Preston Bus to scrap child day ticket?

[Andyh82]

The downside of offering a cheap children's day ticket during school holidays.

http://www.prestonbus.co.uk/news/BusVandalismDamagesChildTicketOffers_591.html

Following serious vandalism on a Tanterton service 35 bus today, Preston Bus is having to rethink the possibility of introducing a Child Day ticket, or even repeating its popular school holiday special offers.

Two boys and two girls used their £1.20 child day tickets today to board the service 35 on Friargate, alighting at Lane Ends. During the journey, they set light to five seats, and graffitied parts of the bus interior.

CCTV footage will be used as evidence and passed to police, with a view to prosecution and invoicing the parents for the costs of repairs and a replacement bus, which could run into thousands.

Today's incident follows sustained yobbish behaviour from groups of youngsters over the time the specal offer has been running, including abusing other passengers, throwing eggs from vehicle windows, and fast food all over seats.

A Preston Bus spokesperson said "It's a real shame that once again, a minority of young people are spoiling things for others. We ran the special offer to make it easier for children to travel during their school holidays. If well received we intended to introduce a child day ticket permanently - but following this we'll have to rethink if it's worth the damage caused."

 

[Tetchytyke]

That's why most bus companies only offer the cheap kids tickets with an adult ticket...

 

[Qwerty133]

So if a group of pensioners vandalised the bus they'd rethink offering free travel to pensioners?
If not yet another ageist company trying to use one incident to stereotype a large group of people simply due to their age.

 

[ChrisPJ]

A stupid thing to say. For starters the child ticket is a commercial product and not a statutory obligation. And when did you last hear of pensioners trashing the insides of a bus. Really not comparing like with like there

 

[AlterEgo]

So if a group of pensioners vandalised the bus they'd rethink offering free travel to pensioners?
If not yet another ageist company trying to use one incident to stereotype a large group of people simply due to their age.

When was the last time pensioners got on board a bus and set fire to the seats?

 

[philthetube]

So if a group of pensioners vandalised the bus they'd rethink offering free travel to pensioners?
If not yet another ageist company trying to use one incident to stereotype a large group of people simply due to their age.

If pensioners around the country started smashing up buses I suspect they would.

 

[Bletchleyite]

That's why most bus companies only offer the cheap kids tickets with an adult ticket...

That would seem to be the solution rather than complete withdrawal of the ticket.

Is the free travel in London proving an issue, out of interest? Lots of people shouted about it, but it seems that the novelty has worn off somewhat and I haven't heard a thing said about it recently, nor observed antisocial behaviour issues myself.

 

[Segedunum]

All children with a pass (so basically the vast majority of children under 16) in Tyne and Wear can travel on all modes of transport for £1.10 a day, and I can't recall any such issues in my years of using the ticket.

I do agree that offering it only with an adult ticket rather than penalising every child would be appropriate.

Sent from my SM-A310F using Tapatalk

 

[Bletchleyite]

The pass is a reasonable way to manage it in a way - it can be withdrawn either for a period of time or permanently if it is abused. That's how it works on TfL.