Ex Bus Driver Again

[Tipstaff]

On 10/11/2023 at 21:42, busdriver1 said:

Very wrong, every person travelling on a bus does so at the drivers discretion. That is in the road traffic act and has survived many many rewrites. 

Didn't this come from the 'Public Service Vehicle Regulations' rather than the RTA?   

I agree with the OP about people abusing the system and drivers not being supported by their company.  A colleague of mine (ex bus driver) had a similar dispute with his employer over a passenger abusing a travel card and was told not to refuse travel to any person.

[Guest busdriver1]

7 hours ago, Tipstaff said:

Didn't this come from the 'Public Service Vehicle Regulations' rather than the RTA?   

I agree with the OP about people abusing the system and drivers not being supported by their company.  A colleague of mine (ex bus driver) had a similar dispute with his employer over a passenger abusing a travel card and was told not to refuse travel to any person.

You know, you are correct but the point stands. Yes there are some companies who would rather be ripped off than get a tiny bit of negative publicity. That publicity would however demonstrate to toe rags that they wont get away with fare evasion so would be for the long term good.

[YorkieontheTyne]

In this area Stagecoach have prominent signage by the driver that states that if payment cannot be make by smart card/contactless then some other form of payment is required. Case closed methinks.

[Irene Swaine]

On 10/11/2023 at 18:57, buswinker said:

Did you know that a certain bus company has a company policy that if your card or phone won't make a contact less payment for whatever reason and you don't have cash, you can travel anyway for free? 

If the driver refuses, simply state it's company policy, that the driver can't refuse travel and tell them to ring the office to confirm it. Push the issue and you will travel for free. 

I say this not to encourage people to do this as many probably will when they read this. I say this in the hope that the company will change their policy when they see that many more people try this in order to free ride. 

The company has the view that by doing this for a passenger, the next time they travel they will have a means of paying and use this company's service as they were treated well the last time. Erm, no. If people realise this, they will take advantage every time they travel to get free rides. This company needs to grow a pair and stand up to people who want to take advantage and say no, if you can't pay, you don't travel. As drivers we use the argument that if you was to try to buy something in a shop and your card doesn't work, you don't get to walk out with the item. 

If more people use the company policy argument back, then eventually the lost revenue will result in fares increasing. So those of you who are decent people reading this will know why fares increase in the future. 

This is an absolutely ridiculous policy and it needs to stop. If they only took cash payments, there would not be this issue. I am surprised that any seasoned bus company would be so gullable. If you give average public an inch, they will take a mile.

[Zinger549]

5 hours ago, Irene Swaine said:

This is an absolutely ridiculous policy and it needs to stop. If they only took cash payments, there would not be this issue. I am surprised that any seasoned bus company would be so gullable. If you give average public an inch, they will take a mile.

What if they used a forged note

[Irene Swaine]

3 hours ago, Zinger549 said:

What if they used a forged note

Fraud detection pens can flag up such a thing. Did you hear about the card purchased TravelMaster fraud this year?

[Zinger549]

21 minutes ago, Irene Swaine said:

Fraud detection pens can flag up such a thing. Did you hear about the card purchased TravelMaster fraud this year?

And what about fake coins? Do you know how many people were committing card fraud. To quote Nurse Gladys "It's the age of the microchip and Irene is still running on steam".

[Resident]

9 hours ago, Irene Swaine said:

Fraud detection pens can flag up such a thing. Did you hear about the card purchased TravelMaster fraud this year?

The pens don't work on the new polymer notes. 

It's worth noting that almost every instance of the card fraud happened within the same area of the city, with most of the fraud happening within a 1/2mile of a police station, sometimes right on it's doorstep, however when reported SYP weren't interested. 
 

[Irene Swaine]

4 hours ago, Resident said:

The pens don't work on the new polymer notes. 

It's worth noting that almost every instance of the card fraud happened within the same area of the city, with most of the fraud happening within a 1/2mile of a police station, sometimes right on it's doorstep, however when reported SYP weren't interested. 
 

And the new style notes are designed with intricate detail that is hard for fraudsters to copy. The other advantage is that a customer either has a  £2 coin  in his wallet or he doesn't.  If he tries to pay with card and it doesn't scan, there is the situation what the OP describes. Cash never suffers a technical failure.

[Zinger549]

2 hours ago, Irene Swaine said:

And the new style notes are designed with intricate detail that is hard for fraudsters to copy. The other advantage is that a customer either has a  £2 coin  in his wallet or he doesn't.  If he tries to pay with card and it doesn't scan, there is the situation what the OP describes. Cash never suffers a technical failure.

Do you pay your staff in cash? Just hand them an envelope filled with notes at the end of each month.