We bus drivers don't just drive buses. We have to uphold our company's rules and regulations. One of which is that passengers pay the requisite fare for the journey they make. Often a passenger will ask what the fare is before tendering the money - possibly because they may not have sufficient on them or that they have the option of a lift if they hang on a little longer.
A fat teen was waiting for my bus today and got on with a suitcase. To me it looked as if she was returning for the summer from university. She asked for a single fare to X. I told her this amount, a little over £3.50. She exclaimed at the cost of the fare and asked if it had increased recently.
"Yes, it went up 10p at the start of the month" I answered.
But she didn't want to hear this. 10p more was nothing compared to what this fat teen claimed I was asking of her.
Then she asked "How much is a child fare?"
Clearly the child fare would be cheaper than the standard, adult fare. On this route you can be up to 17 years old and still pay a child fare. I strongly believed she was in excess of this age and was just using it as a means to reduce the fare. I asked her how old she was.
"Errrr, seventeen" she stumbled. She even apologised and said she didn't know why it took her so long.
Well I knew why - because she was attempting to commit fraud. I could have asked for some ID I suppose, though that's not company policy. Instead I told her the new fare - £2.90, which was still significantly more than she had in her hand.
After much digging about she said "Well I can muster £2.60, soooooooo, there you are."
"But the fare's £2.90".
"Well that's all I've got!"
"Well you need to go to a cash point and catch the next bus in 15 minutes."
"I don't have any cash on my card."
"Well £2.90 is the fare and if you don't pay it the difference comes from my wages and I'm not prepared for that to happen."
In the past I've over-ridden the machine, but was deeply suspicious of this fat teen. She'd acted most oddly when offering up her age and had been travelling during term time - again, possibly a student returning home. I couldn't prove anything, but had my lack of discretion to countenance her likely bullshit.
Amazingly, the empty purse suddenly produced two 20p coins that weren't there before. She possibly felt that £2.60 was all she was prepared to pay for the journey. As she handed the newfound cash over, she said "There you are, now you don't have to be nasty to me anymore."
Nasty - you ain't seen nothing, love.
I gave her one of my favourite lectures about how she couldn't tell Tesco you weren't able to pay the cost of a pack of crisps as you didn't have enough on you. She waddled off to the back of the bus, thighs rubbing together.
Common Sense Solution: Many passengers lie. They somehow see a bus driver as a soft touch. The bus is going from X to Z anyway, so they'll just try and offer a token gesture to travel, whereas at Tesco they can't physically leave the store with their purchases unless they have the right money to pay. Yes, this is life and I have spent much of mine dealing with it. But bus drivers can fight back in ways detailed above. I could have asked for ID to really throw the cat amongst the pigeons. That would almost certainly prove she was not entitled to an adult fare and the higher fare be charged. Even with the additional cash 'suddenly' found, this wouldn't cover it, so she simply would not be eligible to travel. Why should she travel between X and Z for less that the person in front and behind her? I've used this line of argument before as it morally gets the passengers on your side. I've also over-ridden the ticket machine, too, as £2.60 is better than nothing. Admittedly it's not the quoted fare (£2.90) or even the correct fare (£3.50), but it was money when all said and done. And I'd've done this had it not been for her struggling with her age...
Showing posts with label Bullshit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bullshit. Show all posts
Saturday, 26 May 2012
Monday, 6 February 2012
Just Plain Thick
There are two bus stops located along a stretch of road I was driving along today. The first is at a memorial and the second is by a school. They're around 0.25 miles apart. A woman flagged me down right in the middle of the two stops today. I stopped and let her board and after she paid I asked her to wait at either the memorial or school bus next time. She said she'd phoned my company before venturing out (sensible!) and that they'd told her there was a bus stop located by the school (all correct). The punch line, if that's what you call it, was not what I was expecting:
"I wasn't sure how near the school they meant so I thought I'd just stand outside my front gate to make sure."
Bullshit. Complete and utter fucking arse. The lazy cow couldn't be bothered walking to the bus stop - clearly sited outside the frigging school - and so thought she'd flag me down outside her house. She also dropped into the conversation that she wasn't used to catching buses. It shows.
You see buses stop at these things called bus stops. This way, it ensures everyone is treated fairly and that the bus isn't unnecessarily delayed by stopping too often, for example, for the idle wankers who want a personal taxi service at a fraction of the cost.
She asked for the suburb I was heading for he city centre.
The city centre most of my services call at has two major bus stops. On the way in is a row of stops at the far end of the pedestrianised area and beyond that is the second and final stop in the bus station. As I approached the centre, most alighted at the first stop, outside, by the pedestrianised area. She and a couple remained on for the bus station.
Mid-way between the two points, the idle woman got up, strolled to the front and said: "Here please!" Ha! Yeah, right. Now it was pay back time. I tried the old faithful at first, ignoring her completely, in the hope she thought I simply hadn't heard her, but this woman was having none of it. "I said HERE please!"
"I'm sorry, the next stop is the bus station. We only call at the bus stops I'm afraid!"
"Well I want to be at that shop there!" she said, as we whizzed past it at a very satisfying 30mph.
I told her that as it was mid-way between the two stops (a bit like her house) she had to walk regardless of which stop she chose to leave.
Then she started moaning very loudly about how dire the service was and how glad she doesn't have to rely on buses and how rude and ignorant the drivers are. I then lost it. I slammed the brakes on and shouted. JUST SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP AS I COULD CRASH THE BLOODY BUS WITH YOU GOING OFF ON ONE!
All that investment in my Driver CPC and NVQ going right out the window. She sat down and shut up. Perhaps I should mention that at my next training course, that it could be an effective way in which to deal with dickhead passengers?
The sensible thing to do now is back-track, but in such a way that the passenger doesn't know you're doing it. She'd plonked her fat arse down directly behind my cab, so I said fairly loudly that there was CCTV fitted throughout the bus and that my boss takes a personal dislike to passengers distracting the driver and stopping between bus stops and it can compromise safety. I also added that I'd already broken the rules by picking her up in between stops earlier in the route.
The plan was to make her sufficiently aware of how her actions would not be condoned by the depot and so she wouldn't dare phone in to report the incident as her story would effectively drop herself in it.
Needless to say, I've now got a mental image of her and shall be driving past the next time if she flags me down in between stops.
Common Sense Solution: Exactly what I did. Initially point the error out to the passenger (as I did) and hope they learn from it. Many will and many won't, usually in equal measure. If you should find you have a thicko who doesn't quite understand anything you're telling them, you may need to re-emphasise the point in another way, if this presents itself - luckily for me it did when she wanted me to drop her off in between stops. Yes, you'll get hassle but at the same time you're investing in a trouble-free life for the journeys to come as she won't dare recreate the situation. Probably.
"I wasn't sure how near the school they meant so I thought I'd just stand outside my front gate to make sure."
Bullshit. Complete and utter fucking arse. The lazy cow couldn't be bothered walking to the bus stop - clearly sited outside the frigging school - and so thought she'd flag me down outside her house. She also dropped into the conversation that she wasn't used to catching buses. It shows.
You see buses stop at these things called bus stops. This way, it ensures everyone is treated fairly and that the bus isn't unnecessarily delayed by stopping too often, for example, for the idle wankers who want a personal taxi service at a fraction of the cost.
She asked for the suburb I was heading for he city centre.
The city centre most of my services call at has two major bus stops. On the way in is a row of stops at the far end of the pedestrianised area and beyond that is the second and final stop in the bus station. As I approached the centre, most alighted at the first stop, outside, by the pedestrianised area. She and a couple remained on for the bus station.
Mid-way between the two points, the idle woman got up, strolled to the front and said: "Here please!" Ha! Yeah, right. Now it was pay back time. I tried the old faithful at first, ignoring her completely, in the hope she thought I simply hadn't heard her, but this woman was having none of it. "I said HERE please!"
"I'm sorry, the next stop is the bus station. We only call at the bus stops I'm afraid!"
"Well I want to be at that shop there!" she said, as we whizzed past it at a very satisfying 30mph.
I told her that as it was mid-way between the two stops (a bit like her house) she had to walk regardless of which stop she chose to leave.
Then she started moaning very loudly about how dire the service was and how glad she doesn't have to rely on buses and how rude and ignorant the drivers are. I then lost it. I slammed the brakes on and shouted. JUST SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP AS I COULD CRASH THE BLOODY BUS WITH YOU GOING OFF ON ONE!
All that investment in my Driver CPC and NVQ going right out the window. She sat down and shut up. Perhaps I should mention that at my next training course, that it could be an effective way in which to deal with dickhead passengers?
The sensible thing to do now is back-track, but in such a way that the passenger doesn't know you're doing it. She'd plonked her fat arse down directly behind my cab, so I said fairly loudly that there was CCTV fitted throughout the bus and that my boss takes a personal dislike to passengers distracting the driver and stopping between bus stops and it can compromise safety. I also added that I'd already broken the rules by picking her up in between stops earlier in the route.
The plan was to make her sufficiently aware of how her actions would not be condoned by the depot and so she wouldn't dare phone in to report the incident as her story would effectively drop herself in it.
Needless to say, I've now got a mental image of her and shall be driving past the next time if she flags me down in between stops.
Common Sense Solution: Exactly what I did. Initially point the error out to the passenger (as I did) and hope they learn from it. Many will and many won't, usually in equal measure. If you should find you have a thicko who doesn't quite understand anything you're telling them, you may need to re-emphasise the point in another way, if this presents itself - luckily for me it did when she wanted me to drop her off in between stops. Yes, you'll get hassle but at the same time you're investing in a trouble-free life for the journeys to come as she won't dare recreate the situation. Probably.
Saturday, 3 December 2011
All for the sake of 9p
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.
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.
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, 29 September 2011
'NS'
I despair of some passengers, I really do. This tattooed thug sat for over an hour waiting for a bus on Saturday that didn't operate. During the time he was sat he was next to a timetable - fully in date and clear for all to see. He hadn't even bothered to look at it. I was heading in the opposite direction at 0800, when he tagged onto the end of my people.
"Oi mate! When's the next bus to [town A]?"
"You can't catch one from here on a Saturday!" said I
"Course you can, I catch it every day!" he replied
Well obviously he doesn't. He looked like he was going to work on a building site and I've never seen him before. A bus does operate from where he was waiting at 0700 on Mondays to Fridays, but not at any other time. This can be easily identified on the Monday to Saturday timetable as there is 'NS' at the top of the column. Looking at the codes at the foot of the table, 'NS' means 'Not Saturdays'.
Simples.
Clearly too complicated for some. I just cannot fathom why ANYONE would sit for an hour, adjacent to a timetable, and not look at it once. Thick as shit.
I committed gross misconduct and gave him a free ride to somewhere where he could intercept a bus to his destination. He did thank me, I will admit that, and as I drove away with him on board, he stood in the area where the wheelchair goes. One of his friends boarded at the next stop and I heard him communicating with him.
"It's an absolute fucking joke!" he exclaimed. He was reasonably polite to me, but to a friend, he was letting his true feelings be shown.
"Yes it is an absolute fucking joke!" I remember thinking to myself, "How someone can even consider it to be anyone's fault other than their own for waiting for a bus that does not and has not ever operated on a Saturday".
Common Sense Solution: Buses are sometimes the victim of their success. High-frequency services extol the virtues of not needing a timetable and some people extend this to lesser services. This guy had clearly only just started catching the 0700 bus that week and didn't bother to check that there was no alteration on a Saturday morning. The fault was his and his alone. Countless examples of this type must take place up and down the country every day. Drivers just have to deal with it in their own inimitable way.
"Oi mate! When's the next bus to [town A]?"
"You can't catch one from here on a Saturday!" said I
"Course you can, I catch it every day!" he replied
Well obviously he doesn't. He looked like he was going to work on a building site and I've never seen him before. A bus does operate from where he was waiting at 0700 on Mondays to Fridays, but not at any other time. This can be easily identified on the Monday to Saturday timetable as there is 'NS' at the top of the column. Looking at the codes at the foot of the table, 'NS' means 'Not Saturdays'.
Simples.
Clearly too complicated for some. I just cannot fathom why ANYONE would sit for an hour, adjacent to a timetable, and not look at it once. Thick as shit.
I committed gross misconduct and gave him a free ride to somewhere where he could intercept a bus to his destination. He did thank me, I will admit that, and as I drove away with him on board, he stood in the area where the wheelchair goes. One of his friends boarded at the next stop and I heard him communicating with him.
"It's an absolute fucking joke!" he exclaimed. He was reasonably polite to me, but to a friend, he was letting his true feelings be shown.
"Yes it is an absolute fucking joke!" I remember thinking to myself, "How someone can even consider it to be anyone's fault other than their own for waiting for a bus that does not and has not ever operated on a Saturday".
Common Sense Solution: Buses are sometimes the victim of their success. High-frequency services extol the virtues of not needing a timetable and some people extend this to lesser services. This guy had clearly only just started catching the 0700 bus that week and didn't bother to check that there was no alteration on a Saturday morning. The fault was his and his alone. Countless examples of this type must take place up and down the country every day. Drivers just have to deal with it in their own inimitable way.
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