2 Easy: Yes, its 2 easy alright.
Far too easy to rip the people off. For the lucky ones among you that have cars or use of a car, this doesnt concern you. The multinational megacorporate bastards that go under the monicker of Dublin Bus have decided that the 10 journey tickets that the ordinary folk have loved for the past few years are no longer going to be operated. The ten journey tickets saved you money, you usually got one trip free. They were economical and they were cashless. They speeded up people getting on the bus, and they protected the driver cos there was no cash involved in the transaction. They were hugely popular, and they encouraged people to use public transport over and over again, with 10 journeys on each ticket. Now Dublin Bus have brought in a two-journey ticket and abolished the 10 journeys. Why?? What is the Government (or whoever the fuck decides such matters) playing at? the Department of the Environment would have us all believe that public transport is the way to travel, its green and clean. But people arent going to use it if its expensive and awkward to get tickets for.
People notice these little increases.. You no longer save any cash with the tickets so whats the point in buying them? In our not so humble opinion its just another method of screwing the punters out of more money. This way Dublin Bus still get people to use tickets but they get back the extra quid or so they would lose on the Ten Journeys.
As if they arent screwing people over enough with the prices, and the exact change only machines (it is perfectly possible to construct a change machine that is safe for the driver, similar to the slots used in the banks), where you are given a ticket with your change on it and you have to go all the way to the office in O'Connell Street to claim back your extra bit of cash (every newsagent in the country that sells bus tickets should be made to refund these change tickets).
If Dublin Bus are serious about encouraging people to use the tickets and not cash then they have to give the people discounts, they should increase the cash fare and not the ticket prices (or the absolute price per journey on the tickets). Allegedly one of the reasons for bringing in the 2 Easy tickets is because the ticket machines were developing faults. Surely it does not make any difference what ticket is put in the machine if the machine is faulty - be it a 2 journey one or a 10 journey one, if the machine is faulty the journey will not register. Its just Dublin Bus screwing the customers over again.