My wife went back top work for the first time in 15 months this week. She tried to pay a £4.10 bus fare with a £10 note and the driver said “no” and followed it up with “we’re not a bank”.

If that is the attitude you are barely a bus company.

Would never happen in a shop! Complain to bus company.

Sounds like he was an arse to me. I hope she just went and sat down on the bus. I would have done.

This happened to me in London, as I did not have enough cash on my pre pay oyster card. I wonder if the bus companies know ATM’s only dish out tenners.

my other half has this quite frequently, some drivers give change, others whinge and whine.

I believe you can simply ask for a ‘unpaid fare voucher’ on most bus companies if you or the driver doesn’t have the right change & send the bus company the money later

I suspect the driver wouldn’t offer this option though as he’ll have to fill it in

I hate buses. The drivers can be right tosspots. I’m sure some people make a point of making other peoples lifes as difficult as possible

Yes, if only bus drivers were as reasonable and easy going as the folk on here, the world would be a far nicer place.

Bus Driver, unreasonable Ar$e? Surely not?

how far was she going for £4.10?!

My wife went back top work for the first time in 15 months this week.

Is she returning from mat leave? Wish her luck if so. Mine’s doing the same and just passed her proficiency tests yesterday and is extremely happy.

It’s hard coming back from mat leave so wish her all the best.

Oh and can I be the first to reply:

how far was she going for £4.10?!

For that kind of money i’d say ‘all the way’. budum tish!

OK I just undid the nice things I said earlier didn’t I. 😳

how far was she going for £4.10?!

All the way? 🙂

Manchester and back. 4 miles each way.

I will ignore the other comments. 😉

Don’t start me – they make my life hell.

Last week one refused to let me on the bus – w****r had seen me running (the bus was early) and shut the doors, but hadn’t moved an inch due to traffic so was still on the stop. That wasn’t even being a jobsworth that was just nasty. Then of course we had the famous 62 bus drought and the next scheduled one didn’t turn up and I was stood at the bus top for an hour then had to stand all the way home as 3 loads of people crammed on one bus. Poor driver had to sail past some people at Penicuik, who could have been waiting over an hour already, as the bus was full.

But yes, if driver refused to give me change I’d be like “OK, I’ll pay you tomorrow then” and sat down. Although I do try to take the right money as you even sometimes get a thanks out of them and it’s worth it to see one behave like a human being.

Sorry I know its not an easy job driving all day and dealing with the public and I am sure it is just a few ruining it for everyone.

This happened to a young guy here, Driver told him he was going to have to take the £10 for a 2.50 fare as he had put a handwritten sign on the windscreen stating exact money only!

wonder what would have happened to the £7.50!

This is the best reason in the world to commute everywhere by bike

Manchester and back

From London I hope!

It’s been the way in Edinburgh for some time that LRT (Red buses) do not give change. The driver has no access to the cash thing.

The First (formerly the Green buses) pick and choose depending on the facilities on the bus.

I think it is designed to save them time at stops. Crap system though, surely all it needs is a conductor like the olde days and this will also keep Senga and Chesney up the back seats in check and stop them playing happy hardcore crap on their phones.

Yes LRT. Their bus drivers are at least a bit friendlier ! And I do feel almost sorry for them having to explain 1000 times a day to foreign tourists during the festival WE DINNAE GIVE CHANGE LUV.

Schaudendfreude is the badly spelled german word !

Manchester and back

From London I hope!

The price you pay for living in The Promised Land. 😉

The bus company in question is FIRST. No problem with change on Monday, different policy on Tuesday.

The only proffesion who think they are more dangerous than bus drivers are train conductors, who are the opposite of dinner ladies who Know they are dangerous.

Bus drivers are the worst kind of dickheads, especially in Manchester.

A £4.10 fee with a tenner is fine imo, if she was trying to pay a an 85p ticket with it then you could maybe see his point.

Stagecoach Bus will give change if the driver has it or the option of a change voucher which can be later exchanged for cash with another Stagecoach driver. The unpaid fare form can only be issued if the customer has identification showing their name and address.

I don’t see his problem at all – surely the less change he has at the end of the shift the better as it means less cashing up? (Assuming they still have to do their own cashing up these days).

Tell her to turn up every day with ID and not the right change and see if they prefer giving change or writing the ticket?

She ended up paying him in shrapnel and Polo mints found at the bottom of her bag, purse and pockets, but it took some time.

If he’d thrown her off the bus there would have been a scene involving riot police.

Do they not do weekly saver tickets or somesuch? Sadly the concept of an Oyster type card hasn’t really reached the outer lying cities of the UK, when I had to start using buses last year I was really shocked by the prices, fortunately (!?) I’m eligible for a disabled person travel pass so get free travel on buses & trains in the Mersey area until I hopefully get my driving licence back. I wouldn’t use public transport if I was paying for it…..

Still get tits telling me the pass is only for off peak travel until I show them the T&Cs on the back which are perfectly clear, free travel until midnight on the date of expiry at any time of day. Shuts them up pretty quick.

Do they not do weekly saver tickets or somesuch?

They do. But they are not much use if you only go to work 2 days a week.

OK, furry muff. As I said I don’t pay much attention to ticket prices but the merseyside buses all tend to push those saver tickets.

…refused to let me on the bus – w****r had seen me running (the bus was early) and shut the doors, but hadn’t moved an inch due to traffic so was still on the stop…

There will be a small red button immediately to the right of the doors marked “Emergency use only”.
Press that next time and, as if by magic, the doors will open. 😉

surely the less change he has at the end of the shift the better as it means less cashing up

There’s a cashing up machine at the depot, a bit like paying cash at a self service supermarket checkout.
It’s easier to tip a bag full of coins in than to feed the notes in one at a time.

Didn’t the Mark Thomas comedy product do something on this a few years back? IIRC if they can’t give you change then they have to give you a voucher to pay the bus company directly.

There’s a cashing up machine at the depot, a bit like paying cash at a self service supermarket checkout.

Is that how it goes now? When I worked in the business (Saturday job as a kid) the drivers manually cashed up and we had those machines to check against and consolidate.

Hels – I thought you rode to work anyway?

as said above, just smile, sit down and see what they do.

if she was trying to pay a an 85p ticket with it then you could maybe see his point.

Where can you get an 85p bus ticket? 1987?

It £2.50-odd for less than 2 miles into town from our house. Mrs PP used the bus a few years ago when she was on crutches and was shocked at the price.

SBZ

I ride to work a couple of times a week tops, wish I was fit enough to ride every day ! Take the motorbike when I can and bus the rest. But with recent weather have to slum it with the proles way more often !! I hate it sooooo much, and it’s expensive. Might have to WTFU and get on the motorbike more in the crappy weather.

Can I do my rant now about bus customers ?? And riding buses visibly disabled with my arm in a sling and big ole pins sticking out of it, and NAE F*****R standing up for me ??

Where can you get an 85p bus ticket? 1987?

It £2.50-odd for less than 2 miles into town from our house. Mrs PP used the bus a few years ago when she was on crutches and was shocked at the price.

I think there are still 85p/£1 fayres on the student magic buses that shuttle up and down Oxford Road in Manchester. Either way, I think you see my point.

“There will be a small red button immediately to the right of the doors marked “Emergency use only”.
Press that next time and, as if by magic, the doors will open. “
do this at your own risk, as it is a criminal offence to interfere with the doors on a bus.
as a bus driver, i agree with most of the comments on here, many bus drivers are utter w@^&*(s, i hate it because most members of the public treat me as though i am too.
however, it must be said, bus fares are too high, so high in fact, that some passengers cant afford soap.

however, it must be said, bus fares are too high, so high in fact, that some passengers cant afford soap.

Hahahahahahaha! Classic!

Bus drivers are ar$eholes. I had one try to intentionally run me over last week on my bike. I was waiting at a junction to cross a one way street. In front of me was a yellow box junction. The traffic was queued up on the right hand side of the box and a bus was approaching from the left. It should have stopped before the junction obviously but he saw me waiting to cross, slowed down then crept the bus into the junction and stopped right in front of me with his front wheel more or less in front of me. I decided to just go around the front of him and when he saw this he started moving forward again and as I got in front of him he moved forward fast, forcing me to swerve. I jumped off the bike and politely invited him to step off the bus and explain what he was doing. Sadly he declined my invitation…