The Right Exit - Guide to obtaining your exit validation ticket
 

My company give us contract tickets for when we use the train. Just got a flyer in the door this morning and for our "ease of exit" we will need to queue up at the ticket desk and exchange our contract ticket (fully filled in and sealed with the plastic film) for a "replacement ticket". This "new" ticket will allow us "ease of exit" at Heuston.

As a regular traveller on the Cork/Dublin train I know the queues in Cork before the 6.30 am train for the ticket desk can be 10-20 mins. Add in all the travellers with contract tickets that need to be exchanged for our "ease of exit and entry from and to train platforms" and I can see myself getting up another 30 min earlier in the morning. But I do believe that the ticket office in Cork does not open until 6 am anyway. *sigh*

Contract tickets are being eliminated, it wasn't uncommon for a passenger to make a trip without filling in the ticket thus allowing its reuse

Tickets purchased online are cheaper in all cases than a single contract ticket and give a reserved seat and a 100% refund if the train is cancelled or you end up standing.

There already exists a corparate login for companies to purchase tickets for staff through the Irish Rail website. Tickets collected from the ticket collection machines will work the gates in Heuston, Connolly and elsewhere and in coming months it will be possible to collect a reservation at any station with a ticket vending machine

You should really be asking why your company is not availing of the cheaper and more accountable online portal? Its easier for you and cheaper for them

Online tickets are cheaper for trips to or from Dubln, however, contract tickets can work out cheaper for trips between other destinations (e.g. Cork-Dundalk).

Also, the contract tickets are fully flexible (an important consideration for business travellers), while the discounted online ones do have restriction on which trains can be used.

I understand the concern about tickets not being filled in, but I'm not sure there isn't a better solution than abolition. What about requiring the customer to validate the ticket while accessing the platform? That could be combined with switching the contract tickets to a type that can get through the barriers at Heuston.

I do agree with you that it contract tickets should be phased out, but the expiry date on the tickets I have are May 2010. So Irish Rail are still issuesing them to customers even though they have the barriers at Hueston since the summer.

Thanks for the info on the corporate portal, I will let my company know.

While the flexibility to travel on any train with the contract tickets was good I do know the guys on the barrier will let you through to an earlier train if you turn up early at the moment. Of course there may not be guys on the barrier for much longer if the electronic strips start to work better. Perhaps we will have some sort of flexible business ticket that is not the price of the premium seats but more than the standard seats for flexibility.