Are fares going up on Dec 1?

Spanish Eyes

If I buy another 30 day rambler tomorrow, or before the price rise date, I assume I will get it at the old price. Just checking like!

And of course, next question.... I already have twenty days left on my current 30 dayer, so I presume the new one that I'm buying tomorrow will have extended validity?

I use the bus about twice a week for several journeys per day. The 30 day rambler is far better value than the DB cap on Leap fpr me anyway.

ProudDUB

If you buy a new Rambler, does it expire at the end of the calender year in which you buy it, or does it expire 12 months on from when you buy it? My current Rambler expires in December, but I can't remember when I bought it.

AlekSmart

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

If I buy another 30 day rambler tomorrow, or before the price rise date, I assume I will get it at the old price. Just checking like!

And of course, next question.... I already have twenty days left on my current 30 dayer, so I presume the new one that I'm buying tomorrow will have extended validity?

I use the bus about twice a week for several journeys per day. The 30 day rambler is far better value than the DB cap on Leap fpr me anyway.

It will continue to use the days from your current "live" Rambler,with the new Rambler being stored as part of the 5 products allowed on each card.

It should automatically switch to your new Rambler when the current one expires,however,inexplicably,the expired product will continue to be retained on the card to confuse both staff and customers alike when checking for live products on a card.....

tharmor

What about annual tickets ?? Are they increasing them as well ??

AlekSmart

ProudDUB wrote: »

If you buy a new Rambler, does it expire at the end of the calender year in which you buy it, or does it expire 12 months on from when you buy it? My current Rambler expires in December, but I can't remember when I bought it.

Second option,12 months from month of purchase.

ProudDUB

Cheers, thanks for that.

Monife

Dravokivich wrote: »

There's 2 legs to the service, outbound and inbound. Excessive traffic on one leg will cause delays for the other. This was more visible during all those demonstrations and protests around the dáil and on O'Connell bridge during peak commuting times.

I'm unsure if the laziness of drivers is still as prevelant as it used to be, where they'd loiter amongst themselves one service after the other making their way to the terminus. My da (a driver himself) was surprised by how much he saw it 14/15 years ago. I'd expect there may be some sort of monitoring in place now that they should all have GPS as well. Which should clamp down on that, so if you see a bus that should be in service not doing anything, chances are higher the driver has been told to wait up and pull off for the next time slot.

Considering the two buses were to show up at 7.05am and 7.15am, I doubt traffic was the cause of the no shows seeing as the outbound journey would have supposedly arrived at the end destination at around 6.55am to then commence the inward journey.

end of the road

Monife wrote: »

Considering the two buses were to show up at 7.05am and 7.15am, I doubt traffic was the cause of the no shows seeing as the outbound journey would have supposedly arrived at the end destination at around 6.55am to then commence the inward journey.

maybe it arrived on one of the legs late. got stuck in traffic.

Bus bunching definitely isn't just a Dublin Bus phenomenon, there's even a Wikipedia article on it.

AlekSmart

Karsini wrote: »

Bus bunching definitely isn't just a Dublin Bus phenomenon, there's even a Wikipedia article on it.

Spoilsport...GRrrrrrrrr

AngryLips

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

How about one that stops for him for a start?

- That shows up when it's supposed to 99% of the time
- That isn't infested with the antisocial element plaguing some routes
- That are clean and comfortable and you're not jammed in like sardines
- That doesn't cost almost as much as the same trip by car or take twice as long
- That doesn't take unnecessary detours into "An Lar" or every random housing estate it passes
- That doesn't sit parked up for 15-20 mins because DB can't manage its driver changes properly
- That has an easy-to-use, reliable efficient fully integrated ticket system
- That stops pissing away money on new buses that are arguably worse than the ones they replace and which have plenty of life left in them given how they go on to another few years of private operator service

Hell, I'd even consider a service like that

hate much?

Monife

end of the road wrote: »

maybe it arrived on one of the legs late. got stuck in traffic.

Both buses, seriously? I'd find it hard to get stuck in traffic at 6am, let alone a bus with the use of bus lanes all the way.

_Kaiser_

lxflyer wrote: »

At this stage the amount they get is nowhere near what it ought to be in terms of numbers carried.

Or... they just start cracking down on the rampant abuse of this scheme so that only genuine cases and paying passengers can actually get on the bus.

StreetLight

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Or... they just start cracking down on the rampant abuse of this scheme so that only genuine cases and paying passengers can actually get on the bus.

This is coming very soon with a significant expansion of personnel about to be deployed as Ticket Checkers.

beglee

In about 3.5 years, the taxsaver ticket for just Dublin Bus has gone from €980 to €1320, a 35% increase.

Obviously there's tax saved on that, and this works out as:
2011 high tax rate - €480
2014 high tax rate - €647

2011 low tax rate - €690
2014 low tax rate - €911

On the low rate tax saver ticket now, you are almost paying as much as a full price ticket from 2011.
Prices pulled from: http://web.archive.org/web/20110321182728/http://www.taxsaver.ie/Ticket-Types/

Where is all the extra money from these incessant price hikes going?

Dravokivich

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Or... they just start cracking down on the rampant abuse of this scheme so that only genuine cases and paying passengers can actually get on the bus.

There are new smart cards being distributed, so only those will be valid for the free travel scheme. However I'm unsure when they will be mandatory from.

The issue at the moment, from a discussion I had with someone (a few years ago), was that Social Welfare didn't seem to challenge why someone who shouldn't have a Pass did, nor why someone who should have one, needed to get replacements. There were drawers in Dublin Bus' offices full of'em. A secondary issue is with how prevalent forgeries of those passes were too.

The new card is a step in the right direction, but because it's on the way, the issues with the current system are just being ignored.

munchkin_utd

beglee wrote: »

<snip>
Where is all the extra money from these incessant price hikes going?

firstly, CIE or the transport operator gets the full amount of cash for the ticket, its the goverment who takes the hit on lower tax income.

so.....
you should ask is "who is paying the difference" (of a governmental spend on what is far from an essential item).
And the answer is, it just adds to the gov defecit meaning the cash is borrowed.

And that means that your saving on the travel ticket is going to be paid by future generations in repayments on government debt.

beglee

munchkin_utd wrote: »

firstly, CIE or the transport operator gets the full amount of cash for the ticket, its the goverment who takes the hit on lower tax income.

so.....
you should ask is "who is paying the difference" (of a governmental spend on what is far from an essential item).
And the answer is, it just adds to the gov defecit meaning the cash is borrowed.

And that means that your saving on the travel ticket is going to be paid by future generations in repayments on government debt.

That has nothing to do with what I asked, and is a completely separate issue.

As you say the transport operator gets the full amount. And that full amount has gone up 35% in 3.5 years. Where does it all go?

Tarabuses

beglee wrote: »

That has nothing to do with what I asked, and is a completely separate issue.

As you say the transport operator gets the full amount. And that full amount has gone up 35% in 3.5 years. Where does it all go?

Much of it goes to make up the reduced government subvention which in turn could finance the tax credit?

end of the road

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Or... they just start cracking down on the rampant abuse of this scheme so that only genuine cases and paying passengers can actually get on the bus.

it would need to be both to be honest

Lifelike

end of the road wrote: »

that would probably be unmanagable

I don't see how. Simply replace the current travel passes with a special Leap card, and charge 50c per journey with a weekly cap of maybe €5. It would still be an absolute steal in comparison to what most ordinary people pay. It's just not fair to continually increase fares at levels far above inflation while travel pass holders still pay absolutely nothing.

end of the road

Lifelike wrote: »

I don't see how. Simply replace the current travel passes with a special Leap card, and charge 50c per journey with a weekly cap of maybe €5. It would still be an absolute steal in comparison to what most ordinary people pay. It's just not fair to continually increase fares at levels far above inflation while travel pass holders still pay absolutely nothing.

life isn't fair sometimes. its not about fairness, the free travel scheme is to ensure pensioners and the genuinely disabled can get out of the house effectively. there are many on it who don't need it all right and they should be taken off the scheme but the genuine cases aren't an issue and shouldn't be charged.

Lifelike

end of the road wrote: »

life isn't fair sometimes. its not about fairness, the free travel scheme is to ensure pensioners and the genuinely disabled can get out of the house effectively. there are many on it who don't need it all right and they should be taken off the scheme but the genuine cases aren't an issue and shouldn't be charged.

We need to bear in mind that with an ageing population, the amount of people with free travel passes is only going to increase even further to the point where the scheme will become completely unsustainable. Therefore, charging a small, nominal fare may actually help to secure the long-term future of the scheme. If fares keep on increasing at their current rate, there won't be enough fare-paying passengers to subsidize the free travel pass holders.

I'd actually go one further and give a potentially unpopular opinion that the free travel scheme be restricted to pensioners only. Too much potential for abuse to give it out to people on disability benefit.

coylemj

Lifelike wrote: »

We need to bear in mind that with an ageing population, the amount of people with free travel passes is only going to increase even further to the point where the scheme will become completely unsustainable. Therefore, charging a small, nominal fare may actually help to secure the long-term future of the scheme. If fares keep on increasing at their current rate, there won't be enough fare-paying passengers to subsidize the free travel pass holders.

That is true and a demographic fact in relation to any benefit you care to mention such as free travel or automatic medical cards for the elderly. The ratio of working people to pensioners is going to drastically drop over the next 30 years thanks to the ageing population which means that either working people pay progressively more taxes, or pensioners see their benefits clawed back.

coylemj

Karsini wrote: »

I'd actually go one further and give a potentially unpopular opinion that the free travel scheme be restricted to pensioners only. Too much potential for abuse to give it out to people on disability benefit.

Not unpopular where I'm concerned, I see people of all ages literally bounding on to the bus every day flashing a pass at the driver, they can't be all DB employees!

LXFlyer

Clarification on LEAP transfer rebate from Dublin Bus today - the €1 discount will apply to each subsequent journey that is taken within 90 minutes of the first:

‘Leap From One Bus To The Next And Save Money With ‘Leap 90 Discounting’

Published on Friday, October 31, 2014

From Sunday 2nd November, Leap Card will introduce a new feature when you use a Leap Card to travel on Dublin Bus.

Travel Further for Less - If you pay your bus fare using Travel Credit on your Leap Card, you can now make unlimited bus transfers within 90 minutes and receive a discount on your fare. With ‘Leap 90 Discount’, if you take two or more buses to reach your destination, Leap 90 Discounting will automatically refund you up to €1.00 (€0.70 child fare) to your Leap Card Travel Credit from the second, third or subsequent fares paid.

Your next journey must begin within 90 minutes of the previous journey. If you are paying the City Centre fare, the full €0.55 fare will be refunded to your Leap Card.

Hassle Free – Your Leap Card will always select the best value fare option from your Travel Credit, e.g. individual fare, capping or Leap 90 Discount, so you don’t need to decide.