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It really is shameful to see,yet again a Government Department adopting a strong regressive stance in the matter of Dublin Buses Contactless card.
Even as it is presently configured the chip offers very real possibilities for major advances in how we currently use our bus service.

However,as GNR says,certain sections of the Dept of Transport remain somewhat miffed that Dublin Bus were able to roll out "Their" smart-card at all.

It has to be remembered that the Dept of Transport/RPA smart-card shambles has now been ongoing since the beginning of the century and has been identified by the Comptroller and Auditor General as one of the worst examples of mismanagement and failure to deliver in the history of the State.
It should also be remembered that the FULL story of this scandal has NOT yet been placed in the public domain.
This is a game for very high stakes indeed and the ramifications for many highly placed Civil Servants are enormous should the truth ever be revealed.

Again as GNR has pointed out,the current Dublin Bus roll out is hampered by the Departments insistance on not using the technology to provide ANY form of so-called commercial advantage to the company in yet another example of the Departments blind funk at the possibility of EU legal chal;lenges by Uncle Tom Cobley et al.

The current Management Ethos and Policy Vacuum within the Department of Transport has existed now since 2002 and in that period has allowed Dublins Public Transport network to stagnate and in many ways decline.

At the very least the Department should have DIRECTED Bus Atha Cliath to introduce a Flat or Zonal Fare throughout it`s network in order to maximize the efficiencies inherent in the Contactless Card system.

It needs to be said that Bus Atha Cliath have been very thorough in their development of "their" contactless card.
Many options were considered but the final approval MUST come from this stagnating and perhaps decomposing Department.

One of the options I heard mention of was the use of the €1.70 or €2.00 fare as the STANDARD amount which would be debited on presentation of a card.
However if a passenger required a lower fare they would present their ticket to the driver,who would then manually enter the amount whilst the card remained on the Ticket Machine reader.
Even this would have been a worthwhile advance on what presently conspires to delay almost every Dublin Bus service,but the Department remain unwilling to countenance such witchcraft.

It really is a shame to see the huge potential of the Contactless Card being kept locked away from the public simply to keep a senior Civil Servants desk neat and tidy just in case an oul Job comes up in Brussels...but I suppose thats how we do things in Ireland.....Percy French had it down to a tee...."Are ye right there Michael,are ye right ?.....d`ye think that we`ll get there before the night?"
Not much chance of that under the current administration !!

KDNorth,have no fear you will simply be charged the appropriate fare for each journey.
The Luas/RPA "Smart" card will not even attempt such wizardry as is being spoken of in London.

However,the greater question is why such a basic and quite obviously limited system has thus far cost some €40 Million to "develop" and is still nowhere near "Smart" in any accepted sense...?