Luas Fares To Increase On Jan 1 2012
 

Adult and Child Single fares will increase by 10c

Adult and Child Return fares will increase by 20c

Adult Smart Card fares will increase by between 15c and 20c.

Child Smart Card fares will increase by 5c

Increase of 5-10% on all 7/30 day tickets

National Transport Authority
 

The inevitable has happened. Though some of the reasons used to justify it are laughable.

Despite the economic climate, Luas has millions of passengers using it's services, plenty of cash reserves, and is very profitable. So profitable, that it can afford to donate significant sums of money to social causes and charity events.

As usual, it's the long-suffering passenger though who is last when it comes to priority. When it began operation, Night Luas was run in the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas on both lines. This year, the residential line is getting two nights and 1 January, while the busy line through the main city thoroughfare, other transport hubs, and nightlife area gets nothing. While Metros across Europe continue to run 24 hours at weekends and put on extra transport at Christmas, it's a new low this year for the most modern transport network in Ireland's capital city.

It would be nice if the businesses who would benefit from a Night LUAS would cough up a few bob to make it happen. Not make it free, just pay the cost premium to make it break even.

Red line late Luas is off on grounds of anti-social behavior just not worth the hassle

Luas receives no subsidy so the books must balance. Veoila is not under any obligation to run services after 12:30am but is allowed to operate them at its own financial risk. The opening of the lines to Saggart and Brides Glen has resulted in an ongoing operating loss.

The default solution for late night services is a bus, thats what is used in most cities and that works well. Nitelink is running 6 days a week before Christmas. 5 years ago it was standing room only on the 2am 7N, now its down to only a handful

The Luas has a top quality security firm operating from 10am daily. Their primary job is to deal with anti-social behaviour. Otherwise, what are they there for?

Dublin is a major city in Europe with a vibrant nightlife scene at weekends, even these days. It should have adequate forms of transport to cater for it. The bus is not enough in other major cities, and it isn't enough here.

The cost running after 12:30 exceeds the fare box takings, so no service. I wouldn't personally travel on the red line at 2am, its scary enough at 10pm. Veoila have a contract which does not require service after 12:30 but allows they the option to run later if they wish.

If we lived in a proper country the state would subsidize the service, subsidy in Ireland is among the lowest in Europe so you can't get the world class service unless you are willing to pay. Luas gets ZERO revenue support, Dublin Bus gets the lowest subsidy of any capital city in Europe.

Given the nature of Dublin a bus service is the best option to provide a late night service, its cheap, its flexible and it has sufficient capacity to meet demand

Nitelink flat fares are 5 Euro, Night-Luas flat fares are 4 Euro. Whether the Nitelink fares will increase in line with the day fares is a question for another time.

I travel on the nitelink at weekends and have done since Spring this year. Incidents of any kind have been extremely rare. I have travelled on the Red Line Night Luas before in previous years, and tbh it's as comfortable as any other time. There have been no incidents on any tram I've been on, despite high passenger usage. Zero.

Luas doesn't get subsidies because it is the only public transport network in Dublin to be run by a private company. Dublin City is very very busy on weekend nights, there is a market and demand there if Luas wishes to use it. Dublin Bus however cleans up most of that revenue. The Luas should get involved, as high speed transport networks do in most cities across Europe, even more so at this time of the year. If you make facilities available, people will use them. The Customer is always King, and you run a business to suit the customers needs, not your own.

I've been on Nitelinks with 6 passengers, where the driver has said he'd drop me to my door if I was the last one on.

The reality is tens of thousands of taxis has spread the available income too thin.

That may be true, but if people are reliant on one bus available every hour-90 minutes, people will use alternative means to get home. You must also remember that nitelinks are only available in the city centre, with very few pickup points en route.

There is currently no alternative to using the bus, except by taxi. That is fundamentally wrong.

I've never understood why:
- you would not alow pick up / drop off at all stops
- you would not allow a nite-link bus going back into town for round 2 to pick up passengers
- 45 minute (and other strange) frequencies on certain daytime buses

and I have never anywhere seen as many "Sorry - I'm not in service" buses as on the N11. I'd go as far to say as they seem to easily outnumber the in-service buses at certain times of day.

http://www.rpa.ie/en/news/Pages/Luasfaretoincrease.aspx

Before the service was launched on either line, one paper said that the state would subsidise Luas if it wasn't profitable. Whether that is true or not, the reality is, the Luas is ultra-popular, and makes millions of Euro every year. The network has since extended, and more extensions are in the pipeline, providing more windfalls. The begging bowl exercise doesn't wash with me. They have simply taken advantage of the traditional time of year the transport networks have raised their fares. Every rise in Luas fares has always been in early January, and so it is again.

You can read the report on the NTA website which explains why they applied for the fare increase.

Luas Fares To Increase
 

Yes Mark some more information have missing are there:


The main fare changes are as follows:

Adult and Child Single fares will increase by 10c
Adult and Child Return fares will increase by 20c
Adult Smart Card fares will increase by between 15c and 20c.
Despite this increase, the average Adult Smart Card fare will still be 12% cheaper than the average Adult Single off-peak fare
Child Smart Card fares will increase by 5c
Adult 7 day, 30 day and Tax Saver tickets will increase by an average of 5.5%
Child 7 day and 30 day tickets will increase by an average of 10%
Student 7 day and 30 day tickets will increase by an average of 5.5%
Tickets bought from Luas Ticket Agents will increase by an average of 7.5%

Luas never made a massive profit, it was always a fairly small sum, I wouldn't even be using the plural millions. The surplus which was achieved in years past went into a sinking fund to cover for future overhaul and refurbishment costs. The increase in Luas fares % wise was consistently less than CIE group companies. In a proper country Luas would be afforded a reasonable subsidy which would allow for lower fares, more security and so on.

The extensions to Brides Glen and Saggart have resulted in signifcant extra costs with comparatively little extra revenue, that is the core reason behind the fare increase. A significant number of extra trams, drivers and customer service staff were required to support this.

I wouldn't be surprised if the 2011 accounts post a net loss on Luas operations.

That's the official explanation.

In January 2005, there was a fare increase.
In January 2006, there was a fare increase.
In January 2007, there was a fare increase.
In January 2008, there was a fare increase.
In January 2009, there was a fare increase.
In January 2012, there was a fare increase.

All for the same reason, and all at the same (almost to the exact date) time of year. "Increased costs". The extensions cited as reasons are merely smokescreens, i.e. if it wasn't that reason, it would be something else.

The reality facing everyone in Ireland these days, is that everyone's costs are rising, and everyone's incomes are falling. We all have to make more out of having less. That applies to Luas as much as everyone else. It's not fair, and nobody wants it that way, but that's life in this country at the moment. Pushing up fares just because that's when it was always done, is unlikely to make significant reductions in costs in the next 12 months. And what will be the solution? Another fare increase.

Groundhog Day.

One of their reasons is for extra fuel costs :eek:


I always thought that it was electric myself


The current economic recession has had a detrimental effect on the operating environment for all transport companies as they have been experiencing falling passenger demand, reduced ancillary revenue and increased fuel costs.

Unless it's powered by solar panels in Nevada, they're probably burning a fossil fuel somewhere along the line.