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Unread 09-03-2017, 08:51   #12
James Howard
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Sligo Line
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Lets assume that resources are limited and that in the present climate the minister is unlikely to be forthcoming with more money. In this case, is it not better that Irish Rail use what resources they have to properly staff trains rather than stations? If anything the reduction in fare evasion might end up allowing them to staff both. Leaving trains unstaffed has always seemed a very bizarre policy to me.

Surely the on-board staff can provide boarding assistance and in the rare case where they can't it would probably be more cost-effective for Irish Rail to fund the odd taxi from the nearest major station than pay somebody to sit in a booking office all day selling 20 or 30 tickets. In the real world, all people with mobility difficulties travelling to remote rural stations will have people collecting them anyway who will be able to help out.

TVMs take cash for the 0.1% of the travelling public who has neither access to a debit card, nor a free travel pass.
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