Ticket Validation Machine Greystones?
 

Have noticed that at the exit gate on platform 2 at Greystones there's ongoing work in what looks to me like a Luas style ticket validation machine (swipe on/swipe off machines)...is this the beginning of integrated ticketing testing?hahaha...i doubt it very much anyway, i'll try get a picture of the new installation
*edit*
the pole looks almost identical to this one (right side of picture)http://www.flickr.com/photos/grantme...th/2570490300/ although no machine has been mounted on it yet..it has the exact same yellow top part and the recessed inner pole..

Might it be an emergency contact point?

The ticket validators in the city centre stations are designed to handle smart cards.

That would be more likely

Not designed to handle, they do. Staff have a smartcard pass and if you flash a luas smart card or bus ticket at the orange part of the turnstile it will complain

Still trying to get a photo of the work in progress..these mounting poles are at both night exits at greystones station (platforms 1+2), very out of-way locations for emergency intercom stations...found this on rpa.ie however, i'm sure you've all seen it already though:

"RPA has appointed IBM Ireland Ltd. to develop the systems necessary to run the ITS back-office. For more details, please click here.

The systems will be delivered on a phased basis over the next 24 months, and will undergo extensive testing before the systems are gradually rolled out. The systems will provide a pay-as-you-go system on re-usable smart cards as well as holding weekly, monthly and annual tickets for regular commuters on Luas, Dublin Bus, Irish Rail, Bus Éireann and privately operated services."

I didnt realize how advanced the I.T.S. project actually was. They're claiming from what i read that Integrated ticketing will be introduced late this yearhttp://www.rpa.ie/Documents/ITS%20Co...d%20220908.pdf! Don't know if i believe this though..

Could it be that they're beginning testing of Luas like smartcard machines at Greystones or i would it not be that advanced a project yet?

The ITS is very far advanced

Dublin Bus is complete
Luas is complete
Irish Rail is making swift enough progress
Bus Eireann is all alone
Back office is in progress

It could be the smart card reader, its not impossible

It would seem to make sense to have standalone validators. Faster than installing the new ticket gates at every station.

Again (informed) speculation, but it may be a "the station is shut for the night, let me out" intercom.

Its certainly a smart card reader

Lansdowne Rd has acquired 2

Not that it needed any; there are integrated readers in the new ticket gates.

Greystones
Shankill
Sidney Parade
Lansdowne
Howth Junction

Have all acquired the smartcard readers

The turnstiles on the northbound platform at Sydney Parade are being torn out.

The old ones that didn't match with the doors?

Yeah.

When these new tickets come in along with these new validators, is it an intention of irish-rail to make some of the less busy DART stations unmanned, much like how LUAS operates? Perhaps this would be an interesting and effective cost-cutting measure?

There are already several stations unmanned for parts of the day and/or at weekends.

RUI's position is that since DART trains are a single-man operation, unmanned stations should be avoided. It has been proven (on the London Overground) that manned stations reduce fare evasion and antisocial behaviour as well as providing essential services, especially to passengers who can't use ticket vending machines for whatever reason.

London != Dublin
 

The London experience may not transfer well over to here. The two stations I use most often are both manned, but one has a gate that people just pull open and walk through every single day and the other has the new barriers where people charge through in the morning and evening - the ticket hall resounds to choo-choos from all the spongers tailgating through, but the guy behind the ticket desk doesn't seem to look up from the TV. I think he expects to hear choo-choo noises, what with working in a train station and all.

With the exception of the new arrangement in Pearse in the last few months, I haven't seen anyone picked up for fare evasion by station staff. I have seen the revenue protection people manning the gates en-masse and I'm sure they get a few people, but I've never seen station staff doing anything other than hiding behind the desk, with extra signs stuck up on the window to reduce visibility even further.

z

One of these going up in Clonsilla.

And in Maynooth.

The problem is though that not every choo-choo noise is actually a tailgater - for some reason, if you put your card in just after the previous person, the gate stays open and when you walk through, it choo-choos. I regularly get choo-choos and I have a weekly ticket.

Smart Card Validation Machines
 

Noticed this week in Maynooth what looked like smart card readers at the exits.

They are purple colour