A teen boarded today and asked for his destination. The fare was £2.80. He gave me a load of coins and said "There you are, mate, it's all there."
I trust no one when they do this, so put it on my cash tray top and counted it out. The total was £2.71. He was 9p short.
If he'd boarded and said: "I'm really sorry but I've just counted my money and all I've got is £2.71 for a teen single to X, could you let me off?" I may well have done, and manually issued him a £2.71 ticket. I would not have given him a ticket for £2.80 though as I would then personally be responsible for the 9p and I am not employed to pay passengers' bus fares.
So, in my eyes, he was deliberately trying to board without the correct fare by making out the money was exact when it was nothing of the sort. I told him he couldn't travel unless he had £2.80. He then asked how far £2.71 would take him because - guess what - he had no more money on him. I told him which village he could travel to and he went for that. He even had 11p change as that fare was £2.60. Bargain.
Now, when we got to that village, do you think he rang the bell and alighted?
Did he bollocks.
I didn't shout out the village name, I left my cab and shot upstairs to get him. One day I'll possibly be stabbed for acting like this, but until then, I have behaviour on my bus the way I expect it to be. If you saw me face-to-face you also wouldn't argue with me, let's just put it that way. He was 'lead' off the bus exclaiming that it was cold outside. Though no sooner he he got off the bus he lit up a cigarette. "Dam!" I thought, "I should have charged him adult fare!"
Common Sense Solution: Always count money presented to you in this way. Mostly the amount is correct. Sometimes there's a little more. A bus driver should never be expected to foot the partial cost of a passenger's ticket in this way. The driver needs to know what the score is and many will allow a 9p discrepancy to go. Treating a bus driver like a mug or simply lying to him, will result in this way.
Saturday 3 December 2011
Friday 2 December 2011
The Jobsworth Passenger
So, a number of bus drivers are regarded as jobsworths when they do not do what the passenger wants them to do. I can see it from both sides and don't always side with a colleague when what the passenger is asking is not in anyway dangerous, unsafe or breaking any laws, guidelines or local agreements.
Today, I had a 'jobsworth' passenger. That's right! Rather impressive.
We have a bus stop near a school. The bus stop never used to exist but a recent change to the way the school wants its school buses to operate has meant that the school stop has been moved to the current location. A bus stop flag has been attached to a lamp post to show that buses stop here. Additionally, other buses that pass this location on their normal services during the day stop here, upon request. It would seem a little silly to tell them to ignore the stop.
In the opposite direction things are different. There is no bus stop opposite as school services operate a one-way loop. Service buses during the day pass in the opposite direction, though, and we have been told not to stop opposite the bus stop sign as a very large road exit is located her and parked cars either side of that. The bus stop sign opposite does not have 'either side' or 'bus stop opposite too' on it.
Today, a woman rang the bell to get off opposite this stop. I did what I've done since the stop has been in use and rightly assumed she wanted the next actual stop in this direction. As I passed the bus stop flag opposite the lady said "Can you stop here please?" I played partially deaf and waited a few seconds before asking "Sorry?" by which time we were fast approaching the next, actual bus stop. This technique doesn't show ignorance, just that I'm concentrating on my driving, like a good bus driver.
"You should have stopped there." she said.
"There's no bus stop there, just one opposite. And that's only there because we drop school kids off there in the mornings" I said.
"It's all changed now though!" the woman replied.
'It's all changed now though'? What the fuck was she banging on about. What has changed? Was she somehow telepathic and aware of a pending change to our stopping pattern that even our boss hadn't come up with yet? Had there actually been a notice informing us to drop off in between parked cars of the entrance to a road junction that I'd missed?
Of course not, she was just being thick.
As a meaningless gesture of goodwill I dropped her of 5 feet before the next bus stop and told her the (above) reasons why that is not an either side bus stop.
Her response? "Oh, I think you find that it is."
Common Sense Solution: The customer is NOT always right. Any company with this ethos nowadays is on a slippery slope. There had NOT been any alteration to our stopping pattern here, I checked. Although not illegal, it is very dangerous to drop passengers off in between parked cars and blocking a road junction to drop passengers off carries a £60 fine if the policeman watching you is in a bad mood. A driver may have dropped her off here before and thought nothing of it. This is possibly what caused today's exchange. Passengers will immediately believe that this dangerous or fine-worthy act is the correct procedure and they then equip themselves with this information, wielding it out as fact when it is absolutely nothing of the sort. Stay firm, toe the party line and be prepared to refuse them their request. Consistency is, as I've said before, key.
Today, I had a 'jobsworth' passenger. That's right! Rather impressive.
We have a bus stop near a school. The bus stop never used to exist but a recent change to the way the school wants its school buses to operate has meant that the school stop has been moved to the current location. A bus stop flag has been attached to a lamp post to show that buses stop here. Additionally, other buses that pass this location on their normal services during the day stop here, upon request. It would seem a little silly to tell them to ignore the stop.
In the opposite direction things are different. There is no bus stop opposite as school services operate a one-way loop. Service buses during the day pass in the opposite direction, though, and we have been told not to stop opposite the bus stop sign as a very large road exit is located her and parked cars either side of that. The bus stop sign opposite does not have 'either side' or 'bus stop opposite too' on it.
Today, a woman rang the bell to get off opposite this stop. I did what I've done since the stop has been in use and rightly assumed she wanted the next actual stop in this direction. As I passed the bus stop flag opposite the lady said "Can you stop here please?" I played partially deaf and waited a few seconds before asking "Sorry?" by which time we were fast approaching the next, actual bus stop. This technique doesn't show ignorance, just that I'm concentrating on my driving, like a good bus driver.
"You should have stopped there." she said.
"There's no bus stop there, just one opposite. And that's only there because we drop school kids off there in the mornings" I said.
"It's all changed now though!" the woman replied.
'It's all changed now though'? What the fuck was she banging on about. What has changed? Was she somehow telepathic and aware of a pending change to our stopping pattern that even our boss hadn't come up with yet? Had there actually been a notice informing us to drop off in between parked cars of the entrance to a road junction that I'd missed?
Of course not, she was just being thick.
As a meaningless gesture of goodwill I dropped her of 5 feet before the next bus stop and told her the (above) reasons why that is not an either side bus stop.
Her response? "Oh, I think you find that it is."
Common Sense Solution: The customer is NOT always right. Any company with this ethos nowadays is on a slippery slope. There had NOT been any alteration to our stopping pattern here, I checked. Although not illegal, it is very dangerous to drop passengers off in between parked cars and blocking a road junction to drop passengers off carries a £60 fine if the policeman watching you is in a bad mood. A driver may have dropped her off here before and thought nothing of it. This is possibly what caused today's exchange. Passengers will immediately believe that this dangerous or fine-worthy act is the correct procedure and they then equip themselves with this information, wielding it out as fact when it is absolutely nothing of the sort. Stay firm, toe the party line and be prepared to refuse them their request. Consistency is, as I've said before, key.
Thursday 1 December 2011
Wrong Way
Can you believe someone of my expertise, knowledge and all-round 'greatness' went the wrong way the other day? Deary me. I guess it happens to the best of us.
There was an ambulance following me so I felt obliged to get out of its way and I saw a bus stop ahead with a lay-by that would get me off the main carriageway, so I took it. Only trouble was I should have turned right immediately beforehand and overshot the turning.
Arse!
And can you believe the ruddy ambulance actually turned right down the road I should have? While my actions had got me out of its way, the passengers never actually saw what I'm sure some of them thought was a fictional ambulance. I told them what the situation was and found a road to reverse into further up the road and made the slight delay to the timetable up, so everything was OK in the end.
Common Sense Solution: I suppose as much as we motorists like to get out of the way of an emergency vehicle attending a 999 call, sometimes you can really fuck yourself up. In London, there have been examples of people getting fixed penalty notices for moving ahead of a white line at traffic lights and into a yellow hash box so that an ambulance can get past them. The FPNs haven't been rescinded either. "The law is very clear about occupying a yellow box". Well I hope that a family member of the person who deals with these matters isn't the one foaming at the mouth at the bottom of the stairs that the ambulance is trying to get to.
There was an ambulance following me so I felt obliged to get out of its way and I saw a bus stop ahead with a lay-by that would get me off the main carriageway, so I took it. Only trouble was I should have turned right immediately beforehand and overshot the turning.
Arse!
And can you believe the ruddy ambulance actually turned right down the road I should have? While my actions had got me out of its way, the passengers never actually saw what I'm sure some of them thought was a fictional ambulance. I told them what the situation was and found a road to reverse into further up the road and made the slight delay to the timetable up, so everything was OK in the end.
Common Sense Solution: I suppose as much as we motorists like to get out of the way of an emergency vehicle attending a 999 call, sometimes you can really fuck yourself up. In London, there have been examples of people getting fixed penalty notices for moving ahead of a white line at traffic lights and into a yellow hash box so that an ambulance can get past them. The FPNs haven't been rescinded either. "The law is very clear about occupying a yellow box". Well I hope that a family member of the person who deals with these matters isn't the one foaming at the mouth at the bottom of the stairs that the ambulance is trying to get to.
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