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Unread 01-11-2016, 08:46   #14
grainne whale
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Celbridge
Posts: 259
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Quote:
Originally Posted by James Howard View Post
Note that I didn't suggest the over 65's don't travel for free although I seriously doubt that this facility will be extended to me when I reach that age. The issue is that Irish Rail isn't receiving a fair price for this facility which would cost me something like 6,000 euro a year to pay for myself. This needs to be addressed by either increasing the free travel contribution from state funds or by asking users to contribute a portion of their fare.

As a taxpayer, I personally don't mind a bit more of my tax going into the free travel as it a good use of state funds - the health benefits (and resulting HSE savings) of keeping older people active are pretty obvious. As somebody who pays a lot of money to travel by train, I do however resent part of my fare being used to subsidise other peoples' travel.

Fares - particularly open returns have reached a point where they are getting pretty unaffordable yet the trains are generally pretty busy and still Irish Rail can't make money. Something doesn't add up. Either too few people are buying tickets or Irish Rail are spectacularly inefficient.
Scrap, car parking changes at stations and people will use the train more. Travelling by bus is just as quick and no car parking changes.
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