Plusbus Reactions

[riceuten]

A few years ago, when Carousel and Arriva still accepted the Intalink ticket in High Wycombe, I bought a weekly version from Carousel on the 40 and had no end of trouble with Arriva drivers telling me they only accepted it if it had been bought from Arriva - both drivers and if they checked with management - though Arriva's Twitter account gave correct information.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 6 Oct 2024 ==

Had that with Arriva in Stevenage as well, refusing any Explorer that wasn't issued by Arriva. It was all drivers, so was obviously an edict from the depot manager. We also had problems with companies accepting return tickets when it was a different company offering the service of an evening, but refusing weekly/monthly tickets

 

[Travelmonkey]

In Warrington I used to get the plus bus as it was cheaper than buying on the morning, the issue wasn't the ticket but them not running their first bus that caused more problems.

 

[ngood77]

Hi guys.

I can’t seem to obtain the PB railcard discount (Network Railcard) online - can the discount only be obtained from a ticket office and/or machine ?

Not answered on the PB site nor this forum as far as my searches can tell.

Ta,

Nick.

 

[Edvid]

I can’t seem to obtain the PB railcard discount (Network Railcard) online - can the discount only be obtained from a ticket office and/or machine ?

Network Railcard discounts for PlusBus are available online.

Where are you travelling to/from, and which retailer/agent are you looking to book the journey with?

 

[ngood77]

Network Railcard discounts for PlusBus are available online.

Where are you travelling to/from, and which retailer/agent are you looking to book the journey with?

It’s my bad, the rail journey doesn’t qualify for the railcard discount so, alas, the full price PB supplement is payable. Apologies. What’s the standard Rf penance for this type of behaviour ? Cheers

 

[Goldfish62]

GoCornwall - no issues.
First Kernow - constant issues!

 

[Haywain]

I once had a bus driver insist on seeing my train ticket to go with the PlusBus ticket - he wasn't at all impressed when I produced a staff pass and only allowed me to travel after some discussion.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Unfortunately it seems drivers don't all know about the through Avanti tickets to Keswick. Saw a load of French (I think) tourists get a bit of a quizzical response to showing them, though they were let on in the end. This is really quite poor given that it's a specific ticket applying to one specific route.

 

[AlastairFraser]

Unfortunately it seems drivers don't all know about the through Avanti tickets to Keswick. Saw a load of French (I think) tourists get a bit of a quizzical response to showing them, though they were let on in the end. This is really quite poor given that it's a specific ticket applying to one specific route.

Tbf, the driver of the Keswick bus from Penrith didn't even know what a Ullswater Bus and Boat Explorer is, despite the ticket being issued by her own company. (Not blaming her - it just goes to show that they don't even know their own tickets!)

 

[darloscott]

I use this example quite a lot but when I drove for Arriva my depot covered a fair bit of mileage in the North East, and because of the area we covered I counted we sold 27 different day tickets at one point. That's before you add in anything like Plusbus or other random university passes we accepted. Being an enthusiast I had a good knowledge (but still not 100% on some of it!) but I can imagine most drivers were simply confused by the wide range of tickets.

 

[Farigiraf]

On a similar note, how are rail rangers/rovers with bus validity generally received on buses? I've only tried it in London (Accepted without problem) and Suffolk (Driver had to double check), but has anyone had any trouble with it?

 

[DGP]

Over this past summer I have used Bus Plus tickets on multiple occasions to travel around Brighton. Most drivers appeared to be aware of them and nodded me through but on each day there would be one who appeared uncertain. And I don't blame them for that, given that the area covered by the Brighton Plus Bus (it includes Steyning, Seaford and Newhaven but not Lewis, Devil's Dyke or Ditchling Beacon for instance) bears no relation to any areas covered by either Brighton and Hove, Compass Bus or Stagecoach's own tickets, I'm really not surprised. The sooner they are digitised the better.

 

[duncombec]

In times gone by, drivers used to be issued with a fares and tickets manual (as well as a faretable) - we've had some donated to my local enthusiast club. This contained not only details of each type of ticket accepted, but usually also sample images or descriptions of colours. This was especially handy where there was more variety in ticket machines, often heavily reliant on codes and numbers rather than today's "full text" issues, and scholars passes.

Naturally nowadays it wouldn't be a paper issue but something accessible via the company intranet, but do such things still exist? As Darloscott says in message #40, as ticketing has become more complicated, it is harder and harder for drivers to identify the tickets they should and shouldn't be accepting, especially if they don't see them very often. We are all human, after all!