Rail Users Ireland Forum - View Single Post

MrX · 07-01-2007, 18:13

Mark,

The problem's a on-going technical one that IE have totally failed to address. AIB, and many other banks, issued a new type of Laser/Maestro co-branded card. These are usable internationally and have extra digits to support the extended functionality.

At this stage pretty much *all* of AIB's cards have been reissued and now have 19 digits. I suspect the situation may be similar for many other Laser card issuers. The problem is that Irish Rail's system has been configured in such a way that it cannot accept more than a certain number of digits and is incapable of processing a 19-digit card number.

This problem effects all of their automatic ticket sale and collection machines. It also makes it impossible for a ticket agent to key in the Laser card number and retreive tickets. The only way of collecting them is using the booking reference number or for the ticket agent to do a manual search of the train manefest.

I have complained to IE about this and explained / discussed the problem on several occasions at this stage and they've been most pleasant on the phone / by email. However, so far nothing's been done to resolve the issue.

I've been in touch with them again in the last few days, so hopefully this time something's done.

It seems that the Luas machines are also incapable of processing the 19-digit Laser cards too and I suspect it's a vendor problem. However, there's no reason why IE can't resolve this issue asap.

I somehow suspect that they may be holding off until they're legally required to implement chip & pin on all of the TVMs i.e. they'll have to add PIN pads at some stage.

However, given the number of people who use Laser cards and the fact that their website accepts it for bookings means that a lot of people are going to discover that IE's machines don't work and assume that the whole system is a disaster. It's very poor from a PR point of view.

I'm actually amazed that we still have various credit/debit card self-service machines in Ireland that don't accept PIN yet. The bank deadline for use of PIN authorisation is approaching very rapidly. Nearly all machines in the UK have already made the transition. It just seemed very odd to roll out new TVMs that had no PIN pads...

Not accepting Laser card is a big deal .. it's a huge method of payment and a very big chunk of the market to be missing.

2005 Statistics:
No of cards in use: 1,273,228
Value of transactions €5.2Billion euro.
Average no of transactions per card per year: 63
No of transactions : 80Million

07-01-2007, 18:13	#3
MrX Really Regular Poster Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 585	The problem's specific to new-issue Laser/Maestro cards Mark, The problem's a on-going technical one that IE have totally failed to address. AIB, and many other banks, issued a new type of Laser/Maestro co-branded card. These are usable internationally and have extra digits to support the extended functionality. At this stage pretty much all of AIB's cards have been reissued and now have 19 digits. I suspect the situation may be similar for many other Laser card issuers. The problem is that Irish Rail's system has been configured in such a way that it cannot accept more than a certain number of digits and is incapable of processing a 19-digit card number. This problem effects all of their automatic ticket sale and collection machines. It also makes it impossible for a ticket agent to key in the Laser card number and retreive tickets. The only way of collecting them is using the booking reference number or for the ticket agent to do a manual search of the train manefest. I have complained to IE about this and explained / discussed the problem on several occasions at this stage and they've been most pleasant on the phone / by email. However, so far nothing's been done to resolve the issue. I've been in touch with them again in the last few days, so hopefully this time something's done. It seems that the Luas machines are also incapable of processing the 19-digit Laser cards too and I suspect it's a vendor problem. However, there's no reason why IE can't resolve this issue asap. I somehow suspect that they may be holding off until they're legally required to implement chip & pin on all of the TVMs i.e. they'll have to add PIN pads at some stage. However, given the number of people who use Laser cards and the fact that their website accepts it for bookings means that a lot of people are going to discover that IE's machines don't work and assume that the whole system is a disaster. It's very poor from a PR point of view. I'm actually amazed that we still have various credit/debit card self-service machines in Ireland that don't accept PIN yet. The bank deadline for use of PIN authorisation is approaching very rapidly. Nearly all machines in the UK have already made the transition. It just seemed very odd to roll out new TVMs that had no PIN pads... Not accepting Laser card is a big deal .. it's a huge method of payment and a very big chunk of the market to be missing. 2005 Statistics: No of cards in use: 1,273,228 Value of transactions €5.2Billion euro. Average no of transactions per card per year: 63 No of transactions : 80Million Last edited by MrX : 07-01-2007 at 18:22.