'My phone died so I can't access my bus ticket' excuse

[mayneway]

Sadly there are people who just grab the stuff anyway from Convenience Stores and Greggs etc and just walk out…

Exactly and sadly there are people who just walk on the bus and sit down. Sitting there arguing threatening to call the police simply holds up the people who have paid and just want to get home etc.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Sunday at 19:49 ==

It's the bus company's fault that I have to use a mobile phone. I'd much prefer my (expensive) pass on a smartcard, and I have a smartcard from the bus company, but they won't sell it that way.

This is happening more and more certainly here in Manchester, and physical cards, paper tickets and even mobile app QR codes are slowly being replaced by virtual cards stored in your E wallet and you simply do face or finger recognition and then place your phone on the reader as if your paying with your bank card but it actually recognises your pass.
It slows down boarding significantly but apparently is part of a big crack down on fraud where images of QR codes are sent to hundreds of punters every day to use.

 

[Statto]

I've had this situation on a bus i was on a couple of years ago, i was on an Arriva North West X30 going from Warrington to Chester a passenger get's on in Helsby claiming his mobile data wasn't working trying to get a free ride, but the bus driver was having non of it, & refused to let him travel, so cue stand off, the driver ends up calling the Police in order to remove the passenger, the bus ended up 30 minutes late because of it, but the passenger never got the free ride as he walked off after the Police arrived.

 

[TUC]

I've had this situation on a bus i was on a couple of years ago, i was on an Arriva North West X30 going from Warrington to Chester a passenger get's on in Helsby claiming his mobile data wasn't working trying to get a free ride, but the bus driver was having non of it, & refused to let him travel, so cue stand off, the driver ends up calling the Police in order to remove the passenger, the bus ended up 30 minutes late because of it, but the passenger never got the free ride as he walked off after the Police arrived.

A delay well worth having to experience.

 

[Starmill]

A delay well worth having to experience.

If you want to waste thirty minutes of your own time to see a stranger eat dirt, that's your look out. I'd vastly rather be on time thanks. And I'd wager so would everyone else on the bus...

I'd complain about that if I experienced it and ask for some money back from the bus company for causing so much inconvenience to my day. There are enough delays due to circumstances outside their control such as road closures to go adding more.

 

[TUC]

If you want to waste thirty minutes of your own time to see a stranger eat dirt, that's your look out. I'd vastly rather be on time thanks. And I'd wager so would everyone else on the bus...

I'd complain about that if I experienced it and ask for some money back from the bus company for causing so much inconvenience to my day. There are enough delays due to circumstances outside their control such as road closures to go adding more.

'Eat dirt'? He has a simple choice. To get off the bus.

Or are you expect us all to accept fare evaders and thieves for the sake of not getting delayed?

 

[Starmill]

'Eat dirt'? He has a simple choice. To get off the bus.

Or are you expect us all to accept fare evaders and thieves for the sake of not getting delayed?

I'm saying it's none of your business if others pay or not. It's my business if my service is half an hour late, however.

 

[TUC]

I'm saying it's none of your business if others pay or not. It's my business if my service is half an hour late, however.

It's very much my business if it leads to higher fares or greater public subsidies, especially if it adds further to a culture all too prevalent in society of thinking no one one will challenge you if you jump barriers, shoplift etc.

As New York City demonstrated, zero tolerance improves the much wider atmosphere of a place.

 

[Starmill]

It's very much my business if it leads to higher fares or greater public subsidies, especially if it adds further to a culture all too prevalent in society of thinking no one one will challenge you if you jump barriers, shoplift etc.

As New York City demonstrated, zero tolerance improves the much wider atmosphere of a place.

In which case there are proper ways of managing the situation. Delaying a bus thirty minutes isn't one of them.

 

[TUC]

In which case there are proper ways of managing the situation. Delaying a bus thirty minutes isn't one of them.

The 'proper ways' being what?

 

[Starmill]

The 'proper ways' being what?

A revenue protection team, as explained in post #9.

 

[Northerngirl]

A revenue protection team, as explained in post #9.

And paying the wages of some thugs to shout at a kid without any legal powers is definitely a good use of money

 

[TUC]

A revenue protection team, as explained in post #9.

Aren't they for where a passenger has, by whatever means, already got onto a bus without a ticket (or overstayed their journey), not for where a ticketless passenger needs to be denied boardimg?

 

[Iskra]

Much easier just to explain very loudly that the bus won’t be moving until the passenger gets off to all passengers on board. Won’t be long before the passengers sort it out themselves.

 

[Rab Smith]

Much easier just to explain very loudly that the bus won’t be moving until the passenger gets off to all passengers on board. Won’t be long before the passengers sort it out themselves.

Plenty videos on YouTube about this very topic. Some are quite funny to hear the other passengers go radge and the offender getting off the bus!

 

[Starmill]

And paying the wages of some thugs to shout at a kid without any legal powers is definitely a good use of money

This is silly. They do have the legal powers to remove people from the bus. And there are revenue protection staff on various operators around the country.

 

[Ballyheigue]

And paying the wages of some thugs to shout at a kid without any legal powers is definitely a good use of money

Well it could be looked at this way, better they get shouted at now for a small matter and learn a lesson rather than shouted at down the line for something much worse such as multiple fare evasion, also known as serious fraud. Anyway, kids need a good rollocking every now and again, it helps us adults get stuff off our chest lol.

 

[318266]

And paying the wages of some thugs to shout at a kid without any legal powers is definitely a good use of money

Given that you think standard revenue protection officers are "thugs", surely any rail conductor ought be a "thug" since they have similar responsibilities? Perhaps even guards, after all, they take taxpayers money to "shout at kids" without tickets, issuing Penalty Fares et cetera, even if that isn't their main role? Perhaps even the train driver themselves, after all, surely they are complicit in the running of the service with the "thug"?

I see this attitude prevail in many social contexts by which someone is made to give up something (usually money) for a service someone else provides (usually transport, parking, other public services whether ran publicly or privately), and I think it would demonstrate a level of maturity on your part if you were able to move past this attitude quite quickly - would you want to run a bus company if you had, in a practical sense, little way to make sure people paid their fare?

 

[PH Wales]

I'd be interested to know peoples view about this situation? A couple of weeks ago I went to catch the 195 bus in my village Pontyberem in Wales, going to Carmarthen. There is only a bus every 2 hours. I know the fare is £6 return and I didn't have any other method of paying apart from cash. I had a £10 note and a pound coin as I thought that might help if the driver had a £5 note to give me in change. When the bus arrived, the driver told me he had no change at all and wasn't going to allow me to board. I argued with him as my journey was quite important, even offering to change the £10 note in the nearest shop once we arrived in Carmarthen, which is where the journey terminates so has some dwell time, but as the bus was running 10-15 mins late he said he was unwilling to wait. I didn't back down and eventually he let me on. I paid my fare on the return journey, but surely if I want to board a bus with legal tender, the driver shouldn't try and refuse to let me on. There is nothing on the buses in my area to say the correct fare must be tendered. A less strong willed person may have backed down I think.

 

[318266]

I'd be interested to know peoples view about this situation? A couple of weeks ago I went to catch the 195 bus in my village Pontyberem in Wales, going to Carmarthen. There is only a bus every 2 hours. I know the fare is £6 return and I didn't have any other method of paying apart from cash. I had a £10 note and a pound coin as I thought that might help if the driver had a £5 note to give me in change. When the bus arrived, the driver told me he had no change at all and wasn't going to allow me to board. I argued with him as my journey was quite important, even offering to change the £10 note in the nearest shop once we arrived in Carmarthen, which is where the journey terminates so has some dwell time, but as the bus was running 10-15 mins late he said he was unwilling to wait. I didn't back down and eventually he let me on. I paid my fare on the return journey, but surely if I want to board a bus with legal tender, the driver shouldn't try and refuse to let me on. There is nothing on the buses in my area to say the correct fare must be tendered. A less strong willed person may have backed down I think.

With most bus operators I know who operate an "exact fare" policy (e.g. First Glasgow and Lothian Buses), you aren't due any change and you would either have to give the tenner for the fare, or not travel at all. It is unusual that a driver would refuse you travel outright for having too much money, though!

 

[mangad]

I'd be interested to know peoples view about this situation? A couple of weeks ago I went to catch the 195 bus in my village Pontyberem in Wales, going to Carmarthen. There is only a bus every 2 hours. I know the fare is £6 return and I didn't have any other method of paying apart from cash. I had a £10 note and a pound coin as I thought that might help if the driver had a £5 note to give me in change. When the bus arrived, the driver told me he had no change at all and wasn't going to allow me to board. I argued with him as my journey was quite important, even offering to change the £10 note in the nearest shop once we arrived in Carmarthen, which is where the journey terminates so has some dwell time, but as the bus was running 10-15 mins late he said he was unwilling to wait. I didn't back down and eventually he let me on. I paid my fare on the return journey, but surely if I want to board a bus with legal tender, the driver shouldn't try and refuse to let me on. There is nothing on the buses in my area to say the correct fare must be tendered. A less strong willed person may have backed down I think.

I'd say you were right to hold your ground. You weren't doing anything wrong. I would have expected a pragmatic approach from the driver such as the one I had once where the driver had no change so he said to try and pay again at the end of my journey. Either that or a refund slip so you could claim it back. Trying to turn away a passenger on the basis of neither the passenger nor the driver having change is bonkers.

 

[Egg Centric]

I'm hearing this an awful lot lately, especially from the younger generation, and it often leads to the driver saying 'just get on' probably to avoid all the hassle of an endless discussion/argument about having a valid ticket. I always have a valid ticket, it's called an Annual M Card, and I personally want bus companies to take a significantly tougher stance and fine those who haven't got a valid ticket when they board by way of revenue inspections, they could re-coup the cost of additional revenue inspectors out of the fines, say a £1000 fine for no valid ticket. Train companies take a tough stance, so why not bus companies? After all, you wouldn't turn up at a ferry terminal with the sad excuse that my phone died and my ticket is on there especially when travelling back into the UK, so why have the same pathetic excuse for bus travel? People need to be told straight to start taking better responsibility for their tickets, simple as!

£1000 fine would be completely disproportionate and unpayable by a great number of the fare evaders. More enforcement and smaller fines is way to go.

 

[NCT]

'I left my bus pass at home' wouldn't have worked 15 years ago.

 

[Ballyheigue]

£1000 fine would be completely disproportionate and unpayable by a great number of the fare evaders. More enforcement and smaller fines is way to go.

God knows what they'd do if they were given a TV Licence fine for a second offence lol

 

[Egg Centric]

God knows what they'd do if they were given a TV Licence fine for a second offence lol

No one gets a £1k TV licence fine, and these types probably have the sense not to let the inspectors in anyway!