No one should ever throw children off a bus because they haven’t the correct—or any—fare. There are (or should be) procedures that involve names, addresses and promises. We all know that the recovery rate is poor, that parents or the children themselves don’t always cough up the cash. The admin time in chasing such lost revenue isn’t usually worth it, either. It’s a fact of life within the bus industry that you’ve just got to accept.
No one should directly confront the driver after the event, either. Two wrongs, and all that. Yet, that’s what a Derby parent did, when he learnt that his 14 year old daughter and her 13 year old companion were allegedly spoken to rudely and then refused entry to an Arriva Derby bus because they had no B-line child concession card. Better for Dad to go through proper channels rather than potentially make a monkey of himself for the on-board CCTV. I didn’t know we encouraged vigilantes in this country.
No one should immediately contact their local newspaper about such a story (as did this parent) without first speaking to the operator. It’s a modern symptom of English life these days and rather equates to telling tales to teacher. Then again, since there is no immediate authority to which to complain, people become frustrated. No different to Tesco, though.
No one should ever print such stories. This sort of thing isn’t “news”, it’s Polyfilla. The fact that articles such as these appear is indicative of the need to fill space between press releases. Going to the paper just brings out the worst in people, whether they rationally side with the operator or whether they take a holier-than-thou approach against it.
No one should come up with comments like, “My wife and I told Ashleigh that if she went into town, then she had to stay in Westfield and only leave to get the bus home” without first asking themselves, if it was so unsafe why were no parents with them at 2030 on a Christmas late night shopping trip.
No one should allow their children out without checking they had the correct fare and pass beforehand, surely. Isn’t that basic parenting? The pioneering Derbyshire council B-line student travel proof of age card was one of the first child concessionary schemes in England and has been around long enough for everyone to know that it’s a requirement.
Everyone should have the correct fare with them before they travel. Regrettably, young people too often feel that they can get away with “half fare” when they are patently over 15 (or whatever the local cut off is). Woe betide a driver who actually challenges someone he feels is over age. 16 is very much an arbitrary cut off these days, as few start work at this age. The only way around this is charge full adult fares at all times for those unaccompanied young people who don’t have their identifies with them. Or balance the two types of fares to minimise revenue loss, by reducing the child concession still further.
Now, *that* would make for a *proper* news story.
Wednesday, 29 December 2010
Child Fares
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10 comments:
A variation on this theme.....
No one should ever throw adults off a bus because the driver doesn't have the correct -or any- .
There should be procedures that involve the issue of vouchers or promises to get change from another driver at the bus station on arrival.
A customer turned away is a fare lost, with further fares lost in the future if they decide using the bus is "just too difficult".
In this "ITSO era", payment by electronic cards should be heavily promoted to encourage a move away from cash, with benefits accruing to the operator as well as the passenger.
"-or any- change" has been missed off the start of my opening sentence!
as a small boy i often spent my bus fare/dinner money on other things.then i walked home.problem with modern life is that children of tender years no longer make their own way to school and back,or anywhere else for that matter.
'This sort of thing isn’t “news”,...'
I agree with your sentiment here, though I suspect it would probably be more correct to say that "this sort of thing isn't newsworthy". This type of thing is generally trivial (and hopefully stays that way), but there is clearly a story, particularly if somebody has decided to play the vigilante. Depending on your perspective, somebody (possibly several people) have done something wrong, the system has not functioned correctly, or in IT terms perhaps, there is an 'exception state'. If the events had unfolded as planned (apart from the child forgetting or losing their pass), then there would be no interest from the general public, and therefore no story.
It's a fact of life that people are more interested in 'bad' news than 'good' news. Let's face it, we're only discussing it here because something in the particular set of circumstances has not gone according to plan!
I agree also that reducing child concessions further would make a proper news story. Whether it is one that an operator would want to see written about their company is an entirely different matter! Not all publicity is good publicity!
Does anyone have knowledge of child and other concessions given by our continental cousins?
I could well be wrong but feeling is that a lot that brit operators do, marketed, is absent from their systems. admittedly feeling is only from holiday tripslamattes
@ anon 1722:
from my experience of French buses the concept of half fares for children does not exist. Free travel until 4 years of age if accompanied. Then the adult fare. There may be provision for reduced fare season tickets for scholars and students, but not usually for one-off single journeys.
To answer Anon at 17:22, this page shows the fares for the Freiburg 'Verkehrsverbund' area (south west Germany)
http://www.rvf.de/Fahrkarten.php
Children are 'Kinder' (singular = 'Kind'); 'Schüler/Azubi' refers to schoolchildren. In general, the fares are about two thirds the adult level. As far as I'm aware, this is fairly typical.
The problem is that people are fed up with "customer service departments" that only ever issue a standard letter in response. This is, of course, not confined to transport, but is frustrating wherever it occurs.
If one could write a letter or e-mail to the depot manager, say, who would actually reply to it (or at least dictate what the reply was going to be, having actually read it) people might actually use the proper channels.
When is last time your local rag ran a story about a taxi driver throwing someone out of a cab because they didn't have the right fare ? Most cabs now take payment cards as standard...so who wants the custom more ?
If bus companies publicised their fares more efficiently, passengers could be expected to have the right money...but try getting a fare chart from a bus company !!
As children don't earn money,and don't yet own a car of their own, surely it should be half-fare until 16 ? They actually enjoy the freedom the bus can give them, but are enough attempts made to keep them once they are 17 ?
In London, under 11's travel free without need for Id, 11-15's need their Zip Oyster Pass to travel or pay their fare. In practice, 95% of them carry the Zip pass - even if they are only travelling one stop. The other 5% act like they can't see you or you see them. Those aged 16+ are very quick to try it on by claiming they've either lost or broken their pass and are waiting for a new one.
And people wonder why we bus drivers hate our jobs....
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