Refuse to move the bus until the kid either pays or alights. Seen it happen before and in that instance the teen eventually attempted to pay, the card was declined, and he finally alighted after the driver made it abundantly clear that the buses are not free to ride. I don't know if the driver got any grief from controllers/superiors for holding up the service but I definitely support what the driver did.
I used to use the NNL to/from Camden Road to Hackney Central for work. This was in the mid 80's when the EPB units were running it.
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Only problem would be if legitimate passengers put pressure on the driver. i would be putting pressure on the offender, probably at risk to myself unfortunately.
In my example the driver stood next to the cab and the offender never went further than the middle doors of the Boris bus although I can well imagine some offenders getting loud and aggressive. For most drivers I imagine holding up the bus isn't worth the hassle they'll get from control for being behind schedule. I've seen several people board by the middle/rear doors and head straight upstairs and aside from my example I have never seen them being challenged. Once the offender is upstairs I guess the driver can make an announcement for them to pay or get off otherwise the police will be called. Can't imagine its worth the hassle for 99.99% of drivers.
Isn't "express mode" the same thing anyway? Sounds like what's happened there is the person has just presented the wrong card accidentally even though they did touch in. Usually if you do that you'll be charged the max fare in addition to the correct fare. The inspector may have annuled the incorrect tap after verifying an accurate one though.
‘express mode’ on iPhone can be set to a different card than the default one on apple pay though.
Surely that's on the user to know if they've set that up in that way, though, and accordingly select the correct card?
They definitely are, yes.
Why would you want to select a different card for it if you weren't happy with the possibility of having to manually select the correct one? It seems very unlikely that there is a use case there.
If someone were worried about that, it may be best that they use the plastic card instead.
I guess so. Although even then I don't really understand why you would want a different default card for TfL. The feature is useful if you set a default card that's not accepted everywhere, for example, but as London buses are some of the only ones in the country that do accept American Express that is very unlikely to arise.
People like to segregate their finances these days.
Most people would do that by using a different ewallet (such as Curve), a different card or by selecting it manually, and wouldn't think of trying to rely on "Express Mode". Unfortunately it's an inevitable consequence of trying to use it for something it wasn't designed for.
The buses usually don't move while passengers are being inspected, and/or they will be aware that people have boarded subsequently. There are often also at least 3 inspectors per bus
Do the requirements vary in Outer London? I have been involved in an inspection where none of this happened- the bus continued moving, and there was only one inspector
Perhaps it depends on the situation. I can remember 8 times I've been inspected over the past 15 years and the locations were evenly spread out across all of London. The only time the bus continued moving was when it was a bendy bus and the inspectors would have been well aware of anyone getting on after they boarded
There was likely an average of one fare evader on every bus I took the last time I went back to London at Christmas time.
The one time (guess I've been lucky) I've been on a bus that has broken down, three instruction was to tap in on the new bus and pay a second fare. It predated hopper fares.
I guess if you were to contact customer service they would just give you a discretionary refund in that case, especially given the maximum loss is still just £1.75. In my case it took so long for the next bus to arrive that the 62 minute hopper allowance would have been just exceeded if I'd made a second tap, so I'm glad in a way that I didn't tap as I'd almost certainly have had to call and ask for the extra back. I guess ideally a bus would never be at the point where it breaks down in passenger service, but then, in the real world...
I guess it's always possible that a 16+ Zip Oyster photocard was incorrectly showing 'freedom pass' on the screen. And of course one never knows who could be entitled to a Disabled Person's Freedom Pass just by looking at them. However...
You cannot tell that someone is healthy from looking at them.
I have my Apple wallet set to pay through my debit card, but my credit card linked to express pay. This suits how I manage my finances.
It's a design flaw in Apple Pay that arises from their attempt to sell more phones by presenting something as more private or more secure, when in reality it doesn't actually improve those things compared to the other ewallet technologies. Different aspects of Apple wallet's technology may well genuinely achieve that, but certainly not "express mode". It's no surprise TfL have overlooked it, given it only affects Apple users, and only a tiny minority of those, and there's little chance they would be willing to spend additional public money to correct it when there are so many pressing priorities for technology they are dealing with.
I have a work phone for work travel, so my choice of card is about my usage of wallet. It’s a basic capability and if TfL are going to penalise people for using it, something is badly wrong.
