The right procedure

[oscarina]

Yesterday I did a good deed, a young girl was getting on the bus to go home I was next in queue, she had a £10 note for a 85p journey and the bus driver said he didn't have any change, he actually wanted her to get of the bus, I paid for her fare as I didn't want to see her stranded and having to wait another 30mins for the next bus! Was the bus driver right to do this!

[mazie]

Why do you think he wanted her to get off the bus? Yes, I would have done the same

[oscarina]

She offered to pay for her fare he should have had enough change! If I wanted to buy a 10p packet of sweets in the supermarket and give them £10 I would expect change!

[New-Cam]

driver takes tenner and tells girl to pick change up from bus station the next day. girl has choice to accept this or try next bus .. or go to shop and get change.

[mazie]

So he wanted her to get off the bus just because she didnt have any change? Not because of her attitude or appearance?

[cazzz1975]

I would never get on a bus and expect a driver to be able to supply change for a tenner.

basically the bus driver didnt have change and he cannot wait for her to get change, he cannot let her travel for free either, he is also on a timetable so he cannot hang around. I can understand why he would want her to pay or get off, nice of you to step in, hopefully though this event may make her a little more prepared in the future in having the right money for the bus.

[oscarina]

She did say she would get change, he said you better hurry up, but he wasn't going to wait for her!

[New-Cam]

bus driver has only certain amount of change. supermarket has, what, ten plus checkouts and a safe full of change through the back

[cazzz1975]

she should have got change beforehand, why wait until the bus has arrived..

[mazie]

If a bus company offers a service, they are obliged (as far as I'm concerned) to be able to run that service and have enough change to be able to accommodate their passangers. All bus routes have a very good idea of the numbers that use that route on a daily basis.

[wolf63]

My decision would initially be based on the age of the girl. If she was still a child then the driver was wrong to be so heavy handed.

If she was older she should have found the change in advance.

[oscarina]

She was a pleasant well mannered girl otherwise I wouldn't have bothered if she had been rude, it was 5.30 and she probably wanted to get home soon! Wouldn't want my kids to be treated like that!

[mazie]

Exactly oscarina....It's a service, and should offere a service knowing as they all do the demography of their routes

[cazzz1975]

I make sure my daughter has a bus pass, I would never send her on to a bus with a 10 pound note, cruel in my opinion.

not the drivers fault either, he is just doing his job

[New-Cam]

inspectors don't take no carp, trust me i know. if driver lets girl travel for free, he's risking losing his job. would you do that for a complete stranger

[wolf63]

I have given money to a youngster in a similar situation - but we never like to feel that we are being 'scammed'.

Like everything else in life - there is no right and no wrong answer.

[mazie]

If I go to the pub cazzz and I want half a pint of lager and give them a £20 note, I expect them to serve me and give me change, if they refused my business because they had no change I wouldn't go back. Buses have a Monopoly of routes and therefore feel that they can dictate....I personally think that is wrong. Like the pub it's a business and they should have the where with all to make sure they cater for their customers....

[dotty.]

I came home on the train tonight and the conductor was telling a toung girl (about 16) that cos the machine didn;t take her electron card and she had no other means of patment she would get a letter of prosecution from the magistrates court, the girl was reallt upset and was ringing her mum and other family members to ask what she should do, she was really scared and the conductor was a bully, she got on the train and offered her card, (the station is unmanned) and it's not her fault the machine isn't able to take the card, another passenger near her gave her the fare, I would have given it to her myself if I had more cash in my purse but i didn't, that bloke was bang out of order and I am sure he should have just taken her details and given her time to pay.

[mazie]

The bus company has a responsibility to supply their drivers with enough change. As I said earlier before a bus company bids for any route it knows pretty much down to 10 people per day the demography of that route....No excuses, it's not the drivers fault it's the people that run the route that are to blame.

[cazzz1975]

they dont have the time to argue the toss with every customer, unlike a pub a bus runs on a real time schedule, I have been on buses where people have got on then proceeded to wander up and down the bus asking for change for 10/20 pounds, this can take ages especially if you have to be somewhere on time.

imagine everyone did this because they were exercising their rights to have a bus supplied with a cash tin, it would also make the buses a target for thieves.

[jamesnan]

A young girl got on our bus going to college (about 15 miles away) and then realised that she had forgotten to update her pass. The driver told her to get off but the passengers had a collection for her. The driver said that he was unable to take her over to her destination, where she would have been able to sort out the pass, because theoretically he was taking her somewhere without definitely having the means to get home again .