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Comment by felsokning | Hacker News Reader

Agreed. We need the contactless payment scheme.

For what its worth, you can use Leap for Bus Eireann and other services[1].

I think Irish Rail (excluding the Free Travel Scheme[2]) is the hold-out, in rural areas, as Bus Eireann and Irish Rail are the only services available in those areas.

While not the contactless payment scheme inferred from the article, it would still be a viable alternative to paper tickets.

[1] - https://www.transportforireland.ie/fares/leap-card/

[2] - https://www.gov.ie/en/service/9bba61-free-travel-scheme/

Edit: formatting

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Where would you tap? I used to live near Clara train station in Offaly and there I just... walked on the train. I suppose they could add readers, of course.

Such contactless readers are the norm in the Netherlands. There are no ticket gates; it is still an honesty system, but one is expected to tap on before you board the train. They are sensibly located near the station entrance, so you also don't need to make a detour to find them.

Sounds nice! I've been caught on the wrong side of the barrier at Hilversum a few times due to malfunctioning gates, etc

Apparently there are some stations which still have ticket gates, but I haven't seen any in the rather short time I've been in the Netherlands - they seem to be concentrated in metropolitan areas[1], and I've only been in the somewhat more rural[2] province of Limburg. As it happens, though, I have never actually used the OV-chipcard myself, as I always use an Interrail pass when travelling any further than Belgium from my home country of Britain. I just get on the train - even more reason to like the 'gateless' platforms, because it's always the people with less usual tickets like Interrail that fall through the cracks with systems that try to be too clever.

[1]: https://www.ns.nl/binaries/_ht_1583338071691/content/assets/...

[2]: https://mastodon.social/@rubenivangaalen/109705862906000821

I thought they'd added the gates to all the stations? Certainly I see them a lot, even though they're generally open in more rural areas.

In Farrenfore you just get on the train. It’s a toss up on whether anybody will check your ticket on your journey to Dublin.

Huh, wow. Like you can just walk on at Mallow, but they do have the gates if you need to tap.

Mallow is in the Cork commuter zone; you can use a leap card there. The issue is more around stations where you currently can’t use a leap card at all.

Actually, I guess I haven't stopped anywhere that isn't in a commuter zone, so it makes sense that I wasn't aware of this.

Just readers on poles; smaller potentially unattended Dublin and Cork commuter zone stations have them. Same thing as used at Luas stops.

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