Whykay's happenings

Prove your are a cyclist to get on the ferry

Read a funny article in The Irish Times about a business man and his colleague who had to buy 2nd hand bikes and were forced to ride the bikes on and off the ferry to prove that they are cyclists. This was because the foot passengers tickets were all sold out. C'est ridicule. Read more...

Ferries packed to/from Ireland

Good thing Mick's dad booked his last month! Irish Ferries quoted 300-fold increase in telephone reservations and online bookings on one of its services. (Via independent.ie)

Ferry time for peeps as flights are still grounded

BBC News online has a live update on the volcanic ash cloud over Europe. Although the restrictions are off Shannon and Cork, Dublin is still grounded. The article also has info on flights for the airlines. And the ferries are pretty busy, no surprise there.

On another note although still related, Bill Bailey is stuck in Spain due to the flight cancellations. His plan is to

no flights, ferries full, plan to train it to France, buy an old car,drive home, but there's a two day French train strike! Encroyable!

(via tweet)

Yikes, bad news if you are travelling by air today

Volcanic ash is causing chaos for air travelers today, due to a massive volcano eruption in Iceland. My brother was lucky to leave for his hols last week. Hope this really blows over.

Ryanair's online checked-in bags go up by €5

So for the months of July and August, Ryanair is jacking up the price of checking luggage online by €5, that's from €15 to €20. It will go back down to €15 in September though. Seriously, I know it's peak season, but it's not reasonable for people who can't travel with just one backpack if they are, for example, going on a family holiday. I would love to see O'Leary travel with a family of four, just to prove his own point though, with cameras following him, of course. :D

Read more via Indo...

€1 or £1 to use loo on Ryanair flight

Yep, for short-haul flights, passengers will have to fork out €1 or £1 (€1.13) for going to the toilet. *grumble

Flying is no fun anymore

Aside from all the security checks... unhappy staff, we now have even unhappier staff, especially since I'll be on an Aer Lingus flight to Boston in a fortnight. Why, with recent news of all cabin crew being laid off and

offered new contracts involving lower salary scales and changed work practices.

Yippee, we have other news that BA are actually striking for seven days.

They will strike for three days from 20 March and for four days from 27 March.

Sources:-

• Irish Times
• RTE News

Bring back as much drink and cigs if travelling from EU countries

..so says the Revenue Commissioner. All well and good, but for the unfortunate travelers who travel by Ryanair, that's not going to work, stupid money-gougers. ;-)

Smart cards for rail, but not quite there yet for trams and buses

It's good to see that from April, commuters have the option to use smart cards on trains, and it'll be cheaper as well. The smart cards can be used on buses and trams, but won't be available till 2011, and that's just greater Dublin. Read more....

(Source: Irish Independent)

Much joy if you fly BA

Looks like BA will be striking soon. Man, bad year for flying passengers. Do we have to spin the wheel on which airline to pick to fly now?

You know what grinds my gears..?

When some stupid fecker does something stupid and causes pain for the rest of us with additional security checks from Dublin and Shannon to US. shakes fists Now I'm not looking forward to going to PAX East now.

Commuters stick to buses, thank you.

Funny how Irish Rain manage to get the viaduct line up and running (and on schedule), and people rather travel on buses as it's less crowded. The current "temporary" bus routes may even be permanent if the demand is still there. Probably costs cheaper to get in on the bus as well.

(Source: Irish Independent)

Dublin losing BMI?

I really hope not, or else the choice is Aerlingus again. Mick and I are not getting Ryanair (unless we really have to, but they don't land in Heathrow).

Apparently, BMI is running short on funds to keep going, and this might be one of the routes given up.

Ach, it's annoying, it's a good service and it may go away. I just hope it's all hearsay.

Ryanair jacking up the prices again

Ach, I really hate them. Here's what will be coming into effect on October 1st:-

• Checking in first bag - EUR30 (or online for EUR15) - one way
• Checking in second bag - EUR70 (or online for EUR35) - one way
• Checking in skiis - EUR50 (or online for EUR40) - one way
• Overweight bags - EUR20 for every kilogram

Only upside is they are increasing the weight of two checked-in luggage from 15 to 30 kilos, i.e. 15 kilos each.

Via this article

(Source: Irish Independent)

More information:-

• Irish Times - Ryanair increases fees by up to 250%
• Ryanair's official news release

New twist to transportation

First of all, I heard about Air Bike on Newstalk this morning.

[...] offer a pre-booking service for alternative, quick, environmentally friendly transport in and around Dublin city and the greater Dublin area. We will be using large touring motorcycles driven by highly trained riders to take you as a pillion passenger from 'A' destination to 'B' location.

They also provide helmut and oversuit. IMHO, I'm not sure about people getting on the back of bikes with an oversuit over their suits (which has been worn by whomever). What next, a tuk tuk?

Next on the list (well, the last on the list really), an airline passenger jet in America has been transformed to carry pets. It's called Pet Airways (Read more...). This idea, I like better. People would pay to make their best friend's travels more comfortable. Be warned of some puns here and there though in the article.

Airline websites blacklist (contd)

I posted about this recently, and trying to do a search for "blacklist airline website" really did not come up with what I wanted. Although The Irish Independent gave me a bit more information on airlines that complied with being more transparent in their websites, these include:-

[...] bmi, bmibaby, Iberia, Spanair and Virgin Atlantic

It's good to know though.

Careful now when you book flights

Olympic, Turkish Airlines, Royal Moroccan Airlines, Northwest, Air Baltic, Aeroflot, Wing Jet and Emirates

The good and the bad

Well, the good news, EU is slashing prices of sending text messages abroad, effective from July 1st. It'll be 11¢ or 13¢ including VAT. EU is forcing those rip-off mobile companies to charge roaming by the second and getting them to cap download charged. Let's just hope this new roaming rules comes in, and get more details on these new roaming rules.

On other news, fans/users of Ryanair might want to hear that they will be charging €5 to check yourself in. Fan-tabulous. That's a bit steep, isn't it? This is for people checking themselves online and printing their own boarding card. The charge is.. wait for it, per person! What takes the biscuit, even babies under two are charged. There's no mention of more kiosks, although I know not everyone is comfortable booking, checking themselves online, or using those check-in kiosks themselves. Some people like to talk to a check-in person in person. Give the customer a peace of mind. This is effective from the 1st May.

*UPDATE: * More information about Ryanair's plans, and you won't like it, check out The Irish Times' piece on it.

Using the loo? That'll be 1 Euro.

Fantastic, 1 Euro charge for use of a toilet on the plane courtesy of Ryanair. Thanks, but no thanks. I hope the other airlines don't take it this far. *shakes fist at Ryanair

Cars banned at College Green by Autumn

Dublin City Council has announced plans to ban cars going to and from Dame Street through College Green. Only public transport is allowed.

It involves introducing a public transport-only “gate” at the junction of College Green and Grafton Street in front of Trinity College. This would prevent cars from entering Dame Street or Nassau Street from the north or east of the city and would stop cars from Dame Street driving into Westmoreland Street.

This seems to be the initial steps to include the link the LUAS red line to St. Stephen's Green. At least something's in motion.

(Source: Irish Times)

Virtual strip search planned for Irish airports

Well, I hope not. It's frustrating enought at the moment without having knowledge that a 3D model of you, naked, is being seen by officials. If EU plans to bring this to Irish airports, I hope it does not happen. As mentioned in the article that the trial run in Heathrow's Terminal 4, and voluntary at that, was not popular.

IBM gets contract for integrated ticketing system in Dublin

Yay, a little progress. IBM will be contracted to build an integrated ticketing system which, according to the article, is based on the system in Singapore. Fingers crossed.

PAX 2008 - More reminiscing

I'm happy with the swag we got at PAX this year. I queued up straight away when I got to the exhib halls on the first day of PAX. Lucky I did, they were out of PAX 08 tees and others stuff by Saturday evening.

The special PAX Razer mouse Mick got was cool:

And the collectors of Penny Arcade's first game, Precipice of Darkness:

(Both images from Kotaku.)

Most of our swag was bought or given on the 1st day:

And yes, we even got the Fallout 3's Vault Boy puppet as seen in http://www.joystiq.com/2008/08/31/pax-2008-the-vault-boy-puppet/.

A few people have been blogging how PAX can be improved (here and here and here for example). I hope the overlaps of certain events like demos, panels, Q&As as well as the long queues are resolved for next year. 5 hours queuing the first day was epic, and was not that enjoyable. Ok, people falling over themselves to get a blue band to get into the concert on Friday was funny:

Although in the end, we got our blue bands without doing anything. A few cosplayers were taking our attentions away from our tired and sore limbs from standing or sitting on the hard floor:

And not forgetting the Cookie Brigade who sold cookies and manage to raise $5000 for Child's Play.

There were good suggestions voiced out at PA's Q&A sessions, like having a Child's Play auction at future PAXis (apparently Tycho approves of the use of "PAXis suggested by a fan). And for all those dads who thinks that gaming is a waste of time, direct them to Child's Play (just re-iterating what Gabe said at the Q&A).

I don't think the smell was that bad, as mentioned by some bloggers, but I was lucky not being stuck with ones they mentioned. One other thing, they should have designated areas for charging DS', PSPs, laptops, etc. When over 50K (I mentioned 60K before, I was incorrect, I was guessing at the time as everyone was saying it was double the amount from last year's PAX) nerds attend a gaming festival, there are bound to be a lot of portable consoles and laptops. While we were queuing for an event in the main hall, it was announced that items will be confiscated if people were caught using the power outlets in the convention centre. Hours waiting in line, what did they expect, anyway, people honoured the announcement, and no more crowds of people around a power source that pocketed the convention centre. One thing I found funny, was the gun they were giving away (we did not get one as we were busy queuing) was not allowed to be used in the centre as they are a weapon. Sheesh, they should have asked the security in the place, give gamers a gun and hours of wait time, what did you think would happen?

And it sometimes feels good when photos taken (mainly by Mick) are good quality especially when you come across an article such as this one by Joystiq and compare to Mick's pic:

Again I cannot emphasise on the queuing side of PAX, at least we were having a nice dinner when these guys were in line at 10:30pm the night before PAX opened. We wandered in at 10'ish I think, after brekkie. We love PA, but there are limits. (Ok, Mick got sigs off Tycho and Gabe after their second Q&A, got to take a photo of that and put it up).

Looking back at PAX 2008

From the overwhelming amount of people attending PAX this year to my utter disgust at Freezepop's inability to perform without your ears bleeding to immense pleasure of witnessing Gabe's artistic talents at work in creating Monday's panel (which unfortunately won't be seen till Gabe's machine is fixed, but that's ok as I have a video of it to remind me what it was like, and you can check out the photo of the final image at the make-a-panel). Who can forget the many, many DS' and laptops shining out during the gig, and Jonathan Coultan's act was fantastic, the Portal song and the Zombies were my highlights. Audience participation is a must for full enjoyment.

From phrases like "Whooo-oo" to "Yea-aah!" to "Awesome" was the main vocab for some odd reason. It's not like nerds/geeks are not educated or anything, it felt like they are either rednecks or surfer dudes (and yes, dude was mentioned somewhere out there).

The moment of Jerry tying the mic chord around Mike's neck to get the Pacman watch given by a fan was funny, Mick did not get a shot of that, we'll need to wait for the PAX 08 DVD to come out to see that again. Another thing I've never experienced before (apart from it being my first time at a gamers convention) was the use of PictoChat on the DS. It's fantastic up to a point where people were populating it with wangs and arses. Although I was happy when I drew (or tried to) a stick figure version of the portal slide and got Portal responses from the people around.

And finally some pics from PAX can be found at here

In Seattle, baby!

Right, so it's raining when we landed.... ro-ight. Hmm, so much for not believing Seattle's weather is like Ireland's. It was a bit bumpy coming in for landing, but who cares, I'm in Seattle counting down to PAX this weekend! Staying in Hotel Max, and the bed is so comfy! After a 9 hour flight, it was a welcome sight, and felt like heaven as well. Oh, if only I found the Seattle Tour Map online earlier. Got it from the hotel, not too bad... now for brekkie and find that information centre.

All because of one train driver!

What's the full story here? All I got from the news was that a train driver did not want to include training of new trainees in his current roster, and this ensued to Cork train operators refusing to drive the trains on the Dublin/Cork (including Tralee) routes. So all they do is drive trains, and training other drivers just crossed the line. When I was working, training and taking people on to train them are just part of the job, so what's so different about train operators? I find this terribly frustrating. One thing, I am glad that it has not affected the route to Limerick.

Services which did not operate / are not operating today were:
- 11.00hrs Heuston to Cork
- 13.30hrs Cork to Heuston
- 14.30hrs Cork to Heuston
- 15.30hrs Cork to Heuston
- 16.30hrs Cork to Heuston
- 17.30hrs Cork to Heuston
- 18.00hrs Heuston to Cork
- 18.30hrs Heuston to Tralee
- 19.00hrs Heuston to Cork
- 20.00hrs Heuston to Cork
- 21.00hrs Heuston to Cork
- Cork commuter services (Cork/Cobh, Cork/Mallow)
- Some Cork/Tralee services

It is expected that service disruption will continue on Friday 23rd May.

While exact details will be confirmed in the morning, it is likely that all services from Cork to Heuston up to and including the 09.30hrs Cork to Heuston service will be cancelled.

10.30hrs and 11.30hrs Cork to Heuston are expected to operate from Mallow only, with bus transfers from Cork to Mallow.

The 07.00hrs and 08.00hrs Heuston to Cork are likely to operate to Mallow only, with bus transfers from Mallow to Cork. The remainder of morning services are expected to be cancelled.

All Cork/Cobh and Cork/Mallow commuter services are expected to be cancelled, and customers are advised to make alternative arrangements.

Some Cork/Tralee services are expected to be cancelled, with others operating between Tralee and Mallow only.

Mo' money, still no frills

Ryanair will be increasing their charges from June 3rd. Passengers will be charged EUR5 when checking in online. A new feature is the ability to change passenger names online.

Aer Lingus ticket blunder

100,000 REAL (from) €5 SEATS. One-way, no hidden charges.
NO AER LINGUS "MISTAKES"
NO AER LINGUS FAKE OFFERS
NO AER LINGUS FUEL SURCHARGES

Oh, and here is their press release as well. They called Aer Lingus the high fares, way worse airline.

Signs of change...

Some NYC shops now accept the Euro.

Who's the go-to geek?

So who is the tecchie in the house?. I'm competant, but I always bug my hubby.

It's interesting to see the comments in that post, how many families are geek families now, an obviously since most readers of geeksugar are female, the comment posters are female. I'm still happy to see more and more female tecchies. But how come it's so hard to come across one? Are they all in the US?

Where have I been?

Man bags

Ok, I realised as we were looking at some pricey laptop bags in the spectra store by Grafton Street, that it reminded me of man bags while I was in Tokyo.

Guys were walking around with man bags (sort of similar to this). I swear, it can be any colour, even pink! They are just young guys, same ones that have they long LV wallets sticking out of their back pant's pocket. And there are alot of guys carrying manbags!

Tokyo is a strange, strange city. Haven't been outside of Tokyo, so cannot comment about the cities outside of Tokyo.

Settled back...

... in the land of unheated toilet seats, non-self-flushing toilets, non-automatic doors, and crap service attitudes.

Well, what can I say, so spoilt when we were in Tokyo. People are just polite in general. Things I noticed in Tokyo, no matter how posh the place is you are visiting, they will always greet you. They will not dog you (like in Hong Kong, even if you tell them you are okay) unless you ask for their assistance. It's a bit odd, because they are all looking at you in the store, but don't say anything. It's not a nasty gaze, to them a customer is highly regarded.

Say in any restaurant, big or small, the waiting staff and kitchen staff will greet you when you enter the establishment, and say thanks and goodbye. And everywhere, after you pay, they will take the money with appreciation (they have to sound it as well), then with care hand you back the change. And then they bow when you leave the counter. And they are still efficient!

Service-wise, they won't stop apolagising for things that are a minute late, like coffee. It's crazy. I arrived back in Ireland on Thursday night, but I headed down to Limerick for Chinese New Year, and went to town Saturday afternoon for lunch. I asked for a mug of coffee and half of one arrived, with a nice thump on the table in front of me, just to let me know my coffee has arrived. (I know I gave up coffee, but I am not addicted now. I drink to enjoy it now. The joys of not wanting caffeine to wake oneself up.)

It was a culture shock in itself coming back home and get treated like that! Now I am use to the crap service, and all the niceties that were so readily available in Japan. Now I can be surprised when I go back again on how everyone is so polite, and how it really makes a difference to feel good being somewhere, and not be worried as much on what you look like. I did feel awkward more from other clientale rather than the staff. Being scruffy looking instead of wearing head-to-toe Burberry, LV, Gucci etc etc. They really like their labels over there! Still, I enjoyed it over there. Everyone is so welcoming. Till next time!

Everest ride

Cool! I want to head back to Orlando (I know, "I was there just for Christmas"), but the ride looks so damn spiffy! And a yeti to boot! Let's get ready to scream!

Bad news

You know... it's bad enough that I wait forever for a stupid 16/16A in the mornings. Now I have this to look forward to!

Tree hotel in Germany

Saaw this article about tree hotel that's just opened. So unusual. But for £100 to £150 a night! But it does seems popular.

More comments: http://www.aardvarktravel.net/chat/viewtopic.php?p=38064

Smartcards good

Well, I think so. London tube may get mobile coverage by 2008, but as my previous posts shows that Ireland is laggind so far behind. Even the tube has a smart card system (blogged before) called the Oyster. Well, what more prominent example to follow than HK's MTR (underground) 3G coverage now (since they already have mobile coverage for awhile now).
We are slowly connecting our 2 Luas lines, planning of a metro from ariport to city, but still only rolling out a smartcard for Luas only at the moment (rest will follow in 2006).

Irish integrated smart card delayed till 2006

So the all in one smart card is still coming in, but won't be till 2006. (free registration to read) Oh well, at least we are using the smart card. Technology that was created by an Irish company, used in major cities successfully, and we are only taking it up now! Sheesh.

But here is some information on the Luas pay as you go smartcard .

BB and Airlines

Ok, I keep meaning to blog about BB and Lufthansa when I first saw the advertisement in the New Scientist magazine a few months back, but now Singapore Airlines has BB on their airlines as well. Wicked! Now, all I have to do is avoid them because I'd be bankrupted before I touch-down on long-haul flights! The day when it would be cheaper, and many more airlines offer this service, I'll definately be a happy camper!

Smart cards here by end of the year

Indo's article (free registration) that smart card will be here by the end of the year. I hope so, it's so handy. I have blogged about this subject a few times.

Fares set to rise as CIE companies seek 8pc price hike

Another price increase on our public transport! (Free registration to read)

More :

• CIE fare hike as much a part of christmas as mulled wine - Shortall

Irish Rail Standard Class Reservations

Irish Rail - Standard Class Reservations, new service starting in Nov. Cool, but they should not have included a link on the page where it leads to nowhere.

Isn't technology great!

I'm sitting at Shannon airport waiting to board the flight to London... on my way to HK...baby! And I am using the free wi-fi access from my BF's powerbook! Woohoo... Now.. to get my moblog going when I setup my phone...

Trains, trains, trams...

Good thing I did not go hime, cos there was a huge delay with signals at Heuston Station But on a brighter note, the LUAS will open this Wednesday, and free for 5 days. Yes, free for 5 days.
And we are cheaper than London with regards to public tranport fees (amongst others).

Easi-travel, easy my ***

Hah, I knew it was too good to be true. The annual tax-saving ticket (easi-travel plan)I got at work does not work anymore! It keeps saying that it's the wrong side up for both DART and Dublin Bus ticket readers! *grr* So I looked up on replacement charges, I know it does not come for free, come on this is Irish Rail... and here are their conditions. I kepts mine in the wallet they provided and only removed it for getting on the bus or throught the turnstiles at DART stations. It was ok 2 days ago, not it's not working anymore. The magnetic strip is probably trashed by one of the dodgy ticket readers. And I will need to pay 12Euro per month till December! And it's not even my fault. Huh, me pay them for their volatile card, I don't think so. Now I will have to be the person who tries to get reader to read the ticket, and then wave to the driver on the bus... or wade through the crowd alighting the DART. This is crazy.

Luas going by Heuston station

Saw the Luas today moving for the first time. Seems like many people I know have seen it before me. Thing was it was escorted by 2 Gardaí on bikes as it was doing test runs along the Tallaght to Abbey Street line. With the little ding-dong ding-dong, it looked pretty cool. And is not loud. Maybe all the works causing traffic mayhem was all worth it now. We'll see. But the price of a Luas ticket is another thing!

The Dublin tourist pass

The Dublin Pass Not sure how much it is to get into places, but this seems to be a good all-round idea.

Dublin Airport : self check-in

ElectricNews.net:News:In the papers 7 April highlights that Aer Lingus now allow passengers to check-in themselves at Dublin airport. This is a life-saver if you are in a hurry. Heathrow has this in Terminal 4 and is very handy indeed. It's only for people with hand luggage at the momnt, but will allow folks to check bags in themselves at some point. It's a start in the right direction.

Dublin... metro... greenlight soon!

Yes... I kid you not! Metro project expected to get green light within two weeks. It's about time as well!

€2.4bn metro to get green light

Yup you read right... €2.4bn metro to get green light. I see there is no timeline there for it yet in the article... we shall have to see.

Aircon on our new DARTs

Yay! Indo - Iarnrod Eireann on track as Dart carriages arrive early (free registration) plus new intercity carriages as well. About time!

Tara street DART station still in operation?

Collapsed crane to cause further DART disruption today (Indo Breaking News), but only between Lansdowne and Pearse St station.
Normal services as per their travel alert on DART site :
"DART Services will not operate between Pearse and Lansdowne Road. A curtailed service will operate between Lansdowne Road and Bray/Greystones. DARTs will operate every 20 minutes from Bray (on the hour, 20 past and 20 to), and from Lansdowne at 05, 25 and 45 past the hour. A DART train will operate from Greystones every half hour. Please note a Dublin Bus shuttle bus service will operate between Corn Exchange Place (near Screen Cinema) and Lansdowne Road Stations today." (more info at DART official site)

But I have one question, what about Tara Street DART station???

No Fares day for Dub Luas commuters

...on the first weekend it opens! Can't wait to see it in action. Although it still seems rather surprising that LUAS will be up and running by June.

DART closures - major disruptions

And for 18 months and they only announced it this morning (and 4 days warning) even though they had the approval since Jan! Yup, read the article from the indo this morning - Off the rails: Dart closed at weekends for 18 months (free registration).
Or read the news article from RTE news online - Dart weekend closures over 18 months

Irish Rail DASH site details -http://www.irishrail.ie/projects/dart_and_suburban_enhancement.asp

Smartcard for public transport in London

London is bringing in the smartcards are well by early July. They have been testing running it since October last! (The Register - Citywide 'citizen cards' to hit London

When will we have our own smartcards? - Smart cards in Dub - Summer 2004

3 cheers to ComReg

And boo...hiss... to Eircom! ElectricNews.net:News:ComReg slashes LLU charges
One day... I say one day.... we will have cheap access to go online! One can only hope...

And further on our infrastructure for internet access, it's 2 years behind according to Forfas report (article from Electric news). We don't need a report to tell us that!

Pretty useful for finding out DART times

It's pretty good, but this is only if the DART sticks to its schedule! DartTimes.com

Smart cards in Dub - Summer 2004

Ooh-ooh... smart cards are coming to Dub. Hope they make the deadline, although I know many people will have cynical views about the gov and deadlines for projects that will enhance our shoddy public transport ;P. Here is the article - Commuter smartcards to be launched in Dublin next summer from Electric News.

My previous blog : The Irish "Octopus" Card

Bus Eireann new on-line ticketing system

"The Irish Examiner reports that Bus Eireann has launched an on-line ticketing system. Passengers can purchase bus tickets for over 600 journeys throughout the country at the company's Web site, www.buseireann.ie, using a credit card. The user then receives confirmation by e-mail, which must be printed and shown to the driver when boarding the bus." - Bus Eireann new on-line ticketing system
Um, waving a piece of printed paper to a bus driver while there are alot of people trying to get on at the same time! I somehow don't think this will work out well. Come on, Bus Eireann, please include bus tickets with the rail vending machines.

What threat level are you?

Hmm, don't think I want to visit US anymore. I don't want to be labelled what threat level I am if they bring this in. U.S. plan: Threat level for every flyer (from cnn.com)

tokyo-ouja.com

A site about Tokyo, can't wait to go there someday - http://www.tokyo-ouja.com/

Airline Food

Which airline to pick for your inflight "meal". - http://www.airlinemeals.net/
Wonder what rankings B.A. inflight meal is?

Integrated Smartcards for public transport

So the government is trying to bring in smartcards (like the Octopus I wrote about in one of my blogs recently). They want the cards to be first used with the Luas, but won't be available till 2005. Read the article - Transport smartcards expected by 2005 from electricnews.net. So if we do get this implemented, we would be the 3rd European country to use it (after Paris and London metros).

Dublin City Transport

It's still atrocious as ever! This morning, 3 buses were scheduled to arrive in 30-40min, and guess what? No buses. Huh! There were plenty of buses leaving the city but all the buses that are coming in to the city, seem to turn off the the depot, and no buses were arriving to the stop at all! There was hardly any traffic, and I was tempted to walk. But you have the nagging feeling that when you are just across the road, the bus will come, it's the "just another 5 mins" thing, I suppose...

So, since I was waiting at Parkgate St. and was not having much luck (neither were the 20 odd people standing there as well), I thought, why not go to Hueston Station? So I got there, hopped on the 90 and off to the city I go. But was that slow. Why on earth would you have bus lanes if the buses are going to be stuck anyway! I just don't know how the public transport works here at all, ok, they are crap. And they are thinking of unifying the bus and rail (Dublin)!!! They can't even get the ticket machine to dispense tickets that are used the most : the 10 journey ticket. But that will be replaced by a 7 day ticket, same price, but not as flexible as the 10 journey. Argh...! Living in the big city, you would have thought that the amenities are so near by, that it is handy to get anywhere. NOT in Dublin.

Irish Transport should learn from HK

The Octopus card is like an e-cash card type thing, where the only strings attached is loosing the card (which is just like loosing cash). No personal id, a/c's info are attached to the Octopus card. You can use it on nearly all public transport (the only one left is taxis, I think), but all mass transport take it. Oh, forgot to mention what this card is. It's a card you can buy at any station (or 7-11 shop) for $6 (as deposit). You can return the card and get re-imbursed with the deposit and whatever money is leftover. So what you do is just top up the card with some dough and just swipe to get through turnstiles at train stations (none of this entering card type thing! :) ), or swipe when you get on the bus (same comment I made earlier about entering cards!). And get this... you can swipe to pay for your groceries at your local convenience store. Oh, and fastfood restaurants take it and... so does StarBucks! (heeheehee) Public transport is already years ahead, as in efficiency, technology, how's poor ol' Ireland going to catch up? (Especially with our government determination to get the LUAS going! (Ha, that will be the day...)
Have a read, it's a good article: Cash cards rule, change is passé in Hong Kong From the Mercury News

Friday saga

Was back to Limerick for me on Friday, so my usual leave work, get bus to Heuston station(ok, I do this anyway since I live opposite Heuston!), and get my return ticket. I notice that there was a huge delay, take this one example, the 17:20 train to Limerick just started boarding at 17:50! I was thinking to myself, "Ok, what has happened now?". I know there are delays but 1/2 hour delay? So I got my ticket and went back to the appartment and packed my bag for home. I found out that there was a delay on the Portlaois line from a 10:45 Cork train to Dublin. The engine broke down and a 2nd engine sent to pull the broken down train also failed, as it was not strong enough. So the passengers endured an additional 3 hours to their 3 hours journey...

Apart from a near birth of a baby on board, everything was sorted out quick time. People will be refunded etc. etc... Well, now it's about me. I waited for the train at platform 6, waved at my BF and flatmate across the way (wishing I was back at the appartment), and got on the train the usual time. We left 10 mins later then scheduled, and arrived 5 mins late. The thing was, the train drive was profusely apolagising for the 5 mins that we were late arriving at Colbert station in Limerick, and apologises for any inconvenieces caused!!! That was an evening to remember, Iarnoid Roid Eireann apologising for being 5 mins late! Wow, I remember I was delayed for upto 1/2 hour (I think it maybe more), and not a word was said. It did not really help though, that it was on News 6 and the head of IRE was totally trashed to pieces by the newscaster at the time. That was my Friday!