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CUSTOMERS ARE BEING asked to boycott shops which are charging extra for topping up Leap cards – the handy payment method for public transport in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford and Wexford.
Following calls to report businesses that are doing so, TheJournal.ie examined how prevalent the problem was in areas close to busy Luas and bus stops.
Our reporter topped up a card in four separate shops in Dublin city centre this afternoon and of those four, just one did not charge extra if paying by card.
The National Transport Authority now wants commuters to also report the businesses that are doing so.
We topped up a Leap card by €5 during each transaction and we were charged either 25 cent or 50 cent for the pleasure of using our card.
A 50 cent surcharge for a €5 top up is a 10% charge – just for using plastic.
However, all of the shops we visited said there was no extra charge when paying with cash.
The National Transport Authority is urging customers not to accept surcharging from any shop and to report the retailer to them.
It’s also asking customers to ‘vote with their feet’ by using another shop to top up that doesn’t surcharge.
It added that in the past one of its suppliers, Payzone, has withdrawn the top-up facility from agents where such practices have continued despite warnings.
A spokesperson for the NTA told TheJournal.ie,
The bottom line is, vote with your feet. Walk out of the shop that’s applying a charge (and let us know about it), find the retailer who’s not surcharging, or use the Android Leap Top-Up App or the ticket machines at Luas stops or rail stations, or the top-up machines we’ve provided in the various spots around Dublin. Or sign up for “Auto Top Up”, which automatically tops your card up, directly from your bank account, when your balance dips below a certain amount.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin councillor Mark Ward said these surcharges are hitting the most vulnerable in society:
By adding to the already high cost of public transport these charges are a disincentive to use public transport and as such have a detrimental impact on the environment in an era when public transport is seen as a way to ease traffic congestion and reduce emissions.
“Leap Cards are also used by students who rely on cheaper travel to get to and from college. Retailers that are involved in this practice are adding to people’s direct cost of transport.
This is another example of an indirect tax impacting negatively, not only on the environment but also on vulnerable members of society.
The NTA is asking customers to report shops surcharging to Customer.Care@leapcard.ie, it added that there is no charge to reload cards via Luas or Irish Rail ticket machines and a Leap Top-Up app is available for NFC-equipped Android phones.
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Just got the highest electricity bill since the start of the inflation, though usage lower than year before.
@GoodBrother: Haven’t used any Gas since February yet the standing charge may aswell say i was …disgraceful
@Trent: Roughly a euro per day. No usage and still the bill is €60+. Before C-19 my gas bill used to be about €45 – 50 all in.
@GoodBrother: Really. Inflation has been creeping up for well over a year now, nearly 2. Unless you used zero electricity until this bill, or were locked into a really low tariff for almost 2 years, then I do not believe this is your highest bill since inflation started to rise.
@GoodBrother: I got probably one of my lowest one,since the smart meter went in my bills are going down,I can see what is driving my bill.
We are now the most expensive country in Europe to live in. I never imagined we’d be more pricey than Switzerland or Norway. Thank you, FFG. Also on track to become the most obese.14 million each day for our national debt of $250 billion. Third-world heat care systems. the capital’s inner city is rife with violence and drugs. As a country, we are regressing.
Worked hard all my life as a chef to save enough for my own buisness watching it all dwindled away look after there own big hotels cashing in a fortune on migrants while the small tourists buisness get a slap on the face .
There is no end to being RIP of Ireland
@Paul Maguire: unless you are a dole merchant, then you get everything paid for ,
@James Moylan: Said the Kerry man to the bull.
Stop voting FF/FG ye thick muppets, let SF in, we need a change..but in all fairness this open door my documents, come in my friends has to stop. I was walking around Ennis, Co Clare the other, For a bit I thought I was in the suburbs of Mogadishu, only the rip off cost of a pint and newspaper brought me back to drizzleville.
@will o bdee: The shiners will be the same, they will be forced to stay in line, easy to promise the Earth in opposition, but it will either be business as usual or populist policies will lead to medium to long term problems. either way, I cannot see it SF doing any better than the current shower of tool bags.
Mortgage through the roof. Extra 600 a month meant pulling kids outa 3rd level education…
@Monty Carlow: Go on the dole and get mortgage paid by state, medical card, plus many more perks including grants for third level etc. etc.
@paulinlavally@gmail.com: It was the Bankers and Developers that collapsed the Irish economy.
Greed rife at the moment. Could list crisis after crisis but I can’t be bothered
But yeah it was the guy on the dole.
Look up lad.
@Monty Carlow: get them to learn Ukrainian or Arabic ,free everything from then on
@Monty Carlow: do a deal with the bank and keep your kids in 3rd level. Education is the key to a decent job
@Monty Carlow: Must be a big mortgage,mine is going up €38 a month in September,hope you’re kids are working to help with college.
@Monty Carlow: go to the docks near customs during the night,row out some,rip up you’re passport row in early morning,say you’ve amnesia or lost you’re passport rowing,they’re lost on flights available when they’re boarding, lost when landing it’s amazing in a completely sealed aircraft how it can happen shouldn’t be hard to understand in a boat I’d imagine…
In who’s opinion? absolute rubbish,it’s through the roof and slowly but surely rising in different segments be it food, electricity and fuel which will again increase in october,perfect timing when kids go back to school and cold weather kicks in and people need heating oil which they’ve been putting off keeping they’re heads above water at present and we might get help with more money from government, what money? it’s all going up again they’ve said it already the payment won’t outway the cost to the average person we lose again.
Tighten your belts. Store tins of beans. This is the peak.
That’s complete media tripe. Are you trying to feed people carrots on sticks
Buy less
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