What Irish Rail have to say about the fares

Mark Gleeson · 13-02-2008, 16:07

Dick Fearn CEO IE has just taken the hot seat at the joint Oireachtas committee on transport

Watching it live, but no audio!!!

It looks like Paul O'Kelly from the passenger commerical office has been dragged in as well, he was/is in charge of the seat res online sales etc

Full text in 48 hours or so

Edit: Looks like a serious grilling, Fregus O'Dowd is firing question after question and he has done his homework

Mark Gleeson · 13-02-2008, 17:33

Believe it or not that meeting has only ended in the last few minutes

Close on 90 minutes

packetswitch · 13-02-2008, 17:42

Transcript will be up in 1-3 days. It's slower for committees than for the Houses.

Prof_Vanderjuice · 15-02-2008, 18:00

It's up now: http://debates.oireachtas.ie/DDebate...xml&Node=H3#H3

Derek Wheeler · 15-02-2008, 21:48

Had a good read of it and personally I accept Fearns response concerning the fare discrepencies such as those that exist on the northern and Kildare lines. I have said it here before that the fare structure is based on the old CIE zonal system. Short hop, medium hop etc. This structure was based very simply on where the greatest demand came from and that was within the current boundary. However due to some disasterous planning over the years, demand has increased outside the traditional boundary and IE are justified in maintaining the fare structure to pay the costs of running the business. What business wouldn't do that? I find it sadly ironic that its politicians having a go at IE for this when it was politicians who blindly played god with development land and put us in the horrendous position in the first place.The Government and IE have a decision to make. Restructure the fares and balance the books some other way or increase subvention. It really is as simple as that.

I understand the stupidity of some fares such as the Maynooth - Drogheda and some intercity student fares. But realistically passengers have a problem with the huge jump in ticket prices from stop to stop. The other issues are way down the order of merit in the bigger scheme of things. The campaign should be directed at the Government.

For me the saddest part of Fearn's presentation was the fact that RUI weren't mentioned in relation to user groups. Groups with smaller resources and no media profile were. My feelings on this are well documented. My vision for RUI was to get its name out there on the ground in an organised capacity. I pushed through the name change. T Stamp put a trojan amount of work into a newsletter concept. Sadly some of my colleagues were happy to play "Walter Mitty" behind the keyboard instead of making it work in the real world. I'm not being bitter or attempting to do dirty washing in public, but loyal members deserve to know more about what goes on behind the scenes here. Fearns comments should be a disappointment to you all.

MrX · 16-02-2008, 10:56

You guys need to make contact with every member of the joint committee and ensure that they know exactly who you are.

Also, if you could highlight rail issues in their constituencies in the contact letter/email you'll DEFINITELY get taken more seriously.

Mark Gleeson · 16-02-2008, 11:08

They know who we are, many of the points we have raised in recent months where discussed before the committee

We are in contact with numerous people in the background. It is not professional to discuss the details of such in public. There are certain people we want to sit down with in coming weeks to discuss certain matters

We are still in the process of dissecting the fares, we have had 762 hits (that doesn't include webcrawlers) in 5 days on the fare calculator page http://www.railusers.ie/passenger_info/fare_calc.php If you think the inconsistencies raised at the committee are bad you ain't seen nothing yet. Its easy explain away discounts its not easy explain away when Irish Rail are overcharging against there own list

Thomas J Stamp · 16-02-2008, 23:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrX

You guys need to make contact with every member of the joint committee and ensure that they know exactly who you are.

Also, if you could highlight rail issues in their constituencies in the contact letter/email you'll DEFINITELY get taken more seriously.

As Peter Sellars once said in the funny, but nowadays politically incorrect film "The Party"

"I am starting here beside myself"

KSW · 17-02-2008, 00:01

IE fares are messed up someone's gonna say it..

13-02-2008, 16:07	#1
Mark Gleeson Technical Officer Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Coach C, Seat 33 Posts: 12,669	What Irish Rail have to say about the fares Dick Fearn CEO IE has just taken the hot seat at the joint Oireachtas committee on transport Watching it live, but no audio!!! It looks like Paul O'Kelly from the passenger commerical office has been dragged in as well, he was/is in charge of the seat res online sales etc Full text in 48 hours or so Edit: Looks like a serious grilling, Fregus O'Dowd is firing question after question and he has done his homework __________________ Unhappy with new timetable - let us know Last edited by Mark Gleeson : 13-02-2008 at 16:36.

13-02-2008, 17:33	#2
Mark Gleeson Technical Officer Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Coach C, Seat 33 Posts: 12,669	Believe it or not that meeting has only ended in the last few minutes Close on 90 minutes __________________ Unhappy with new timetable - let us know

16-02-2008, 11:08	#7
Mark Gleeson Technical Officer Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Coach C, Seat 33 Posts: 12,669	They know who we are, many of the points we have raised in recent months where discussed before the committee We are in contact with numerous people in the background. It is not professional to discuss the details of such in public. There are certain people we want to sit down with in coming weeks to discuss certain matters We are still in the process of dissecting the fares, we have had 762 hits (that doesn't include webcrawlers) in 5 days on the fare calculator page http://www.railusers.ie/passenger_info/fare_calc.php If you think the inconsistencies raised at the committee are bad you ain't seen nothing yet. Its easy explain away discounts its not easy explain away when Irish Rail are overcharging against there own list __________________ Unhappy with new timetable - let us know

17-02-2008, 00:01	#9
KSW Really Regular Poster Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Rosslare Line Posts: 600	R.E The Headline, IE fares are messed up someone's gonna say it..

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13-02-2008, 17:42	#3
packetswitch Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 216	Transcript will be up in 1-3 days. It's slower for committees than for the Houses.

15-02-2008, 18:00	#4
Prof_Vanderjuice Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 94	It's up now: http://debates.oireachtas.ie/DDebate...xml&Node=H3#H3

15-02-2008, 21:48	#5
Derek Wheeler Registered user Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Kildare Posts: 1,555	Had a good read of it and personally I accept Fearns response concerning the fare discrepencies such as those that exist on the northern and Kildare lines. I have said it here before that the fare structure is based on the old CIE zonal system. Short hop, medium hop etc. This structure was based very simply on where the greatest demand came from and that was within the current boundary. However due to some disasterous planning over the years, demand has increased outside the traditional boundary and IE are justified in maintaining the fare structure to pay the costs of running the business. What business wouldn't do that? I find it sadly ironic that its politicians having a go at IE for this when it was politicians who blindly played god with development land and put us in the horrendous position in the first place.The Government and IE have a decision to make. Restructure the fares and balance the books some other way or increase subvention. It really is as simple as that. I understand the stupidity of some fares such as the Maynooth - Drogheda and some intercity student fares. But realistically passengers have a problem with the huge jump in ticket prices from stop to stop. The other issues are way down the order of merit in the bigger scheme of things. The campaign should be directed at the Government. For me the saddest part of Fearn's presentation was the fact that RUI weren't mentioned in relation to user groups. Groups with smaller resources and no media profile were. My feelings on this are well documented. My vision for RUI was to get its name out there on the ground in an organised capacity. I pushed through the name change. T Stamp put a trojan amount of work into a newsletter concept. Sadly some of my colleagues were happy to play "Walter Mitty" behind the keyboard instead of making it work in the real world. I'm not being bitter or attempting to do dirty washing in public, but loyal members deserve to know more about what goes on behind the scenes here. Fearns comments should be a disappointment to you all.

16-02-2008, 10:56	#6
MrX Really Regular Poster Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 585	You guys need to make contact with every member of the joint committee and ensure that they know exactly who you are. Also, if you could highlight rail issues in their constituencies in the contact letter/email you'll DEFINITELY get taken more seriously.