Family ticket Sixmilebridge - Dublin

[Jister]

I looked on Irishrail.ie and a family ticket Limerick Dublin is €82.50 return. Does this ticket work from Sixmilebridge and can I buy it in the local station ticket machine?

Now that the station is open I am trying to make use of it. We want to go to Galway for a couple of nights but the train will cost €56 it seems, thats just to expensive.

I want to go to Thomond park on Friday night but I read that a ticket will cost me €9.50 one way as I will need to get a lift home.

Prices need to be realistic and match the current economic climate or we can forget about this railway.

[Mark Gleeson]

The ticket machine cannot issue the following tickets

1. Family
2. Faircard/16-25/Taxsaver Privilege
3. Social welfare
4. Staff privilege

The Irish Rail fare system is badly broken so you will see some crazy fares

[Jister]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

The ticket machine cannot issue the following tickets

1. Family
2. Faircard/16-25/Taxsaver Privilege
3. Social welfare
4. Staff privilege

The Irish Rail fare system is badly broken so you will see some crazy fares

So where do I go for a family ticket - drive to Limerick? Might as well keep going to Dublin, another section of M'way is opening this week.

Can we get the train to Limerick and buy the ticket there?

[Mark Gleeson]

We will clarify the situation tomorrow with IE

There is a chance that the TVM will sell a family ticket, we have asked for it but we have yet to see the software in place as its release has been delayed

[Tadhg17]

When I rang Ennis train station last week, they gave me the following train fares from Sixmilebridge railway station:

Sixmilebridge-Ennis
Single -7.00 Euros
Day Return- 9.50 Euros

Sixmilebridge-Limerick
Single-7.00 Euros
Day Return- 9.50 Euros

Sixmilebridge-Dublin Heuston
5 day Adult Return-47.00 Euros

The single ticket is 7 euros not 9.50. Ring Ennis Train station on 065 6840444 and get the prices for SMB-Dublin family tickets.

56 euros for SMB-Galway?! Is that for 2 adults return? I thought I read on here that Limerick-Galway adult day return is 20 Euros on the train. Sixmilebridge could hardly be more expensive that that train fare.

[Mark Gleeson]

Ennis - Sixmilebridge - Limerick is counted as a different route as Sixmilebridge - Galway

So there are some very strange fares floating around, if you travel Sixmilebridge to say Ballinasole you will pay a lot more than Sixmilebridge Galway despite the distances being similar. And yes it appears that Ennis - Galway is more than Limerick Galway as a result of these strange routes

Note Irish Rail have no published a list online

[Tadhg17]

I rang Ennis station there and they gave me the following Sixmilebridge-Galway fares:
Adult Single-19 euros
Adult Day Return-19 Euros

Adult 5 day return-33.50 Euros

Family day return ticket for up to four kids-46 Euros
There is no 5 day Family return ticket
Monthly Family return ticket for up to four kids-77 Euros

You can't buy a Family tickets at the ticket machine in Sixmilebridge they said. If you ring them in Ennis railway station on 065 6840444, they can provide you with the tickets in advance or they can have it ready for you when the train stops in Ennis if you are going to Galway provided you call them in advance.

[Jister]

Just back from the station at SMB. Return to Limerick is €11. Did not seem to say if its a day return or monthly. Also it only seemed possible to buy one way tickets to Galway. No sign of family tickets. Also ticket machine was in the sun so hard to read and as well as this it was slow to respond, in a "you need to press 3 or 4 times hard on the screen" type of way.

So to go to town on a saturday with the kids will cost about €35, at those prices it won't attract many punters.

[Colm Moore]

Irish rail have put up the local fares matrix here:]http://www.irishrail.ie/news_centre/news.asp?action=view&news_id=686 (bottom of page).

[Jister]

I emailed Irish rail within minutes of opening this thread yesterday, and immediately received no less than 2 automated replies telling me that somebody would be in contact to answer my query.

Guess what - no reply yet.

[Mark Gleeson]

We have discussed this issue with IE and await a formal solution.

The bye laws need a revision to explain how to deal with these situations

[Brian.Stokes]

So were the prices I was given wrong?

From Sixmilebridge;
Adult Day Return €11
Student Day Return €9.20
5 Day Student Weekly Return €26.50
Monthly Adult Return €123
Monthly Student Return €86

[Tadhg17]

Why is the single/ day return from Sixmilebridge to Ennis/Limerick 7 and 11 euros respectively? It's only 15 mins on the train to Limerick. Do people on the Cork-Cobh line pay similiar fares on that route for a 15 mins journey into town?

[Mark Gleeson]

Its classified as a regional service and is charged accordingly

The fares are in line with and generally less than point to point fares outside the commuter areas for similar distances

[dowlingm]

Is that an arbitrary designation as regional or does it conform to a service level above which it becomes commuter?

[Jister]

Got the train in to Limerick at 16.06 yesterday. About 50 people on it. About 8 got off in Sixmilebridge and 4 got on. Too pricey though @ €7, although its a superb service 20 minutes to middle of town.

[Mark Gleeson]

Limerick Ennis does well since the frequency is good and it is as quick if not quicker than the bus

It shows and vindicates the view that commuter distances are where the business is, now yesterday with the rugby in Limerick might distort the numbers a little

[ThomasJ]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

The ticket machine cannot issue the following tickets

1. Family
2. Faircard/16-25/Taxsaver Privilege
3. Social welfare
4. Staff privilege

The Irish Rail fare system is badly broken so you will see some crazy fares

is sixmilebridge the only problem with this?

[Mark Gleeson]

No machine can issue those tickets

There might be news on family tickets soon but don't count on it

[ThomasJ]

I've seen social welfare tickets before.

Also isn't it a part of the regulations that you must present eh social welfare travel pass at the ticket office and get a social welfare classed ticket to travel