Or Bus Driver

[Sarahh2014]

Just got on a bus in my village with a £10 note the fare i was getting was £4 not ideal but it was genuinely all i had on me ( no time to change it in a shop) bus driver stated had no change and could issue a credit note for the money owed to me.I said I'm sorry but I need the changeplus I have no need to travel on any more buses to use up the credit pls could you let me on? he refused resulting me in being late for an appointment

On our local buses they give no change. So if you don’t have the correct fair and you give £10 for a £4. journey, you’d get no change. I got on the bus once with my dd and gc, our fair was £1.20 each, so a £2.40 fair in total for us. We only had a £5 and some coins, but not £2.40. So we had to pay a £5. Lesson learned, we never got on without change again.

Nick definitely think the OP would have been unreasonable to expect a free ride. Just thinking that if it’s a busy route and everyone has to pay in cash then it should have been more than possible for the OP to get her change by the time she got off the bus. If she gave her £10 to driver when she boarded, she could have got her change at the end of her journey. If the bus was quiet that day and driver didn’t have enough change then she should have taken the credit note for the balance (which I’m sure she could have swapped for cash at the depot if it came to it).

I’ve done this myself a few times when visiting a friend who has buses like this near her and in London before things went fully cashless (showing my age now). The driver has always been fine about it and I’ve never not had my change by the end of the journey so just thought I’d suggest this as an alternative!

I use notes on the bus all the time - but only when the change is going to be a couple of pounds. I wouldn't use a £20 on them. And if I'm doing a short journey I make sure I have the right change because I know they might not have change and I'd have to get a credit note.

Or they have a good app that I use sometimes (have to remember to take a charger out as my phone battery is crap!)

He offered you a credit note like he was supposed to. Not his fault he didn't have change.

YABU. I've never known of a bus driver to give change. And £6 is a lot - it's not a few pence.

Where I live you can take the credit notes and cash them on any other bus for change or take them to the bus station and get change

YABU. He had no change, you can't have a free bus journey just for that. It's up to you to make sure you have the correct amount. Buses round here in Glasgow don't even give change! They've just started accepting contactless payment.

I've never known of a bus driver to give change.

NEVER?

I've had change from three bus drivers in the last few days. Once for a tenner. I was nicely apologetic and he was gracious about it.

OK, maybe the OP could have left in time to get change from a shop, but shit happens.

Bus drivers should have a float like most other people who handle cash.

In this case I might have taken the credit note and then contacted the bus company to ask to cash it in/have it put on my debit card instead.

What would you have preferred him to do? He offered you credit, nothing else he could've done if neither of you had change. YABU

YABVU. He said he had no change and you think he is unreasonable for not giving you change. How can he possibly give you something he does not have?

It's an idiotic question.

It's a bus not a bank

Where i am the bus drivers stopped carrying cash cause of getting robbed.

he refused resulting me in being late for an appointment No, you were unprepared for your day, resulting in you being late for an appointment.
For all the above reasons given by other posters. Always try and have change for a bus - presumably if you'd left home five minutes earlier you could have popped into a shop and bought a bar of choc or a banana and got change. Lesson learnt.

YABU. Contactless is the way forward for buses, but until then bus drivers are never guaranteed to have change. It's not like a shop; they can't call down a supervisor from the back office with more change if they run out. And a large float puts them at risk of being robbed.

YABU.

I travel on buses regularly many in other areas insist you have exact change however my operator acts in the same way as yours. If the bus driver Does Not Have the Change, then he can't give it to you, regardless of whether or not you need it etc. etc.

Credit note vouchers don't have to be used on another bus. you can also just exchange them for cash at the bus station OR with another bus driver but not actually ride the bus. I have done this in the past.

I don't know what you expect the driver to have done, especially first thing in the morning before they've taken much cash from customers it only takes you being the 2nd or 3rd person to pay with a note to mean he's completely wiped out of change.

You knew that you only had a £10 and you also knew what the fare would be. If having the change was SO important to you then YOU should have managed your time better and made sure you allowed time to change up the £10 note in a shop.

Wow... I genuinely forgot that buses that take cash still exist

You would not expect to go to Tesco and get it for free, no, but you would also expect them to have the change to give you. I expect change and have always had it on bus journeys.

NEVER?

No. Never.

he refused resulting me in being late for an appointment

It was your fault you were late, not his.

I don't think YABU. If the bus usually gives change, they should have had enough for you.

Some buses don't ever give change which is different. But if their policy is to give change they should have it available.

I don't think YABU. If the bus usually gives change, they should have had enough for you

Would you say the same if she only had a 50? How much money do you expect drivers to carry with them?

Terfs, how very odd. This certainly still happens in the Midlands. I can't believe it doesn't happen elsewhere in the UK too.

They should have enough change. Some bus companies say you have to have the correct change or take cards or have cashless methods of payment.

BUT if they don't do that they need to make sure they have enough float. Was there nobody on the bus with change (other passengers)?

I thought it was a universally known thing to not take notes on buses

never heard that. I don't travel by bus very often though.

So he offered travel and a credit note or no travel. You chose not to travel. He hardly made you late for your appointment. Your choice made you late.

You offered the note, he offered travel plus a credit note but you decided you should get travel for free. I can't understand why you felt you should have travelled for free.

We have an app here too which makes things a lot easier but when I had this issue previously the driver let me on and gave me my change when I got off as more people had got on by then. It seems stupid having a blanket ban on notes like that, it's not ideal but shit happens and it's not like you were trying to pay a £1 fare with a £20 note!

Bus around here has clearly posted they don't carry change so you have to have the exact fare or you don't get on.