London bus fares cut

[Mojo]

The Pay As You Go Oyster single fare is going down from £1 to 90p and the Weekly Bus Pass is being cut to £13, with effect from Sept this year.

http://www.london.gov.uk/view_press_release.jsp?releaseid=12395

 

[Jim]

Bus fares going down, blimey, Ken must be making too much money!

 

[Tom B]

£13 is as much as you'd pay up here for a weekly bus pass. Yet London buses aren't old, driven by grumpy buggers on minimum wage, or unroadworthy. And when something goes wrong, passengers have TfL to complain to who will kick the operator if necessary.

 

[ChrisCooper]

Wouldn't you be a grumpy bugger if you had to drive old, possibly unroadworthy vehicles, working long hours, getting abused by passengers, respected by nobody (passengers, management, other road users, the public in general), and get paid minimum wage for it. Doesn't help either that they spend all day surrounded by grumpy buggers (passengers, colleagues, other road users, etc).

 

[Mojo]

I'd say London bus drivers are more miserable than in some other parts of the country. Along with the high levels of use on some routes, they can be quite unpleasant due to overcrowding & dirt. However, if I lived in London I'd get free bus travel (under 18 student), so I'd be happier! Even if I did have to pay, I'd say the service frequencies and speed of service represent value for money given the 90p fare.

 

[Tom B]

As a passenger I'm more likely to be polite to a driver, saying things like "thank you" as I get off, if he's actually polite to me. If I get on and say "40 please", then he makes a fuss about getting change, throws the change in my hand and then has to be persuaded to issue a ticket, I'm not exactly going to be as polite to him as the driver who smiles, prints a ticket and says "morning" as you get on.

Indeed, given the fact that London has a fleet of brand new vehicles and frequent services, 90p is nothing compared to the fares the rest of us have to pay - ironically often to ride on something that London has finished with and then 'disposed' of to somewhere else!

Actually I bet the London drivers will *love* this - £1 to 90p means a lot of 10p's required in the cashtray, as most people will tender a £1 coin.

 

[Tom]

It's an oyster fare - no more 10p's required.