Personalised Leap card - negative balance

loyatemu

Is it possible to go into negative balance on a personalised card - i.e. one supplied with a Taxsaver ticket? I know on the non-personalised cards you have to pay a €5 deposit when you buy the card, and this covers any negative balance but there's no deposit with Taxsaver.

So if I try to pay a €2 bus fare with €1 on my card, will it work?

coylemj

Yes, as long as there is a positive balance on the card at the start, you can go into the negative after which you need to top it up back into the black before you can use it again for a regular fare.

punisher5112

I haven't heard of it been a problem but why not just put auto top up on it or just put a €5 or €10 on it and balance can be checked any time you use the bus or at dart or luas.

loyatemu

punisher5112 wrote:

I haven't heard of it been a problem but why not just put auto top up on it or just put a €5 or €10 on it and balance can be checked any time you use the bus or at dart or luas.

I rarely use the epurse balance and I'm not going to be near a topup point before using the bus tonight.

AlekSmart

loyatemu wrote: »

I rarely use the epurse balance and I'm not going to be near a topup point before using the bus tonight.

If you have only a period product (Rambler) on the Leapcard,with a zero ITS Purse balance,then you will not have any deposit to enter the negative on.

I rather suspect you will require an ITS Purse top-up of some kind to solve the issue ?

coylemj

AlekSmart wrote: »

If you have only a period product (Rambler) on the Leapcard,with a zero ITS Purse balance,then you will not have any deposit to enter the negative on.

I rather suspect you will require an ITS Purse top-up of some kind to solve the issue ?

I think most Leap cards come with a 1c balance to get around that problem.

AlekSmart

coylemj wrote: »

I think most Leap cards come with a 1c balance to get around that problem.

Good to know from loytemu's pov...however I've never actually noticed the 1c.....however I've had many a long and involved conversation with baffled Zero Balanced Students.....:)

loyatemu

Update - it worked fine, I was able to pay a €2.05 fare with only €1 on the card.

Auto topup is not worth it for me as I don't use the epurse all that much, and when I do its generally the Luas so I can just throw some money onto the card at the ticket machine.

cdebru

loyatemu wrote: »

Update - it worked fine, I was able to pay a €2.05 fare with only €1 on the card.

Auto topup is not worth it for me as I don't use the epurse all that much, and when I do its generally the Luas so I can just throw some money onto the card at the ticket machine.

Just remember now that you are in negative balance you can't use the epurse any further until you top up, you can go up to -€5 but only to purchase one ticket. Some people make the mistake of thinking they can continue to use the card up to -€5.

coylemj

loyatemu wrote: »

Auto topup is not worth it for me as I don't use the epurse all that much, and when I do its generally the Luas so I can just throw some money onto the card at the ticket machine.

+1 The minimum €30 auto topup is way too much for people who aren't regular commuters.

Dravokivich

coylemj wrote: »

I think most Leap cards come with a 1c balance to get around that problem.

They don't. My taxsaver had zero balance when I was given it.

ongarboy

Maybe I'm missing something but I thought you paid for taxsaver leap cards through your company's payroll for whatever annual or monthly option you go for therefore it's already preloaded with the required credit. Shouldn't that mean you would never go negative?

Dravokivich

You get a ticket on the card, not credit. The ticket type, depends on what you went for though as well. If it was for Irish rail, will only work on that service, you'll need to purchase credit then for Dublin Bus.

cython

ongarboy wrote:

Maybe I'm missing something but I thought you paid for taxsaver leap cards through your company's payroll for whatever annual or monthly option you go for therefore it's already preloaded with the required credit. Shouldn't that mean you would never go negative?

You are missing something. Taxsaver tickets are loaded on as products like seasonal tickets, etc. rather than credit, so they don't use the epurse. For example, I have a taxsaver rail ticket so I have that ticket on my card, but if I want to use bus or luas I need to use the epurse so need credit and can go negative if it is lower than the fare.

ongarboy

cython wrote: »

You are missing something. Taxsaver tickets are loaded on as products like seasonal tickets, etc. rather than credit, so they don't use the epurse. For example, I have a taxsaver rail ticket so I have that ticket on my card, but if I want to use bus or luas I need to use the epurse so need credit and can go negative if it is lower than the fare.

Ah ok, mine is just rail only. I didn't think it could be used on other transport modes as I thought credit couldn't be loaded onto it. Good to know, thanks!

punisher5112

You can load up to 5 products on any 1 card.

LXFlyer

ongarboy wrote: »

Ah ok, mine is just rail only. I didn't think it could be used on other transport modes as I thought credit couldn't be loaded onto it. Good to know, thanks!

LEAP is designed as a multi-functional product.

In other words it can work in two modes, holding up to five different ticket products and also at the same time it has the epurse function.

The whole project would be pointless otherwise as it is designed to be used across the various types of transport - one card fits all!

So you could for example have an annual rail only ticket and a 30 day Dublin Bus rambler ticket loaded onto the card, and use the epurse on LUAS.

I'd humbly refer you to this thread for a full guide to LEAP functionality:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057338140