Luas ticket machines
 

This problem has become more and more frequent for me lately. It's the issue of ticket machines refusing to accept my coins. In one case - Fatima - two of us were attempting to buy tickets, but in both cases the machine refused to take some of our money despite several attempts and trying different coins. The machine on the opposite platform was out of order. We had no choice but to board the next tram ticketless. Thankfully there was no inspector on board. Can anyone explain the legal consequences of being caught "evading" a fare in such circumstances?

This problem has occured to me at a number of different stops and at different machines at those stops. It has caused me to miss trams, and its also the case that a machine will eventually accept a coin that it rejected at first, so it's not just me using dodgy money :eek:

Of course it wouldn't be a problem if they just did the simple thing and accepted credit cards.

There is a help point at every stop where you can contact the control room. Best to use that rather than travel ticketless.

Are you perhaps inserting the coins too quickly?

You could get a SmartCard - the fares are slightly cheaper: http://www.luas.ie/smart-card.html

Yeah will probably use the help point in future, although why should a customer have to miss their tram as result of a malfunctioning machine? I would have had a long wait for the next one had I done this on a bitterly cold Christmas Eve at Fatima.

I always make sure not to insert the coins too quickly, and besides, it started spitting them back out from the beginning.

From an operators point of view, the risk is that people would deliberately damage machines and then try to travel for free.

They would also argue that Rialto is on 300m (3-4 minutes) away.

1. The Luas machines don't accept 5 cent coins and this is clearly displayed on the machines. Irish Rail accept 5 cent coins but neither IE or Luas accept 1 or 2 cent. (No Luas fares require 5 cent coins)

2. Insert the coins slowly, don't force them in and allow a few second for the coin to drop through the machine

3. Luas bye-laws requires that you have a ticket regardless of the status of the ticket machines

I was using 50 cent, 1 euro and 2 euro coins. I did insert them slowly - always do, as I know they just get spat out if you do ittoo quickly.

In most cases a malfunctioning machine isn't a problem as you can just go to another one. That wasn't the case here as the only other machine at the stop was out of order. Unacceptable (in my opinion) regardless of what the "bye-laws" say....neither is the fact that they don't accept credit cards.

They do accept cards (Laser, MasterCard, Visa, and Amex) although there is a minimum spend of €5.

Next to useless given that the vast majority of transactions are below that figure.

Luas ticket machines
 

Luas ticket machines are the worst I think I have ever come across, in terms of coins. If you don't wait a respectful few second after you hear the coin drop in the machine, your next coin will fall straight through. And it probably will anyway. Is there no quality control?