To think this bus driver was a complete penis this morning...

[Mawgatron]

So, it's snowing. It's 6.50 am (therefore very dark). I have money (£10 note). Get on the bus, apologise for lack of change. This has happened loads of other times, bus driver always fine about it, but I am always overly apologetic anyway.
Fare is £2.30, driver has no change, tells me he will take the tenner and I will have to do without my £7.70 change or get off the bus. I explain that I am 5 months pregnant, it is snowy and slippery on the pavement, I have money and am prepared to pay, but not without change. It will take 40 mins to walk in the dark. He basically tells me tough shit.
Aibu to think he should have let me on without paying, as it is their problem if they don't have any change?
No one else was on the bus, so there would have been no one to spot him helping me out. He was really arsey and rude.
I may have called him a cock loudly once off the bus. Whoops. I am aware that that was unreasonable, but I was fuming (and freezing).

[scarletforya]

Why is it a no-brainer to have the correct fare?

Why wouldn't it be? The fare is going to be a few sheckles or whatever, just have change. It's simple.

If you didn't know how much it would be then google it or look at the info on the bus stop. Jeez people it's not hard. I don't get buses regularly either but it's not rocket science. Just have a bit of change and stop being awkward.

[HecateWhoopass]

imagine how much change they'd have to carry if loads of people rocked up with £10 notes! If they weren't insistent on correct change - it would be a nightmare for them, as most people wouldn't bother. Yes, he was wrong to be rude. There was no need for it. I think that it's always good to keep a few quid in change in the house, for stuff like this. Perhaps you could do that in future? a tenner in coins in a jar? Keep it topped up? That would avoid something like this happening again.

It'd also be a good idea for people to be able to swipe their cards or do that thing with your mobile phone that you can apparently do these days. I wonder if bus companies will introduce that. (they may have already in some places, I don't know)

[ChaoticisasChaoticdoes]

There used to be signs on our buses that said they wouldn't change £20 notes. That sign hasn't been there for a while so whether or not they now do I don't know. They do change £5 and £10 notes though, although possibly not first thing in a morning. I've never been on a bus that early.

Get an Oyster card. People that pay cash are a pita.

Yes because everybody lives in London don't they

And it's hilarious how you're all fine and well and able to cycle to work, but suddenly you're too pregnant to be able to walk when he tells you to get off his bus?

Really, you are incapable of realising the difference between cycling in fine weather and walking in snow and ice

As for free rides, an older lady got on the bus, the other day, at just gone 9.15am. She didn't pay. Dependant on where the OP lives and the system their bus company uses the driver could have waited until having change or given her a receipt.

[youfhearted]

but older lady, surely they have free journeys?

my bus is mainly students and pensioners.

[Sugarice]

Round our way, OAP's can ride free after 9.30.

[JenaiMorris]

Fares here seem to change like the weather. There is nothing online or at the bus stop to tell you how much a specific journey is going to cost so unless you make the same journey very often it's guesswork.

Having said that, I know that drivers don't always have change so try to have some myself. And a return into town is the best part of a fiver anyway. Thieving bastards (the bus co, not the drivers).

[Sugarice]

We can't buy return fares anymore, Arriva stopped them round here [gits!]

[PeachActiviaMinge]

I can't believe the amount of abuse the driver has gotten here just for doing his job. Some people need to learn to take personal responsibility. If I need change I just nip into a shop and get it I don't blame everyone else for the fact that I was in the wrong. Such an entitled attitude,

[Pigsmummy]

Depends on the policy, in London its buy before you board, you knew you were getting the bus so couldn't you have thought to get a smaller note or the right fare? Can you buy a weekly ticket?

I think that the bus driver should have offered you to collect your change from the depot however.

[Pigsmummy]

Balloonslayer the OP said that this "has happened loads of other times" which means that she uses the bus regularly without having the correct fare.

[elliejjtiny]

It's a tricky one. I spend £40 on the bus a week getting the dc's to school and whenever the bus is late (most of the time) is a double decker so I have to manage 2 disabled children and fold the buggy (often) etc I get annoyed because I've paid a small fortune for a service that doesn't meet my needs.

I think if the bus fare was cheaper and the buses ran on time then passengers wouldn't mind sorting out their own change and folding their buggies. Then the bus drivers would be less grumpy and problem solved. I should work at the transport department

[Lynned]

Assumed OP lived in London as £2.30 is an oyster fayre.

[atthewelles]

In Ireland you never get change, just a refund ticket and bus drivers won't take fivers or tenners for a single fare.

Its to encourage people to have the right money or buy a weekly/monthly ticket. I think its fair enough. Its bad enough when people get on the bus and then hold everyone up faffing around looking for their purse. If they all had to be given exact change as well it would take hours to get anywhere.

YABU.

[Bogeyface]

I dont think that paying £2.30 for the bus is exclusive to London..ffs.........

[cumfy]

They must have policies and procedures for all this.

Thought they had to take your name and address if you didn't pay.

[WorraLiberty]

YABU, he's just doing his job.

If the Inspector got on and you couldn't produce a ticket, I'm quite sure you'd argue about paying a fine because afterall...the driver let you on knowing you didn't pay.

It's his job on the line I'm afraid.

[Flobbadobs]

If an inspector had got on and the driver had let you on without charge the driver could have been disciplined or fired. Would you want that?
The driver was doing his job.
YABU

[KellyElly]

It would be easier if all buses had an oyster card type system that you could top up online and just touch in and out.

[Lynned]

Really? That's quite a revalation. I thought all shitty little places in the sticks ( ie not London) only charged 50p bus fare to board with the goats and chickens.

[Sallyingforth]

He should perhaps have been more polite, but I think you were BU. You would have taken all/most of his change right at the start of the shift.

[Fillyjonk75]

Last time I got the bus I didn't get much change from a fiver. One way.

[ZenNudist]

Some bus drivers love to make people's lives miserable. They are treated badly by rude members if the public and take it out on non-rude people who deserve better.

A favourite trick of Manchester bus drivers used to be driving past a bus stop if a different service was stopped there even though I'd be trying to flag it.

They also pull out into traffic then refuse to open door to people who were probably pass holders.

Another time I ran and jumped on a bus which deliberately closed its doors on me. It then pulled out into traffic with my leg trapped in the door. He refused to open the door as he was a twat, followed standard Manchester bus driver behaviour to not open doors to passengers despite being stuck in traffic and passengers having bus passes so he literally only has to open a door. I hopped along in slow moving traffic hollering until he released my leg and let me on!

[scarred for life emoticon]

You should write to your local authority complaining that the operator is insufficiently flexible to adequately service the needs of the local community.

[KobayashiMaru]

they are totally not allowed to open the door when pulled away from the stop, its an instant dismissal offence.