1 day, 3 day and 7 day tickets
 

This is not a rant about the lack of 5 day tickets. It is much, much pettier than that.

Owing to the bank holiday I did not purchase my usual 7 day ticket for 14 euro. Instead I purchased a 3 day ticket on Tuesday and a 1 day ticket on Friday. So let's talk numbers.

Day returns cost 2.80 (5 * 2.80 = 14) so it is not worth buying 7 day ticket unless using it for at least 5 days - way to encourage passengers to buy weekly tickets, Irish Rail. But, as I said at the beginning, that is not my point.

A three day ticket costs 8.60. I'll admit my brain misfired doing that sum thinking "oh, 3 * 2.80 = 8.60". Of course, my brain was wrong and only realised it when it was too late. 3 x 2.80 is 8.40.

I'm not crying over 20 cent. I'm just wondering, do IE enjoy queues at ticket offices and TVMs every day? Do they have a comedian in charge of setting the fares? :rolleyes:

PS Okay, I was lying. I want my 20 cent back. :p

There are different limits for different classes of fares. Before the last fare increase, the Dublin area band B fare was €1.50 single, €2.60 day return, €7.80 3-day, and €12.60 7-day. The new maximum fares are €1.65, €2.80, €8.60, and €14 respectively. So unless you're making multiple journeys a day or splitting your journey, the 3-day ticket in that fare band is a bit pointless. The phenomenon is unique to that band; the others all give some amount of discount for a 3-day ticket instead of 3 day returns.

In your own situation do bear in mind that the 7-day tickets for inside the short hop area are seven days, which can be any seven days. Get one on Tuesday and it's valid up to and including the following Monday. (Outside the short hop area 7-day tickets have to be Sunday to Saturday. Who knows why?)

Just to be carefuls, its any 7 consecutive days. Dublin Bus 5-day and 30-day tickets are any 5 / 30 days, consecutive or not.

Yes, good point.

Thank you both. I wonder how Machiavellian IE are going to be with fares if they ever introduce smart cards. A discussion for another day. :)

I think it is generally acknowledged that the fare structure is broken. New systems like the internet, advanced booking and smart cards give them an oppurtunity to recast the system.

However, realise that a win-win-win (Irish Rail, individual passenger(s), society) may be difficult to achieve. The easiest win to achieve is to give people more of what they want / need for the same price by using avaialble capacity intelligently.

The alternative is a broad revision of fares, with some passengers winning and some losing, which may result in some people moving away from the train for their transport needs, which could be a lose-lose-lose.