P
PMU
Guest
I got my 10 euro Luas Smart Card today and was naive enough to expect that I had bought 10 euro worth of travel. Not a chance. When I swiped it this morning for the first time the card showed a balance of 3 euro. Of the 10 euro, 3 euro goes on the cost of the smartcard, 4 euro goes to a ‘deposit’, leaving you with 3 euro for travel. The deposit is refundable if and when you return your smartcard. My main gripe is the 3 euro charge. This, as far as I can determine, is unique to Ireland. I’ve bought similar tickets elsewhere and not only has there been no charge for the card but you usually get a reduction in the costs. The basic saving of a smartcard is that a single is half a return journey so using the smartcard is cheaper than purchasing a single ticket. For me this is a saving of 10 cents a journey. So to recoup the 3 euro cost of the smartcard takes at least 30 journeys, which for the infrequent users is not exactly a good deal. As for the ‘deposit’, well, this just sits in Luas’s bank account earning them interest.