Bad move on the 8443 stuff. This won't be a problem for the vast majority of users as their firewall or proxy is configured accordingly, but for quite a number of workplaces this will be a problem as they will normally allow TCP80 & TCP443 outbound without issue, but block other ports. This can be changed, but I know what would happen if I put in a change request in my company to gain access to the Irish Rail website on port 8443 . . . . it would take forever, the network guys would grumble, it would go to the bottom of the list because it's not business critical, etc . . .
There's a reason that people use ports 80 & 443 as standard - it's because they're, you know, standard.
There are ways of getting around this issue on the Irish Rail side - it just needed a little forethought and planning on their side - change one thing once on their side and not require multiple customers to change something on their side multiple times.
Mark - did you say the full journey is charged at half the price of a return journey in your initial post, or is one leg of the journey charged at half the price of the return, with two legs costing the same as a return ? If it's the same as a return I would have to say it's another opportunity lost - there should be some discount, some incentive, something to encourage users to use it. If it costs the same amount as a cash fare then while some people will move to it to avoid the queue at the ticket office, there will still be a lot of people who don't want to shell out in advance. Give them a discount, even a small one, and I think usage would increase.
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