Carrick on Shannon and buying train tickets online

[fergalfrog]

Does anyone know when Irish Rail plan to allow tickets to be bought online for Carrick on Shannon? I have just moved to Carrick and it seems the only way to buy tickets is at the station. This means you lose out on online specials which are often 50% cheaper.

Can you buy a Sligo ticket (currently 10euro each way) and still get on in Carrick?

Thanks in advance.

[Mark Gleeson]

We have had numerous exchanges with the people behind the internet sales, the restriction is not some twisted punishment its a physical limitation, Carrick on Shannon lacks the booking office equipment to issue a reservation ticket as do many stations. The Sligo line hasn't been fully rolled out yet, reservations are not possible all trains, e.g all evening peak hour departures from Dublin.

It is possible to book if your journey originates in Dublin, so Dublin Carrick on Shannon single or return will allow reservations. From sometime early 2010 it will be possible to collect from any station countrywide which has a ticket vending machine.

Legally Irish Rail is under no obligation to offer anything other than the standard single/return fares so there is no come back there. The cash fare day return ticket Monday-Thursday is the same price as online ticket if you return from Dublin during the evening peak

If you want to play a little cheeky you could book to/from Sligo several days ahead and the tickets will be sent by post for free

[fergalfrog]

Thanks Mark for such a prompt and efficient reply.

It's strange how Irish Rail gave the equipment out to other stations which aren't as busy as Carrick. Castlerea for example on the Westport line has much less services and much less users, yet it has the equipment.

Anyway I guess for now we will just have to wait.

Thanks again.

[fergalfrog]

It is now no longer early 2010 and there is still no way of buying tickets online for Carrick on Shannon. I feel like buying them a printer because that is all that is needed.

I have worked out another trick but have yet to try it.

1- If you try and book Carrick on Shannon to Dublin the next page will say 'Reservations not available'. - however if you then do Sligo-Dublin instead it works ok.

2 - Proceed with this pretending for a minute you are departing from Sligo.

3 - Go right to the end and then just before you enter your credit card details go back to the home page.

4 - Now try again to book from Carrick and BINGO you suddenly can.

5 - Pick your train from Carrick to Dublin and away you go. The only snag is that you cannot collect the bloody ticket in Carrick as it is not in the drop down. Hence if you get to Castlerea or any other station with a printer you should be able to collect your ticket from there.


Note this is not by design but more as a result of bad web programming. (I am a web developer and I think there is a cookie being set to say online tickets available). However unlike the other suggestion of getting your ticket posted out and pretending to be getting on in Sligo at least your ticket is Carrick-Dublin.

I am thinking of trying this but before I do if anyone else has can they reply here with how they got on.

In the meantime if Irish Rail read this will you please fork out €50 and buy a printer for the station in Carrick on Shannon

[Thomas Ralph]

Good trick that.

Having tickets posted out appears to be no longer an option.

[Mark Gleeson]

Its more like 100k for a ticket vending machine, otherwise you need to staff the office 18 hours a day

The booking station lock out is trivial to bypass but its there to ensure people don't book tickets which they can't collect. That said the collection list is purely to ensure you choose a station which has collection facilities, you can in fact collect anywhere with a machine regardless of what you specified

There are 103 stations with ticket collection currently out of 142 stations (Manualla Junc doesn't count), thats 72.5% of stations. Several managers in Irish Rail have confirmed to us that subject to money being available every station will have a ticket machine in coming years. Several more stations receive them this year

On paper there is little to be saved as a day saver return to Dublin returning on an evening train results in the same fare as if booked online

[fergalfrog]

Thanks for the replies.

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Its more like 100k for a ticket vending machine, otherwise you need to staff the office 18 hours a day

I may be wrong but I don't believe this is true. I am not looking for a vending machine. Castlerea has no vending machine but when you call there with a print off from the web they hand out out the ticket.

Hence a €50 printer would suffice. Also in Carrick on Shannon there seems to be staff selling tickets whenever I get the train so I don't see how there would be more staff hours required.

I disagree too that there is little to be saved. Myself and two others are flying out from Dublin and need to get the train on Monday next as we don't want to leave a car in Dublin for a couple of weeks. This is going to cost us:

€27.50 x 3 = €82.50

as opposed to €30 if bought online.

Hence for a saving of €52.50 it still works out cheaper to drive to another station the day before to collect the ticket.

It's great that 72.5% of stations offer the online service. The fact that they gave printers to stations that have much less demand for them is simply very bad management.

As I said I may be wrong and I don't have the contacts in irish rail that you seem to have but I still believe a colour printer from Lidl would solve this problem.

[Mark Gleeson]

Legally there is no obligation to offer any discounts at all.

The ticket machine is available 24-7, the office if staffed has limited hours. Assuming cash is found every station gets a ticket machine. A frequent complaint from early morning travelers was showing up to find the station locked up and no way to collect the booked ticket from the ticket machine or office, in many cases people paid for a full priced ticket as a result

The booking office issued ticket don't work the turnstiles either which is also a problem which cannot be resolved so collect from the machine is the only option which works

The ticket machine upgrade solved that and more than doubled the number of stations you could collect from overnight. There will be more stations with collection with time, several more in the next few months

Until reservations are available on the evening departures from Dublin, savings on the Sligo line will be hard to obtain

[fergalfrog]

Thanks again for the reply.

The solutions to this problem are very simple and need little or no extra cash - the desire to address the problem just isn't there.

In theory nothing new is needed. If I book online all that needs to happen is that the station can verify my booking is correct and not a forged print-off. This could be as simple as the station getting a list of booking references and names (if no computer then via phone/fax). Then users simply show up with a reference number and ID and are issued with a standard ticket as regular users are.

Finally in relation to:

you can in fact collect anywhere with a machine regardless of what you specified

...just double checking this is correct. I am going to be in Galway over the weekend and so hoping I can collect my Carrick-on-Shannon ticket there as they have a vending machine.

[Thomas Ralph]

Online-booked tickets are distinct from standard tickets as they are tied to a particular train service, and as such can't be issued out of a staff ticket machine. And you retain problems such as that many rural train stations have just a single staff member who sells tickets until the train arrives and then turns into the dispatcher (guy with green flag).

Yes, Galway has ticket vending machines at which reserved tickets may be collected.

[fergalfrog]

Originally Posted by Thomas Ralph

Online-booked tickets are distinct from standard tickets as they are tied to a particular train service, and as such can't be issued out of a staff ticket machine. And you retain problems such as that many rural train stations have just a single staff member who sells tickets until the train arrives and then turns into the dispatcher (guy with green flag).

Yes, Galway has ticket vending machines at which reserved tickets may be collected.

Ah yes good point - I just want Carrick to be brought up to the standard of other stations (Castlerea has a single staff member who sells tickets until the train arrives and then turns into the dispatcher).

I will have a go at collecting my tickets in Galway.

[Mark Gleeson]

You can collect from any station on the list at the payment details screen. It need not be the same as the one you choose.

The list of stations to be upgraded with ticket machines is based on priority. So for instance we have sought that Cobh gets one asap as its very busy and not staffed most of the time and even when staffed can't cope with the queues on busy summers day, there is also a large scale fare evasion issue

The ticket machine solution ensures you can collect the ticket, any investment in the office equipment is wasted if the office is closed which it is more hours than it is open.

We have discussed this issue with Irish Rail several times and its a simple case of when the money is found each station remaining will get upgraded based on priority. At the outset of the reservation project Rosslare and Sligo where expected not to have intercity trains and therefore didn't need reservation equipment.

[finnyus]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

The list of stations to be upgraded with ticket machines is based on priority. So for instance we have sought that Cobh gets one asap as its very busy and not staffed most of the time and even when staffed can't cope with the queues on busy summers day, there is also a large scale fare evasion issue

Hi Mark,

is that going to be addressed? As it is RIFE down here in Cork, on the East Cork lines.

Finbarr

[Mark Gleeson]

Getting a few ticket machines installed is the only way to go.

RPU have been told to back off after several embarrassing goof ups and overly aggressive pursuit of law abiding passengers

[fergalfrog]

By the way Irish rail got back to me with:
"As you cannot book from Carrick on Shannon at the moment you would not be able to make this reservation online. However you can book from Ballymote or Sligo online and collect your tickets from either station."

I will post an update on Monday on whether I got the tickets or not!

[ccos]

Why dont IE let you print out your own ticket? If you want to fly you print your own boarding card and lots of other railsystems let you print your own on-line tickets. Think of all the money currently been spent on ink and paper IE would save not to mention the cost of printers.

[Thomas Ralph]

Counterfeiting. All those other systems use 2D barcodes or at least a reference number and ID card to verify that the ticket is genuine. IÉ onboard staff don't carry barcode scanners and I can see the euro signs in the unions' eyes if the company was to introduce them (think training time, extra responsibility allowances, etc).

[Mark Gleeson]

The barcode issue has been looked at, many different implementations floating around at the moment. There is a need for on train scanners and gates, costly.

It works well if you enforce booking ahead when its pretty clear that your name is on the manifest and as an SNCB conductor told me, right ticket in the right seat on the right train, no need to resort to scanner. Thats how the airline work it, fixed passenger lists and tight access control.

UK applications have been very very restricted, Heathrow Express, Chiltern, Virgin WC is only Manchester London. Its within a franchise not network wide

Long term smartcard technology is likely to be the solution to finally replace the good old magstrip ticket which works

[fergalfrog]

Just a quick update for anyone who stumbles across this. Yesterday I picked up my tickets in Galway. I am currently on the train and had my ticket checked 2 mins ago. I guess until they get a printer in Carrick I will be collecting my ticket elsewhere.

[Mark Gleeson]

Inquiries with senior people in Irish Rail continue.

Our lateral thinking solutions unit is looking at the problem, as in can we solve this for free