Bus drivers & change (outside London)

rick_chasey

A bit of a rant, but has enough discussion value to warrant its own thread.

Had to get home yesterday from the parents house. Was on my own with big luggage and had to get to the station on the other side of town.

For lengthy boring reasons, I only had cash in the form of £20s.

Turns out if you can't get hold of change you can't travel since the drivers will refuse you unless you're happy paying £20 for a bus ride. I even asked for an unpaid fare notice but it turns out that's a London thing. Stagecoach can and do just refuse.
Ended up having to take a taxi for £13.

So much for 'public' transport.

Ben6899

It's like that in the provinces, Rick. At least in this country, anyway. Try and give a bus driver a £20 note and he looks at you as though it's an IOU for 2000 rial.

rolf_f

Rick Chasey wrote:

So much for 'public' transport.

I'm not sure that the 'public' part of public transport fails just because they don't accomodate people who don't carry currency smaller than £20's!

clarkey cat

is there anything more tragic than a fully grown man on a bus?

pangolin

I was refused travel on a bus with a £5 note once. I was sick, the fare was £2, I had £5. Nope. I have rarely been so pissed off.

cyclingprop

People's taxi my 'arris.

rick_chasey

It's ridiculous.

If you make people pay in cash, have the change. It's not rocket science.

If they can't carry the change, they need a new system.

Ben6899

clarkey cat wrote:

is there anything more tragic than a fully grown man on a bus?

The 214 is like my own personal taxi (a big red one!) when I go to St Pancras Int'l early on a Saturday morning. And it's only £1.35!

Tragic or not; I really like my big, red, personal taxi.

pangolin

Rick Chasey wrote:

It's ridiculous.

If you make people pay in cash, have the change. It's not rocket science.

If they can't carry the change, they need a new system.

Some sort of card that takes the money automatically! We could call it 'bus-ster' or 'oy-bus' or something even more catchy.

rick_chasey

Well yes.

Why not?

rick_chasey

clarkey cat wrote:

is there anything more tragic than a fully grown man on a bus?

Good job I'm not fully grown then.

anonymousblackfg

Rick Chasey wrote:

clarkey cat wrote:

is there anything more tragic than a fully grown man on a bus?

Good job I'm not fully grown then.

good point, I'd already assumed they only make those green and orange bikes in kids sizes.

dhope

pangolin wrote:

Some sort of card that takes the money automatically! We could call it 'bus-ster' or 'oy-bus' or something even more catchy.

Interesting idea, though I'm not sure bus-ster or oy-bus is catchy enough. We could combine the two. Busbus. There, that's perfect.

People's taxi? Peasant wagon...

mudcow007

Are buses not the sort of vehicle where one catches germs from plebs?

i cant remember the last time i got on a bus, in my younger days (im 30 now) i would get the night bus home from Liverpool town center....there was always a fat girl crying somewhere

clarkey cat

..there was always a fat girl crying somewhere

and we've been happily married ever since.

greg66_tri_v2.0

Rick Chasey wrote:

So much for 'public' transport.

Rick's inner Tory lives!

davis

Greg66 Tri v2.0 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

So much for 'public' transport.

Rick's inner Tory lives!

What size is he?

greg66_tri_v2.0

dhope

Greg66 Tri v2.0 wrote:

Alright, so that's Rick, but where's the smaller one?

greg66_tri_v2.0

dhope wrote:

Greg66 Tri v2.0 wrote:

Alright, so that's Rick, but where's the smaller one?

Stand up, turn around, walk 20 feet or so then look back at the computer screen.

There's the smaller one.

PBo

dhope wrote:

Greg66 Tri v2.0 wrote:

Alright, so that's Rick, but where's the smaller one?

Nope, can't be Rick.

The trousers are the wrong colour.....

rick_chasey

Quite.

So I can safely say there's general apathy about this particular issue? It's not the first time I've had the problem. I have hazy recollections of seeing red after a £10 was refused for a £6.20 fare.

EKE_38BPM

1: If you don't use buses you won't have this problem.
2: You won't have this problem if you take the correct change or just loose change in excess of the fare, onto the bus in the first place.

Of the two options above, I prefer option 1.

notsoblue

I thought it was pretty well known that Bus drivers generally can't or won't give change for bus fares. I've never expected them to break anything larger than a fiver. Though to be fair this is only because I've been caught out a couple times. It does seem to be down to the driver's discretion though. I've seen people pay with £10 notes, and others being refused. I've also seen people just been waved on if their oyster card has run out...

UndercoverElephant

Lothian Buses apparently made an extra £340,000 last year by not giving change. It's not likely that they're going to give that back easily.

rick_chasey

Seriously?

How aren't more people up in arms about this?

Ben6899

Rick Chasey wrote:

Seriously?

How aren't more people up in arms about this?

Far too many people are too apathetic about far too many issues. Annoyingly.

I'm with you, Rick, I think it's absurd to pay over the required amount just because the bus driver cannot be bothered / isn't empowered to give change.

bails87

I'm in an oyster-style card free zone (I think they're bringing them in, but I very rarely --2 return trips this year-- get the bus and so haven't seen any buses with the machines). If everyone who got on the bus needed change for a £20 then there'd be an awfully long wait to start moving at busy periods*, and at quieter times the drivers would be very vulnerable to people wanting to steal the cash.

*Imagine if the ticket machines for tube trains weren't in the station, but at the door to the train itself!

As long as I can remember, bus drivers here (for the 'main' bus operator anyway)haven't been able to give change. You drop your money into a slot and they press a button to give you a ticket. It's not as if they handle the money and refuse to give you change from a massive pile of coins that they have access to.

rick_chasey

If they can't handle change, they shouldn't handle money.

bails87

Rick Chasey wrote:

If they can't handle change, they shouldn't handle money.

'Change' as in coins or 'change' as in variation? Can't tell if that's meant to be a profound statement or not!

They don't handle any money, for clarification, the money goes into a vending machine style slot, they either count it (visually, the slot leads down to a perspex 'vault' and the money stops half way so they can see it but not touch it) or there's a machine that tells them, then they give you a ticket based on how much money you've put it.

pangolin

I'm envisioning a furious Rick, staring defiantly up at the bus driver, shouting "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE CHANGE"