Train fares- is someone on magic mushrooms?

[Christine Murray]

Iarnród Eireann charge 62 euros for a single ticket to Dublin Heuston from Casement Station in
Tralee. The return is 65 euros-which makes three euros in the difference betwixt single and return.

Now- it's back-packer/tourist season and I do wonder why we have amongst the highest
rail costs in the EU while one and the same time we have the crappiest sloppiest
crony-driven road building company (NRA) in the EU.

Rail infrastructure is under-developed, pricey, full of plastic sarnies and though there's
been an upgrade on the actual trains - (little lights and lcd displays with pre-booked names On ..,etcetera)
I was so horrified at the absence of logic in pricing that I elicited a " I know Miss, rip-off ireland" response
from the ticket-guy-

[I mean we have to do better- there is a panini plague in cafes that have the
same basic menu the country over. it's ************************************g boring for many who like the idea
of good food and a service that works.]

[KingKane]

Single fares have always been more expensive. Most people are buying returns, and backpackers have bought savers tickets, they're not buying individual fares from place to place.

As for the most expensive in Europe, we're not cheap or shockingly reasonable but fares in the UK are pretty pricey too from what I recall. How much would it cost to drive from Tralee to Dublin? Also, most locals get their tickets via group schemes in the credit union and such like.

[locke]

There is something severely wrong with rail fares in Ireland. As you correctly point out, the cost of single fares is extortionate. There are also other anomalies. Compare the return cost of commuting from Mallow to Cork (€10.50) to a similar length commuter journeys elsewhere e.g. Skerries-Dublin (€7.30) and you'd wonder if they want to promote commuting on that line at all. And then there are the pure oddities like the fact that if you want to travel Mallow-Cobh, it's over a Euro cheaper to buy separate Mallow-Cork and Cork-Cobh tickets.

The whole system is a farce.

[FutureChiefJustice]

fares in the UK are pretty pricey too from what I recall.

Yes, but the crux is that you get the return fare for like £2, no matter where your coming from. As far as I remember anyway, it's been about eight years, but I got the train from Manchester to Dover. It was £65 but the return was £1. Now that was years ago and it was only one company.

And there's the other point. They have competition on UK railways, so prices will be inevitably better overall.

[Pauli]

fares in the UK are pretty pricey too from what I recall.

Yes, but the crux is that you get the return fare for like £2, no matter where your coming from. As far as I remember anyway, it's been about eight years, but I got the train from Manchester to Dover. It was £65 but the return was £1. Now that was years ago and it was only one company.

And there's the other point. They have competition on UK railways, so prices will be inevitably better overall.

..........goes the theory. Alas, not the practice.

[Laudenum]

You can't have competition on railways.

It isn't flexible enough.

[Pauli]

You can't have competition on railways.

It isn't flexible enough.

This was proven at great cost in the UK.

[KingKane]

fares in the UK are pretty pricey too from what I recall.

Yes, but the crux is that you get the return fare for like £2, no matter where your coming from. As far as I remember anyway, it's been about eight years, but I got the train from Manchester to Dover. It was £65 but the return was £1. Now that was years ago and it was only one company.

And there's the other point. They have competition on UK railways, so prices will be inevitably better overall.

But that is what the OP is complaining about getting a return for €3!

[kerrynorth]

Iarnród Eireann charge 62 euros for a single ticket to Dublin Heuston from Casement Station in
Tralee. The return is 65 euros-which makes three euros in the difference betwixt single and return.

You can get prepaid single tickets from your local credit union for €32.

[Twin Towers]

You can't have competition on railways.

It isn't flexible enough.

The competition is by air. You can fly more cheaply between Kerry and Dublin than the train fares quoted.