I am a regular traveler on bus services and so is my daughter, she is 15 and travels with me sometimes or alone. As I travel more regularly I have a pass and my daughter pays cash journey by journey.
She is regularly challenged by drivers regarding age, which of course I am not complaining about, because I realise that drivers do need to challenge those they think are not half fare. What I am complaining about is the attitude towards my daughter, and myself when she is challenged. Today's journey has been the straw that broke the camels back so to speak.
My daughter was in front of me and asked the driver for a half. He asked how old she was, she replied 15 (which she is) to which he snorted, shook his head and commented that "15 year olds don't look like that" - (Exactly how should a 15 year old look?!) so, I intervened and also said she's 15, and that I am her mum, to be told again that he has a 15 year old himself, and that "15 year olds don't look like that" and he was rude and dismissive about it.
More baffling is that he did give her the half fare! If he believed so strongly that she wasn't half fare, to be rude about it, roll his eyes and state that a 15 year old doesn't look like that, then why give the half fare?
I am extremely annoyed about the '15 year olds don't look like that' everyone looks different, she was wearing jeans and a sweater and no make up, she's tall, but then so am I and yes, she has a curvy figure, but she's 15 and supposed to be developing - just because she looks differently to this bus drivers 15 year old means she's lying?
He is not the only driver that has been quite frankly rude about this issue. One a few months ago didn't even ask her age, huffed at her, shook his head and then laughed to me thinking I was another passenger - I asked if there was a problem, he replied no, So why the appalling attitude? He didn't have an answer.
Although I realise that drivers need to challenge those they think are taking advantage of the half fare rule, this attitude that is coming from a minority of drivers is shocking, we are customers, regular customers and we do not deserve to be treated like this. She IS 15 and we are not trying to do anything wrong.
Further to this, trying to prove that she is indeed 15 and entitled to half fare by your own rules, my daughter started carrying her school travel pass. This is to travel on the school bus only between home and school, and holds her photograph and the year it is valid for, council logo and the school logo - obviously the current one holds a date valid until July 2019, and as she is issued one because she attends school. I thought that this would prove that she indeed is entitled to half fare as she has the pass. Having been challenged by a driver and then showing her pass, she was told (and I quote) "That's no use to me is it? You can't travel on it" - she wasn't trying to travel on it, she was showing SCHOOL ID to prove she is school age and therefore entitled to half fare. Got the journey for half fare but still had to deal with the poor attitude from the driver.
Carrying a passport is not an option, and I don't see why I need to pay up to £50 for an ID card - I may do if I thought the drivers attitude would be any different, but it seems to be 15 and look a year or 2 older - even carrying school ID, condemns you to being treated badly.
So I can't see her being treated any differently even showing an ID card, because a minority of the drivers seem to have already decided she is doing something wrong and utterly resent being proven that she isn't.
My job entails asking for proof of age, in fact it is a legal requirement, yet I wouldn't dream of treating customers this way, it's very poor customer service, there's no need to sneer and be rude about it.
So I have emailed the bus company with the above because tbh I'm sick of the the attitude she's getting, she's asked her age and when she replies is sneered at - shows ID to be sneered at....... Why is there any need to be like that, she's getting to the point where she doesn't want to travel on buses now because of this and I can't say I blame her, but she doesn't have much choice because I don't drive, it's making travelling miserable and I think I'd feel the same if it was happening to me all the time!