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Translink and Iarnrod Eireann Fare Differences

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sk688

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11 Sep 2016
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Trying to book from Belfast to Dublin via Drogheda in a few weeks , and for some reason IE tickets from Belfast to Dublin are much cheaper than the ones on Translink's website , but the IE website makes you buy tickets from the Translink site , which is more expensive for the same journey ?

This is despite me having both a Translink ylink student card and the TFI Young Adult Leap card, the fares on the IE website for journeys south from Dublin are cheaper than Translink's yet you can only buy from Translink for some reason

In that case, why are the Translink fares set higher for what is effectively the same train journey operated by the same form of joint-operation.
 
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RailUK Forums

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johnnydoe

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Ireland subsidises rail transport to a greater extent than Northern Ireland.

You can't book from the Northern Ireland side to Ireland via Irish Rail and vice versa via Translink.

I thinks there's a websaver fare available from the Translink website, but I don't know how that plays with student discounts.
 
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ainsworth74

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Translink just seems to be disappointingly poor when it comes to buying fares online for the Enterprise. The booking horizon is much shorter (only three/four weeks rather than 90(ish) days), the price is higher (okay that's more out of their hands to be fair!) and it doesn't appear you can pick your seat unlike when booking with Irish Rail.
 
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rvdborgt

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johnnydoe said:
No, it doesn't matter where you're based. You can only go from the Irish side to the Northern Irish side on Irish Rail via one way ticketing.
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I'm quite sure that, within the EU, that's illegal. Not sure about how that's for the UK though.
 
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johncrossley

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johnnydoe said:
Hardly. I've bought cheaper fares via DB compared to ÖBB for the exact same train.
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Was the ticket available for purchase on both sites? If so, that's different to the situation being discussed where the ticket is only available from Translink.
 
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ainsworth74

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rvdborgt said:
AFAIK neither DB nor ÖBB do geoblocking.
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I'm not sure that it's really geoblocking. If you try and buy a ticket on the Irish Rail site starting from Belfast it will direct you to the Translink site. If you try and buy a ticket starting from Dublin it will direct you to you the Irish Rail site. This will be the case no matter what part of the world you try and buy the tickets from. You are perfectly able to buy a ticket starting in Dublin from Irish Rail even if you have a UK IP address, or a ticket starting in Belfast from Translink with an Irish IP address. It's simply determined by the origin of the journey who you buy from rather than the location of the purchaser which is more what I would understand geoblocking to be.
 
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rvdborgt

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ainsworth74 said:
I'm not sure that it's really geoblocking. If you try and buy a ticket on the Irish Rail site starting from Belfast it will direct you to the Translink site. If you try and buy a ticket starting from Dublin it will direct you to you the Irish Rail site. This will be the case no matter what part of the world you try and buy the tickets from. You are perfectly able to buy a ticket starting in Dublin from Irish Rail even if you have a UK IP address, or a ticket starting in Belfast from Translink with an Irish IP address. It's simply determined by the origin of the journey who you buy from rather than the location of the purchaser which is more what I would understand geoblocking to be.
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Aha. I must admit I didn't test this myself. Although I don't like such behaviour, it's probably not against any law.
I do wonder whether they do the same at their ticket offices, and whether they sell return tickets anywhere.
 
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johnnydoe

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You can buy return tickets from both operators. The journey must begin in the operator's country though. There's a websaver fare on Translinks website that is 12 GBP for Belfast to Dublin. Though I don't know what the student fare is. Student prices are 50% of adult fares on Irish Rail.

Irish Rail fares operate differently to most other European countries. There are three tiers for journeys of a certain distance on a given line.

Low fares. These can be cancelled or amended up to two days before with a loss of 50% fare value plus the fare difference for amendments.

Semi-flexible. These are the same as low fares but with 24 hours notice and a penalty of 20% value loss for changes/cancellation.

Flexible fares. These can changed up to 60 minutes and cancelled with no penalty.

There's no dynamic pricing. Prices are fixed though Irish Rail can alter promotional low cost fares at their discretion without needing approval from the National Transport Authority. The NTA dictate flexible fares.

For day-return journeys, where's there's no low or semi flexible fare (flexible only) you're better off getting a day return ticket from the machine in my opinion. There's no difference in online prices and you can take whatever train you'd like with break of journey acceptable too.

The downside though is you'll have no seat reservation.
 
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dubscottie

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You are unable to buy a ticket for a journey starting in NI on the Irishrail site because there is no way for you to collect your ticket at the station.
 
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