Bus Conductors in other countries.

[stadler]

Where in other countries do bus conductors still exist these days? I presume there are still quite a few places?

I am only talking about ordinary bus routes. So not special heritage routes for tourists and enthusiasts that use older vehicles and have kept conductors. I am interested in ordinary bus routes.

I believe the final service here in the UK with bus conductors was the Stagecoach route 73 in Dundee which had them until September 2020 about five years ago. This was an odd example where they lasted for so much longer. The rest of the UK got rid of bus conductors decades ago.

I know most of the ex Soviet countries still have them. Russia has them in most cities. Moscow got rid of most bus conductors a while ago. They only still exist on some Moscow routes in the outskirts. Saint Petersburg still has bus conductors on most routes. Probably around 80% to 90% of cities and towns in Russia still use bus conductors. Belarus still does too. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan also have them in some cities. So bus conductors in most of the ex Soviet countries are still very common.

I am struggling to think of any European countries outside of the ex Soviet ones that still have them? Is there anywhere else in Europe where bus conductors have survived?

I would also be interested in any other examples people can think of where bus conductors are still used around the world? I think they are still common in a lot of third world countries?

 

[AdamWW]

Where in other countries do bus conductors still exist these days? I presume there are still quite a few places?

I am only talking about ordinary bus routes. So not special heritage routes for tourists and enthusiasts that use older vehicles and have kept conductors. I am interested in ordinary bus routes.

I believe the final service here in the UK with bus conductors was the Stagecoach route 73 in Dundee which had them until September 2020 about five years ago. This was an odd example where they lasted for so much longer. The rest of the UK got rid of bus conductors decades ago.

I know most of the ex Soviet countries still have them. Russia has them in most cities. Moscow got rid of most bus conductors a while ago. They only still exist on some Moscow routes in the outskirts. Saint Petersburg still has bus conductors on most routes. Probably around 80% to 90% of cities and towns in Russia still use bus conductors. Belarus still does too. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan also have them in some cities. So bus conductors in most of the ex Soviet countries are still very common.

I am struggling to think of any European countries outside of the ex Soviet ones that still have them? Is there anywhere else in Europe where bus conductors have survived?

I would also be interested in any other examples people can think of where bus conductors are still used around the world? I think they are still common in a lot of third world countries?

Another ex-Soviet country but not on your list: I believe that trolleybuses in Chișinău (Moldova) still have conductors (and presumably regular buses too).

I went on a bus in Beijing time time ago and there was a ticket seller on board, but at a sort of ticket counter rather than free range. If I recall correctly you got on at the back and off at the front, paying as you worked your way past the "conductor". I don't know if they still do that. I don't remember it from a trip on a double decker bus on a later visit.

 

[stadler]

Another ex-Soviet country but not on your list: I believe that trolleybuses in Chișinău (Moldova) still have conductors (and presumably regular buses too).

I went on a bus in Beijing time time ago and there was a ticket seller on board, but at a sort of ticket counter rather than free range. If I recall correctly you got on at the back and off at the front, paying as you worked your way past the "conductor". I don't know if they still do that. I don't remember it from a trip on a double decker bus on a later visit.

Yes now you mention i remember seeing conductors on both buses and trolleybuses in Chisinau during my last visit. I recall the conductors in Chisinau still had old paper ticket rolls where they ripped off a ticket rather than a modern machine. Tiraspol in Transnistria has conductors too. It certainly seems like Soviet countries are the main places where conductors still exist.

 

[nwales58]

Bulgaria: the buses between Gorna Oriahovica and Veliko Trnovo had conductors(esses) last year. Urban services did not nor did the long distance coach services I saw.

I don't know whether this is general on rural bus services in Bulgaria or not.

 

[stadler]

Bulgaria: the buses between Gorna Oriahovica and Veliko Trnovo had conductors(esses) last year. Urban services did not nor did the long distance coach services I saw.

I don't know whether this is general on rural bus services in Bulgaria or not.

I am surprised that such a route has conductors. That is a rural interurban service linking two large towns separated by quite a bit of countryside. In most countries you only see conductors on local urban routes that operate entirely within cities and towns.

 

[JKP]

The urban bus route along the Bay of Kotor from Herceg Novi had a seated conductor with a mounted manual Almex ticket machine in September 2019. A coach used to travel to Kotor also had a conductor who issued pre paid paper tickets.

 

[185]

Greece, Preveza still had them on KTEL buses last year. A German wanted to pay with a €50 note, and I heard him call him a familiar Greek word (that rhymes with Maracas) which made me laugh a little. The inspector later asked, "why is it you English always know what that word means??".

 

[Segedunum]

The coach service between Skopje Airport and Skopje (North Macedonia) typically has someone doing the fare collection on arrival at the airport - not quite the same as a proper conductor but the driver doesn't do the fares.

 

[dutchflyer]

Greetings from a dutch train-again my favourite country: THailand- the BMTA, who organises,contracts out and also runs a part of the citybuses in Bangkok is still completely 2Po-and quite often these are married couples-make it easy for roster planning. Has not changed since all the time I visit there-some 30+ yrs by now. Pay cash-coins preferred and conductress is roving and will find you. Even the ticket-style and how they are marked has not changed all these years. Besides just selling tickets these people are also taking the role of informing passengers, helping out etc. Drivers as such are just for driving but whilst in training also have to rove tickets for a period-to learn the routes before being being able to sit at the steering wheel. It is both amusing and perplexing to see how few of clearly newbee western travellers even understand this system when they experience it first time. In fact about any normal size Thai bus is-quite a few of the longer distance coach-type services are even 3po. Thats not so much a conductor as a steward/ess, as all ticketing for these is done outside/before boarding. Through the years there have been some trials with (mini)buses in Bangkok as opo and more modern payment systems-these all failed sooner or later. In the neighbour ASEAN countries like Laos/Cambodia/Malaysia/Vietnam its also 2PO in whatever local form, though there are not that many citybus systems there.
Generally as a heritage from how it was done in the communist years in Eastern EURope for citybuses its OPO, ticketing done outside- putting back conductors on the cars was only done later-partly to create employment as services were so much reduced since.

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

IIRC Kyiv got rid of bus, trolleybus and tram conductors a few years ago. Now passengers must pay by tapping in cards on readers.

 

[FormerBritInMe]

When I rode the St. Charles streetcar (tram) line in New Orleans in 1972 they were still using conductors. You entered the car at the rear, paid the conductor (fare was still only 5 cents!) then moved forward, exiting from the front. Unfortunately they were already starting to move to One Person Operation at that time. But it was a fascinating view of how things used to be done everywhere in the US at one time. I recall the conductor besides collecting fares, would assist the motorman in negotiating tight curves especially when an auto was parked in an awkward spot.

 

[Amos]

The buses in Mauritius had conductors when I was there in 2023.They were a mine of information and would chat away for most of the journey.

 

[Springs Branch]

Major cities in India like Mumbai and Kolkata seem to retain conductors.

According to this article from the Times of India, a bus conductor in Kolkata died earlier this year after being hit by a (motor?)cyclist whilst stepping off his bus to help a boarding passenger.

Apparently the last of the classic back-loading red double-deckers in Mumbai was retired a few years ago, around 2023.

Victoria Terminus Andy Wright from Sheffield, UK, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

It seems some new air-conditioned, electric double-deckers are being slowly introduced by BEST (the government operator in Mumbai). But in the meantime, the majority of the city's buses are single deck.

It's unclear whether these new buses will require a conductor - one local blogger's report of riding the new buses said he "tapped in" on entry. However I'm pretty sure that, in general, Cash is King in India, and the driver will have more than enough to do contending with Mumbai's traffic to be dealing with fares too.

Mumbai Switch Electric Double Decker Bus Stern and bow, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

(Two images show 'old' and 'new' red double-deck buses in Mumbai)

 

[Cricketer8for9]

I’ve had a conductor on what I’d describe as an inter urban service in Guayaquil, Ecuador in about 2008. Bus was single deck and manual. Also, much longer ago, c 1989 on a SITA bus between Amalfi and Sorrento. Not much good on current services I’m afraid.

 

[izvor]

Sardinia (Italy). On my first visit about 20 years ago we travelled on several buses. All had conductors, and, stupidly, they could not issue tickets: you had to get them from an agent first (usually a bar near the bus stop), then the conductor would check them briefly. On Sundays it was crazy with so many bars shut!

On my revisit a few years ago I assumed that this mad job-creation scheme had finished but no, it was still the same (can't remember if it was on every bus this time), despite the tourist guides saying you can pay on the bus. Once again I held a bus up for several minutes while I queued up in a bar to buy a bus ticket.

 

[Jim Jehosofat]

I remember some years ago in Sri Lanka I asked how you paid the bus fare. The answer I was given was that if you entered via the door at the front of the bus you paid the front conductor and if you entered from the door at the back you paid the back conductor! The bus was a smallish single decker.

File:Sri Lanka Bus.jpg - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[AY1975]

It's unclear whether these new buses will require a conductor

Mumbai Switch Electric Double Decker Bus Stern and bow, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

(Two images show 'old' and 'new' red double-deck buses in Mumbai)

It's also unclear whether the bus in the second photo has been designed with disabled access in mind, although the narrow front entrance door would suggest not. The back of the lower deck is partly obscured by a tree, making it difficult to tell whether there is also a rear door, though.

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

The new bus is a Switch EiV22. The back door is designed to blend into the body, with only a little window in one of the door leaves.

SWITCH EiV22 | All Electric Double Decker Bus

SWITCH EiV22: India's first all-electric double-decker bus. Clean, smart and iconic for sustainable intra-city travel.

www.switchmobilityev.com

 

[zero]

The coach service between Skopje Airport and Skopje (North Macedonia) typically has someone doing the fare collection on arrival at the airport - not quite the same as a proper conductor but the driver doesn't do the fares.

In 2023 I took this service from Skopje airport to the city. While I bought my ticket at an office in the arrivals hall, other passengers who had bypassed the office paid the driver.

The fare was 199 denars or €4 (approx MKD 240). I paid with exact change but those paying the driver paid 200 denars However, the driver had a box of €1 coins to give as change for €5 notes.

There was a controller standing by the bus stop who was doing the timekeeping and told the driver when to leave. This person could potentially have collected fares from arriving coaches, but when I was there he directed people to pay the driver.


Later that trip, city buses in Tirana had roving conductors selling tickets on board. One bus had a conductor and an separate RPI, who possibly had more powers than the conductor (on numerous trips I didn't notice anyone evading their fare).

 

[philg999]

Amsterdam still has a few trams with a conductor sitting at a desk halfway down the tram (opposite the main entrance). These days they don’t actually sell tickets but mainly keep an eye that everyone taps on.

 

[Beebman]

Amsterdam still has a few trams with a conductor sitting at a desk halfway down the tram (opposite the main entrance). These days they don’t actually sell tickets but mainly keep an eye that everyone taps on.

Hiroshima had a similar arrangement on some trams when I was there in 2018.

Going back in time to the late 1970s, my cousin's family were living in Minden in Germany and to get to their home from the station required taking a bus route using one and a half decker vehicles. These had a conductor sitting at a desk by the rear entrance who took payment from boarding passengers and issued tickets from a British-made TIM machine.

 

[railfan99]

In Philippines, every larger sized bus has a conductor who sells paper tickets. They are expert at punching the ticket correctly.

 

[KK2109]

In China, some cities still have conductors selling tickets on buses. It is often the result of drivers not being allowed to handle the cash, so a conductor will sell tickets to passengers.

For example in Shanghai, any bus route which ticket price varies on travelling distance will have a conductor onboard selling tickets. These conductors even have the access of lighting and and door controls on their desks behind the rear door. However, as this is a costly practice, the trend is to move towards flat fares, with passengers paying into the farebox/ticket machine beside the front door when they get on.


The conductor's desk, with the control panels locked.

 

[kkong]

Where in other countries do bus conductors still exist these days? I presume there are still quite a few places?

I am struggling to think of any European countries outside of the ex Soviet ones that still have them? Is there anywhere else in Europe where bus conductors have survived?

When I was in Tirana last year, there were officials in plain clothes on the city buses collecting cash fares and handing out tickets.

I suppose they count as a conductors?

 

[Tester]

When I was in Tirana last year, there were officials in plain clothes on the city buses collecting cash fares and handing out tickets.

I suppose they count as a conductors?

They might have been entrepreneurs

 

[kkong]

They might have been entrepreneurs

No great loss if so, with the fare being about 40p as I recall!

 

[ricohallo]

Bulgaria: the buses between Gorna Oriahovica and Veliko Trnovo had conductors(esses) last year. Urban services did not nor did the long distance coach services I saw.

I don't know whether this is general on rural bus services in Bulgaria or not.

I also encountered a bus conductor when taking a bus in Plovdiv.

Amsterdam still has a few trams with a conductor sitting at a desk halfway down the tram (opposite the main entrance). These days they don’t actually sell tickets but mainly keep an eye that everyone taps on.

Technically they still sell tickets but it's pretty much redundant as they only take card payment and it's now possible to use contactless to pay for your journey so most will just tell you to use contactless instead of selling you a ticket.

 

[cool110]

Technically they still sell tickets but it's pretty much redundant as they only take card payment and it's now possible to use contactless to pay for your journey so most will just tell you to use contactless instead of selling you a ticket.

Although for some reason the contactless cap is €0.50 more than a paper day ticket, so you're still better off buying from them if you know you'll hit it. (Or use a night bus that doesn't count towards the cap, but day tickets are still valid)

 

[ricohallo]

Although for some reason the contactless cap is €0.50 more than a paper day ticket, so you're still better off buying from them if you know you'll hit it. (Or use a night bus that doesn't count towards the cap, but day tickets are still valid)

As far as I know there is no contactless cap at all anywhere in the Netherlands, so if you're going to travel a lot on a day then getting a paper day ticket is usually worth it, sometimes it is even worth it getting a single ticket over paying contactless or with OV-Chipkaart such as when you take the metro from Hook of Holland to Rotterdam as the contactless fare is more expensive. Though most of the time contactless is cheaper.

 

[cool110]

As far as I know there is no contactless cap at all anywhere in the Netherlands,

It's a still a developing system, the GVB cap is a recent addition.