More of the usual guff from Varadkar and the Indo?

[Jamie2k9]

9.99 promotion has now ended, don't have much data yet but nothing negative

5.99 WRC fare has led to increase in numbers but likely that overall revenue was down as the increase was not sufficient to cover the reduce revenue per ticket

I was under the same impression with the 9.99 had ended but its still available on all routes on the website so could be extended?

[Mark Gleeson]

I was informed that it was ending, possibly has been extended

[James Howard]

The train has seemed a little busier over the last couple of weeks. 9.99 is a great fare but it is bordering on being too cheap. Each single journey on a commuter pass from Longford is about 9.50 and involves buying 460 tickets in advance. You would think you'd get a better bulk discount.

Somebody on boards suggested that they might be better off not charging at all on the WRC as the fare revenue hardly covers ticket inspectors and security and maintenance on TVMs.

[Mark Gleeson]

WRC is a basket case.

All the singing and dancing about increased numbers is all well and good, doubling a small number is still a small number and if
a) half are travelling for free anyway
b) the rest paid 75% less than normal

You make a net loss

9.99 came with the usual restrictions and fees and was quota restricted so not always available, particularly are peak times

[Inniskeen]

"Half are travelling for free anyway" - do you mean that Irish Rail are carrying people for no reward ? Can the same argument not be made for any line ?

As far as I can see the primary categories of business on Irish Rail are

1) Commuters (heavily discounted fares + additional discounts through tax system).
2) Students (heavily discounted).
3) Social Welfare pass holders (So called "Free Travel").
4) Passengers travelling on Web/Other Promotional Fares.

Like it or not, the majority of rail users are substantially discounted. You see the WRC as a problem, others might see pretty much the whole system in the same light ! Yes the WRC is not a standout success story but neither is Dunboyne or the KRP stations.

[James Howard]

I wouldn't exactly describe commuter fares as heavily discounted. I take about 160 return journeys a year on my 3800 euro pass so Irish Rail are getting about €22 per journey. The standard day-return fare is €23.60. Most long-distance commuters work from home for a day a week, so my journey count would be about average. The tax issue is irrelevant to Irish Rail, they get the gross value of the pass. Even if I were travelling five days a week, I would still be paying something like €18 a journey.

You do kind of expect some sort of a discount when buying a year's worth of train journeys in one go. The taxsaver is the only thing that makes buying an annual pass worthwhile. For a four-day a week commuter without taxsaver, it would be cheaper to buy 4 day-returns a week rather than a monthly.

[Jamie2k9]

"Half are travelling for free anyway" - do you mean that Irish Rail are carrying people for no reward ? Can the same argument not be made for any line ?

As far as I can see the primary categories of business on Irish Rail are

1) Commuters (heavily discounted fares + additional discounts through tax system).
2) Students (heavily discounted).
3) Social Welfare pass holders (So called "Free Travel").
4) Passengers travelling on Web/Other Promotional Fares.

Like it or not, the majority of rail users are substantially discounted. You see the WRC as a problem, others might see pretty much the whole system in the same light ! Yes the WRC is not a standout success story but neither is Dunboyne or the KRP stations.

What's probably meant with the passes on the WRC is other routes cover the costs more easily with more revenue.

Railway operators in the UK operate more less with the same system except for the passes. The 9.99 fares are filling empty trains but they have to make sure they don't fill to much so extra capacity would be required and while they have cheaper fares they have increase fares for other services. Of course the 9.99 fares are probably going to attract more passengers and the hope is they can be increased in a few months and keep those passengers if they get good service now.

They must be getting on average between 30 & 50 euro per online customer route dependent, give of take the few very flexible passengers who can get it down to 20.

It's all people are prepared to pay so what are they supposed to do?

[Kilocharlie]

Commuter fares discounts:

If you take a working year of about 40 weeks or 200 days, an annual ticket from Kildare which costs 2230 works out at about about 11 euro per day. A day return to Kildare costs 22.90 so that's around a 50% discount borne by IE. So, at least in the case of Kildare, there is a substantial discount.

After 52% Taxsaver benefit the daily cost is about 5 euro per day for you travel 200 days a year.

[Traincustomer]

Originally Posted by Jamie2k9

I was under the same impression with the 9.99 had ended but its still available on all routes on the website so could be extended?

Not being smart but an observation is that the €9.99 fare is not available on all routes as stations such as Clonmel don't have it.

A few €15.79 and €18.59 fares are available.

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by James Howard

I wouldn't exactly describe commuter fares as heavily discounted. I take about 160 return journeys a year on my 3800 euro pass so Irish Rail are getting about €22 per journey. The standard day-return fare is €23.60. Most long-distance commuters work from home for a day a week, so my journey count would be about average. The tax issue is irrelevant to Irish Rail, they get the gross value of the pass. Even if I were travelling five days a week, I would still be paying something like €18 a journey.

You do kind of expect some sort of a discount when buying a year's worth of train journeys in one go. The taxsaver is the only thing that makes buying an annual pass worthwhile. For a four-day a week commuter without taxsaver, it would be cheaper to buy 4 day-returns a week rather than a monthly.

That depends on what route you travel - ticket prices on express routes (Cork/Belfast) are far higher than the Economy 1 and Economy 2 routes.

[James Howard]

The relative merits of commuter passes vs. day returns obviously depends on the route, but I was just pointing out that on some routes, there is very little difference in yield for Irish Rail between commuter passes and day returns.

They especially seem to have stuck the boot in for Mullingar, Edgeworthstown and Longford commuters over the last few years - largely because we have no choice. In general the differential between passes and day returns seems to drop the further from Dublin you go.

[Colm Moore]

Originally Posted by Kilocharlie

Commuter fares discounts:

If you take a working year of about 40 weeks or 200 days, an annual ticket from Kildare which costs 2230 works out at about about 11 euro per day. A day return to Kildare costs 22.90 so that's around a 50% discount borne by IE. So, at least in the case of Kildare, there is a substantial discount.

Does that just point to single / return fares being bloated?