Outlandish Irish Rail Fares - Gresytones

Honestly!

Greystones to Arklow, 40 minutes each way is €19.35 return or €13.40 one way


Greystones to Bray, 9 minutes trip is €3.15


Greystones to Connolly, 45 minutes trip is €5.35 or €10.60 return. Arlow trip is twice as much despite taking less time.

Fares have increased substantially under this government yet Paschal Donohoe still insists on insulting us saying we should all use public transport. It's cheaper to fly than use Irish Rail on a lot of long distance trips!

Aronaay

I agree about the price. But it's based on distance not time. Arklow is further away

loyatemu

Honestly! wrote: »

It's cheaper to fly than use Irish Rail on a lot of long distance trips!

do Ryanair do Greystones-Arklow?

jrmb

Aircoach from Greystones to the airport can cost more than a flight to an English city

2011

Thread moved to a more appropiate forum.

L1011

Commuter services have different subsidy arrangements (and are more financially viable to begin with).

delahuntv

Greystones is part of the Dublin Commuter fare system and get the benefit of the huge volume of people using the line.

Greystones to Arklow doesn't have the volume.

And if you think its expensive here - try the UK - add at least 50% to your fare for a comparable UK journey.

example Bishops stortford to Cambridge
Standard price
Single £15.30 (about €21)
Return £29.70 (about €41)

cheapest single (usually on the slow, stop every station trains) £9.90 (about €13.70)

Terrlock

delahuntv wrote: »

Greystones is part of the Dublin Commuter fare system and get the benefit of the huge volume of people using the line.

Greystones to Arklow doesn't have the volume.

And if you think its expensive here - try the UK - add at least 50% to your fare for a comparable UK journey.

example Bishops stortford to Cambridge
Standard price
Single £15.30 (about €21)
Return £29.70 (about €41)

cheapest single (usually on the slow, stop every station trains) £9.90 (about €13.70)

Isn't it any wonder why it doesn't have the volume with those prices.

It's cheaper for people to drive a car then to take public transport.

L1011

Terrlock wrote: »

Isn't it any wonder why it doesn't have the volume with those prices.

It's cheaper for people to drive a car then to take public transport.

The far more major issue is that the total number of journeys between the two locations is tiny to begin with...

delahuntv

Terrlock wrote: »

Isn't it any wonder why it doesn't have the volume with those prices.

It's cheaper for people to drive a car then to take public transport.

Or maybe the population simply is not there!!!

As for cheaper to drive a car (that line is soooo boring these days) - a fairer comparison would be the cost of renting a car for that single day + the costs associated wth it.

A fairer comparison would be to compare annual or monthly ticket cost with annual or monthly car cost.

If you are working in Arklow, the Taxsaver monthlyor annual ticket would be a great option - employer pays and deducts from your gross salary and this means you save the tax & prsi paid (up to 48%)

R.F.

delahuntv wrote: »

Or maybe the population simply is not there!!!

As for cheaper to drive a car (that line is soooo boring these days) - a fairer comparison would be the cost of renting a car for that single day + the costs associated wth it.

A fairer comparison would be to compare annual or monthly ticket cost with annual or monthly car cost.

If you are working in Arklow, the Taxsaver monthlyor annual ticket would be a great option - employer pays and deducts from your gross salary and this means you save the tax & prsi paid (up to 48%)

After commuting from Gorey to Bray for more than 5 years on the train and using the taxpayer scheme I can tell you as fact I still save money since I began driving it instead. Havent used the train for over a year now and would never go back.

The prices went up at a ridiculous rate.

JTMan

Why are there no private bus companies that service Dublin city centre to Greystones?

Is this is a protected route? Does it need to be opened to competition?

loyatemu

JTMan wrote: »

Why are there no private bus companies that service Dublin city centre to Greystones?

Is this is a protected route? Does it need to be opened to competition?

they couldn't compete with Dart or the 84X. Private services have been successful where the CIE alternative is expensive, slow or non-existent. No private service is going to get into town quicker than the Dart, nor would they be able to undercut the price.

JTMan

loyatemu wrote: »

they couldn't compete with Dart or the 84X. Private services have been successful where the CIE alternative is expensive, slow or non-existent. No private service is going to get into town quicker than the Dart, nor would they be able to undercut the price.

DART from Greystones is not cheap. The 84X is very infrequent and does not service Dublin city centre. I think there is a market for a private bus service.

delahuntv

JTMan wrote: »

DART from Greystones is not cheap. The 84X is very infrequent and does not service Dublin city centre. I think there is a market for a private bus service.

€4.60 to city centre with no traffic delay - there's no way a private bus service could match that.

JTMan

delahuntv wrote: »

€4.60 to city centre with no traffic delay - there's no way a private bus service could match that.

It's €10.50 cash fare return. A private bus service could easily beat that profitably.

delahuntv

JTMan wrote: »

DART from Greystones is not cheap. The 84X is very infrequent and does not service Dublin city centre. I think there is a market for a private bus service.

€4.60 to city centre with no traffic delay - there's no way a private bus service could match that.

L1011

JTMan wrote: »

It's €10.50 cash fare return. A private bus service could easily beat that profitably.

For the ten or so people a day who do cash returns there's no profit there in the first place.

delahuntv

JTMan wrote: »

It's €10.50 cash fare return. A private bus service could easily beat that profitably.

Less than 10% of people use cash. Most use leap card. Therefore the most popular fare method is used for comparison.

Think of it.

Private bus has to go in and then either wait til 5.30 pm / 6pm or has to do minimum 2 round trips.
It has to deal with regular traffic issues. At least 2 drivers would be needed as one driver couldn't start before 7 am and not finish til 8pm.

If dart service wasn't there, you possibly could have demand.

delahuntv

JTMan wrote: »

It's €10.50 cash fare return. A private bus service could easily beat that profitably.

Less than 10% of people use cash. Most use leap card. Therefore the most popular fare method is used for comparison.

Think of it.

Private bus has to go in and then either wait til 5.30 pm / 6pm or has to do minimum 2 round trips.
It has to deal with regular traffic issues. At least 2 drivers would be needed as one driver couldn't start before 7 am and not finish til 8pm.

If dart service wasn't there, you possibly could have demand.

Vic_08

delahuntv wrote: »

And if you think its expensive here - try the UK - add at least 50% to your fare for a comparable UK journey.

example Bishops stortford to Cambridge
Standard price
Single £15.30 (about €21)
Return £29.70 (about €41)

cheapest single (usually on the slow, stop every station trains) £9.90 (about €13.70)

That is very interesting. Pity it is total bullsh!t.

JTMan wrote: »

The 84X is very infrequent and does not service Dublin city centre.

That must be very surprising news for the hundreds of regulars who use one of the 7 daily AM peak 84X services to the city centre.

JTMan wrote: »

It's €10.50 cash fare return. A private bus service could easily beat that profitably.

All sane commuters will use leap, weekly, monthly or annual tickets and not be paying anything close to that per day.

However if you are so sure that a cheap Greystones-Dublin City bus service is a goldmine waiting to be cashed in then I just so happen to have a slightly used bus that is all yours for a bargain price.

delahuntv

Vic_08 wrote: »

That is very interesting. Pity it is total bullsh!t.

So the online ticket purchasing site thetrainline.com is displaying false fares for Bishop's Storford to Cambridge?

Vic_08

delahuntv wrote: »

So the online ticket purchasing site thetrainline.com is displaying false fares for Bishop's Storford to Cambridge?

I don't use that site as they are never the cheapest source of tickets (they add on a booking fee that none of the TOC sites do) so I couldn't say to 100% certainty that they are showing the correct fares but I would be very surprised if they were not.

However I suspect the fault is with you incorrectly reading the fares.

The actual fares for that flow are £12.80/£12.70/£10.50 Anytime/Off-peak/Super Off-peak Day Return and £9.90 Anytime Single.

I have no idea where you got the bit about a cheaper fare only valid on slow trains, there is no such thing on that route at all.

Actually, looking at the full fare table the ones you quote are close to the First Class fares, maybe that was what you were looking at?

http://www.brfares.com/#!fares?orig=BIS&dest=CBG

spurshero

My brother told me he got the train from dublin to cork one way on Sunday for a bargain 66 euro 😒

delahuntv

spurshero wrote: »

My brother told me he got the train from dublin to cork one way on Sunday for a bargain 66 euro 😒

Peak time walk up fare - be prepared to pay. Same everywhere, same with airlines.

You can book online up to 4 hours before departure and price would be €45.99
Book the day before and it is €36.99.

Book 3day+ before and you'll find fares for €14.99 (next Sunday 7pm departure)

Zardoz

Mallow to Cork is now an outrageous 18.20 euro return on the train.
Its only 20 miles and on the main Dublin-Cork line and every train stops in Mallow .