to ask the bus company to pay my taxi fare?

[soandsosmummy]

They are not going to there are they?

I dropped dd off at school then went to wait at stop to go to work. I got to bus stop at 8.20. 4 buses marked not in service went past and finally at 9.15 having phoned work a couple of times I had no choice but to flag down the taxi which luckily came past. I took two school children aged 11 with me and got the taxi to detour to drop them off at school - they were both in tears from the cold and I was not far from it. I also took an elderly lady who was there before me who fortunately only wanted to go round the corner from work. I'd already lent her my scarf as she was clearly freezing - shivering and (though i said nothing to her) her lips were turning slightly blue and her voice was slurring though she improved in warm taxi. There were others at the stop but they were relatively fit looking people in their 20s and 30s who I figured could sort themselves out. Not one of them seemed to show interest in the taxi anyway.

AIBU to send the receipt to bus company asking for some kind of compensation (refund of the taxi fare) and explaining exactly how badly their service impacted on quite vulnerable people. Normally I wouldn't be so angry but the fact so many of the buses went past marked not in service implies that they had both buses and driver available on the route which is meant to run buses every 5-10 minutes at that time of day

Dunno about buses but the trains here have a compensation scheme if there are disruptions to the published timetable. However, the amount relates to your ticket price as opposed to the inconvenience caused ie taxi fare.

Having said that, their customer services might surprise you.

YANBU to ask, but I wouldn't hold your breath. Although waiting for 55 minutes is pretty appauling service.

YANBU to ask but it's unlikely they will. That is a shocking service.
As an aside you sound absolutely lovely helping those people to get where they needed to go I'm sure they were massively grateful.

YANBU to ask but I wouldn't hold your breath. You have my sympathy, I rely on public transport too.

I was thinking the other day it would be nice if taxi customers could dock a late fee from their fare if their taxi turns up stupidly later than the booked time.

The other day I was at the bus stop and there was an old lady looking abolutely freezing too. She had a nice wool coat on, but tights and open topped shoes! No wonder she was freezing!

I would definitely write to them. At the very least, it will inform them of the impact that their service had on you, these school children and the elderly lady. I suspect you won't get your money back, though - there will be some exclusion that they use to wriggle out of it - though no buses for 55 minutes certainly sounds like more than one bus failed to turn up, so they can't use the excuse that a bus broke down.

Where was this? In many place routes are run under contract with the local authority. So even if you don't get compensation, a letter to the relevent public body might hold them more accountable.

Hope you've warmed up.

YANBU to try. Also email your councillor in charge of transport. In a town-district-county set-up it should be the county council. In a large metropolitan area (e.g. Tyne and Wear) it will be either the Integrated Transport Authority (councils working together) or the city council.

In my experience they tend to light a fire under companies not operating properly and can also fine them for not operating according to the timetable. If there is a wider problem with this company then it's worth letting them know so they can investigate.

Thank you I'll find out who I need to write to and copy the letter

the elderly lady said she'd already been there for 15 mintues when i turned up. I was actually really worried for her health.

Its not fair on the school children,they were in plenty of time but probably got in trouble for being late

I think I'm thawing out

that's terrible, I definitely think you should complain and ask for your taxi fare back at least.
If they try and fob you off threaten to go to the local paper!

I doubt they'll give you your fare back, but you should definitely write and complain, especially about the effect on the elderly lady of waiting so long. You should at the very least get a decent letter of apology. Is the service often this bad or is this unusual for them?

Oh and I forgot to say how kind of you to look out for the most vulnerable people and not just yourself- I bet they were very grateful!

From the bus companies PoV only YOU would have paid a fare anyway probably so they've only lost one customer's revenue.

I'm not defending them, I've picked up people at bus stops who have been there on my way to the supermarket on the way back because they do look vulnerable - particularly in the late evening.

But yes do complain, they probably won't refund you but at least you'll get a letter of explanation - which you can burn to warm you up :)