can get a taxsaver at the higher end of tax would probably work out slightly cheaper.

Edit: Beaten too it

LeinsterDub

ASOT wrote: »

My bad it would be Ballymun into College Green 5 times a week!

Cycle , 20 minutes door to door

ASOT

Cheers for the help appreciate it.

LeinsterDub wrote: »

Cycle , 20 minutes door to door

That was my original plan but cycling in a suit wouldn't be rational.

Alun

No, couldn't possibly work ...

https://www.google.ie/search?q=cycling+in+a+suit&newwindow=1&biw=1280&bih=887&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIzdKe76CpxwIVpLPbCh3SjgGs

Dravokivich

Alun wrote: »

No, couldn't possibly work ...

https://www.google.ie/search?q=cycling+in+a+suit&newwindow=1&biw=1280&bih=887&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIzdKe76CpxwIVpLPbCh3SjgGs

Quite the lack of wind and rain in those photos

ASOT

Alun wrote: »

No, couldn't possibly work ...

https://www.google.ie/search?q=cycling+in+a+suit&newwindow=1&biw=1280&bih=887&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIzdKe76CpxwIVpLPbCh3SjgGs

Nah im fairly sure id rather be fresh walking into work rather than be sweaty/wet/cold

Lads am I right that I can't spend the €5 deposit on travelling? I registered the card and it only shows €5 credit rather than €10. I asked the lad in the Bus Eireann office when I was getting the card and he told me I'd get the €10 to spend!

LXFlyer

Deleted User wrote: »

Lads am I right that I can't spend the €5 deposit on travelling? I registered the card and it only shows €5 credit rather than €10. I asked the lad in the Bus Eireann office when I was getting the card and he told me I'd get the €10 to spend!

You can go into a negative balance of up to €5.

But as soon as you go into negative balance, you cannot use the card again until you top it up.

Carawaystick

lxflyer wrote: »

So no-brainer #1 - get a LEAP card from any Payzone agent

Do all payzone agents distribute leapcards?
Even those in areas not served by leap?

punisher5112

Carawaystick wrote: »

Do all payzone agents distribute leapcards?
Even those in areas not served by leap?

Usually they will have a leap picture on window or on a payzone pad.

Most likely only in areas that serve leap or can be used.

Over 400 outlets.

Victor

Carawaystick wrote: »

Do all payzone agents distribute leapcards?
Even those in areas not served by leap?

No. Most Leap Card agents are within the various cities and their commuter zones.

Numbers are approximate.
Carlow 2
Cavan 3
Clare 0
Cork 48
Donegal 2
Dublin 435
Galway 17
Kerry 3
Kildare 13
Kilkenny 2
Laois 3
Leitrim 1
Limerick 13
Longford 3
Louth 4
Mayo 2
Meath 10
Monaghan 3
Offaly 0
Roscommon 1
Sligo 3
Tipperary 3
Waterford 12
Westmeath 3
Wexford 7
Wicklow 17

LXFlyer

Carawaystick wrote: »

Do all payzone agents distribute leapcards?
Even those in areas not served by leap?

No they don't as Victor shows, but I was responding directly to someone in Dublin who was travelling from Ballymun to the city centre, where the likelihood of a Payzone agent on that route not offering LEAP is pretty low.

ongarboy

Apologies if asked already but I see many short hop annual pass users ( I have to assume they are as they share the same point to point commute as me) never validating their leap cards when tagging on in the morning as the gates at my local station are always open. They do have to tag off at our destination station for gates to open however. When RPU staff scan your card during random checks, can you be fined for not having it tagged "on" or will the reader just accept it is an annual unlimited short hop pass and no on/off tagging required? Just wondering if I need to waste my time rummaging for my pass every morning to tag on....

Dravokivich

They'll be able to read the ticket on it. Whether or not the RPU decides to fine someone for not touching on, is up to if they are bothered to enforce their conditions of carriage. You are supposed to touch on/off regardless of the way you are using the leap card.

punisher5112

ongarboy wrote: »

Apologies if asked already but I see many short hop annual pass users ( I have to assume they are as they share the same point to point commute as me) never validating their leap cards when tagging on in the morning as the gates at my local station are always open. They do have to tag off at our destination station for gates to open however. When RPU staff scan your card during random checks, can you be fined for not having it tagged "on" or will the reader just accept it is an annual unlimited short hop pass and no on/off tagging required? Just wondering if I need to waste my time rummaging for my pass every morning to tag on....

They need to be tagged as its the only way to know numbers travelling so if more and more don't they could look at service and take a carriage off but highly unlikely but best to have it right.

Victor

ongarboy wrote: »

When RPU staff scan your card during random checks, can you be fined for not having it tagged "on"

In theory yes.

In practice, the really important part is to keep your Leap Card up to date with the tickets that you you have purchased, especially for monthly users. The ticket doesn't get on to the Leap Card 'magically' - it has to be loaded by presenting the card to a validator / ticket machine (or a Payzone card reader).

If people are less than careful, what they might find is a Leap Card, with no product loaded. They are then charged full fare from their e-purse at their destination or fined for not having a ticket.

ongarboy wrote: »

Just wondering if I need to waste my time rummaging for my pass every morning to tag on....

What do you do with your time when walking to the station?

Thinkingaboutit

I only use the Leap now although I wish topping up was streamlined, ie could do it fully via the website.

punisher5112

Thinkingaboutit wrote: »

I only use the Leap now although I wish topping up was streamlined, ie could do it fully via the website.

You can opt for auto top up and set up bank transfer.

You will never run out of credit again.

Carawaystick

punisher5112 wrote: »

You can opt for auto top up and set up bank transfer.

You will never run out of credit again.

unless you use Dublin bus
Then you have to go to a shop where you could put credit on the leap card anyway.

goingnowhere

Carawaystick wrote: »

unless you use Dublin bus
Then you have to go to a shop where you could put credit on the leap card anyway.

auto top up does not require you to ever visit a pay zone outlet, it works fine on Dublin Bus

Dravokivich

Carawaystick wrote: »

unless you use Dublin bus
Then you have to go to a shop where you could put credit on the leap card anyway.

Auto topup is basically the card saying I've gone below a threshold, give me X amount of credit. Then payment happens shortly after through your bank account.

It should work on all operators providing a Leap service.

punisher5112

Carawaystick wrote: »

unless you use Dublin bus
Then you have to go to a shop where you could put credit on the leap card anyway.

What??????

Auto top up is the best option no loading on as it is AUTO.....

LXFlyer

Carawaystick wrote: »

unless you use Dublin bus
Then you have to go to a shop where you could put credit on the leap card anyway.

Yes, as per the above, I'm afraid this is nonsense.

Auto-top up works across all modes and does not require any visiting to shops regardless of what mode you use. That's the whole point of the setup.

The card will trigger the bank transfer whenever it goes below €10. If this happens when you tag on on a bus, this will be processed through the system that night.

In the meantime the card will automatically increase your balance by the topup amount.

If there is a problem with the payment, your card will subsequently be blocked.

XPS_Zero

This is in regards to a LEAP VISITOR CARD but it seems the right place rather than starting a new thread, there may be limited experience with these but here goes...

The cards, I recently learned, can be reloaded in newsagents with another 3 days. A friend of mine had his card and another three days were added to it.

1. Went to Luas, no problem
2. Got on bus, no problem
3. Tried to go through the barriers at Irish Rail: ERRRRRRR PURCHASE NEEDED

It says purchases needed ONLY at Irish Rail stops...so we have paid for a valid ticket for all 3 services but it only lets the card use two out of three...anyone any idea what's going on here? It won't work on either the slider gates, turnstyles or the blue boxes near the night exists - nowhere.

It was taken to the Leap machine at DB HQ and it showed everything up all right, one 3 day trip period expired with a red X and the reloaded one there with a nice brighht correct tick...but it won't work on rail for some reason.

AngryLips

Did anyone else get invited for the trial for the leap NFC app? You can do an instant top-up through NFC on your phone ...probably the only time I've seen this tech being used for anything on a smartphone.

Carawaystick

lxflyer wrote: »

Yes, as per the above, I'm afraid this is nonsense.

Auto-top up works across all modes and does not require any visiting to shops regardless of what mode you use. That's the whole point of the setup.

The card will trigger the bank transfer whenever it goes below €10. If this happens when you tag on on a bus, this will be processed through the system that night.

In the meantime the card will automatically increase your balance by the topup amount.

If there is a problem with the payment, your card will subsequently be blocked.

So if I wake up tomorrow, having a balance of 10.10 now, take several Dublin Busses, a few darts and and the go to tag onto a Bus Eireann for an Orange zone journey, the topup will happen seamlessly?

What will happen if the day I pick is the first of May and is a Tuesday-Friday?

LXFlyer

Carawaystick wrote: »

So if I wake up tomorrow, having a balance of 10.10 now, take several Dublin Busses, a few darts and and the go to tag onto a Bus Eireann for an Orange zone journey, the topup will happen seamlessly?

What will happen if the day I pick is the first of May and is a Tuesday-Friday?

Right, frankly I am not going to bother answering this.

You know exactly what I meant.

Spending ages to come up with a situation to catch someone out on a technicality that would occur very rarely seems to give you a lot of amusement based on reading your posts. Personally I would suggest that it's rather sad.

Go and look at the LEAP card website and you will find the answer to that question - which you clearly already have done.

You were wrong on the main point - auto-top up does work on Dublin Bus.