My friends father is a bus driver in the suburbs of Melbourne. If I remember correctly he told me they are not allowed to refuse travel to people if they don't have the bus fare. Has anyone else ever heard this? I know that at least in the city centre that this isn't the case as they have ticket inspectors. It certainly wasn't the case in Sydney or on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane.
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Free bus travel in Australia
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First thing - there is no national public transport system in Australia, so I can't speak for what happens in Melbourne based on my lack of experience there - I only travel there from Adelaide occasionally and the only public transport I've used there is V/Line's Ballarat/Ararat line trains.
My guess as to what your mate's dad is talking about is an internal policy of the contracted private operator (or possibly the drivers' union) running the buses on behalf of the state government, management having made a decision that in the event of a person refusing to pay it is better to carry on running the service than to stop and argue about it.
This policy would have been put in place for financial reasons and/or safety reasons. The financial side is that many local bus fares are low enough that the cost of pursuing an evaded fare (i.e. the operator getting fined for a late/incomplete service while the driver and passenger argue over it) is far higher than the fare to be collected. On the safety side it's simply a case of the bus drivers being unable to enforce any refusal to travel (i.e. they can say "you must get off the bus" but they can't back it up with action) and no operators having a high enough budget to hire black belt ninjas as bus drivers.
I can't speak for Melbourne, but in Adelaide there are roving ticket inspectors who can theoretically get on a bus at any time on any route. It doesn't happen often, but that's because fare evasion on the buses is generally pretty low when boarding requires going right past the driver and validating the ticket/smartcard right in front of them.
My guess as to what your mate's dad is talking about is an internal policy of the contracted private operator (or possibly the drivers' union) running the buses on behalf of the state government, management having made a decision that in the event of a person refusing to pay it is better to carry on running the service than to stop and argue about it.
This policy would have been put in place for financial reasons and/or safety reasons. The financial side is that many local bus fares are low enough that the cost of pursuing an evaded fare (i.e. the operator getting fined for a late/incomplete service while the driver and passenger argue over it) is far higher than the fare to be collected. On the safety side it's simply a case of the bus drivers being unable to enforce any refusal to travel (i.e. they can say "you must get off the bus" but they can't back it up with action) and no operators having a high enough budget to hire black belt ninjas as bus drivers.
I can't speak for Melbourne, but in Adelaide there are roving ticket inspectors who can theoretically get on a bus at any time on any route. It doesn't happen often, but that's because fare evasion on the buses is generally pretty low when boarding requires going right past the driver and validating the ticket/smartcard right in front of them.
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There were plenty kicked off buses during my time in Sydney last year. Have memories of last year on Oxford Road, a driver launching some nasty brat out of the door.
This year, within ten minutes of arriving in Auckland, NZ, another bus, another driver, another scrap with an angry teenager on the 380 from the Airport up to Papatoetoe Station. Straight out of the door.
And here's me thinking both countries were nowhere near as bad as 'violent' Britain.
This year, within ten minutes of arriving in Auckland, NZ, another bus, another driver, another scrap with an angry teenager on the 380 from the Airport up to Papatoetoe Station. Straight out of the door.
And here's me thinking both countries were nowhere near as bad as 'violent' Britain.
There were plenty kicked off buses during my time in Sydney last year. Have memories of last year on Oxford Road, a driver launching some nasty brat out of the door.
This year, within ten minutes of arriving in Auckland, NZ, another bus, another driver, another scrap with an angry teenager on the 380 from the Airport up to Papatoetoe Station. Straight out of the door.
And here's me thinking both countries were nowhere near as bad as 'violent' Britain.
Mad that you mention Papatoetoe. That was my cheap way of getting from Auckland city centre to the airport on Chrimbo Eve 2011. We got the train there from the Britomart then waited about 40 mins for a bus. It shouldn't have been 40 mins but I guess that is the way things go. Ha ha.
As an aside we went to several areas in Australia and New Zealand that were described by friends and family as dodgy and they really weren't a patch on certain parts of Liverpool where I am from. And that isn't showing off. Ha ha.
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Well of course, convicts were only exported to Australia* once they had more than an ample supply in England.
* parts of Australia at least. South Australia is a free settlement, convict-free except for the four-yearly invasion of the Barmy Army or when the Melbourne Victory is playing in town. I'm looking forward to the boost my shares in Riot-Batons-R-Us will get next week.
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