Bicycle tickets online
 

From tomorrow bicycle tickets will be able to be added to a journey bought online for €6 each way.

Will it guarantee a space though?

This is something which has been discussed at length with Irish Rail.

The solution is messy

1. You must reserve the bike space with your ticket
2. You cannot get a bike space without reserving a seat
3. You must book one bike space for each ticket purchased

Have all 3 car 22k sets been retrofitted with the bike racks?

What happens when trains are changed from 6 car to 3 car sets at the last minute?

You have to cycle from Waterford to Dublin. :eek::(:D

I presume you would be entitled to a refund for having a reservation cancelled.

Reservation of bike spaces is only a positive. It removes some of the doubt that exists - "Will I get a space or not?" or "What if 7 people show up with bikes?". That said, some of the negatives remain - people leaving luggage on the bike racks and lack of signage.

The flat fare is better value for long trips, but poorer value for shorter trips than buying at the station, but at the same time, having a reservation is worth something.

6 car first class sets only have three spaces anyway (same as some or most of the 3 car sets). Not sure about the 6 car non-first class sets - they may only have three spaces too.

The 6car non first class sets have space for bikes. I think they may have 3 spaces as well.

Dedicated 6-car sets have 3 bike spaces (2 reservable racks and 1 non-reservable cupboard) whereas 2x3-car sets may have 6 bike spaces

Well it's only 5euro to buy a one way space for a bike from Kilkenny station so that's better value than online also.

I understand a single flat fee will apply to the carriage of bikes on all intercity services regardless of distance starting in the near future.

New rules on bikes

http://www.railusers.ie/passenger_info/bikes.php

We have known for some months through both Irish Rail and political contacts that this was coming, just didn't know when

There is more fun stuff coming in the next few months as well, some details in the members area