AIBU to complain after a bus driver shouted at me and my children?

[Buscomp]

My DC and I very rarely use buses, however with the free travel this month I decided it might be a bit of a novelty to use local buses a little. I asked for tickets for all of us on the first two buses we got on but the drivers said “the kids are free” and let us on, so the next bus I didn’t mention them and just paid for myself assuming this was ok, that driver said nothing.

We boarded a bus together this afternoon and I did the same thing- paid for my ticket and started walking to find a seat. I then heard a commotion behind me so turned around and my 14 yo DD was saying “mum you need to come sort this”. I walked back to the front of the bus and the driver immediately started aggressively shouting at me. He said “your kids need free tickets, they can’t just get on, they were so rude to me as well, can tell how they’ve been raised, why would you just walk on? You need to acknowledge the driver- how dare you do this” etc etc.

Me being me, pretty non confrontational and calm, just apologised profusely for the misunderstanding and if anyone had appeared rude. I explained other drivers hadn’t given me free tickets so I didn’t realise this was necessary. He just said “well it is,
now take them” and printed them…

I said sorry again and feeling shaken, walked back up to my DC. I then overheard him bitching to another passenger about teenagers causing a raucous on the buses and how they shouldn’t be free etc. I assume he’s had a bad time with teens but mine were with me and also silent for the duration.

I decided to speak with him again before we got off. I explained how sorry I really was, that we didn’t use buses often and the other drivers hadn’t given us free tickets so I just didn’t realise at all. He then explained it’s for insurance purposes and I said ok that makes sense, thanks for clearing it up and sorry again. He didn’t stop though and started telling me I needed to “sort my kids out” and “they were rude and shouldn’t treat people like that”. I looked at DD confused and said I’m sorry I didn’t realise they’d said anything to you, I’ll have a word with them now and thank you then got off.

DD’s told me all that happened was the driver shouted after them “OI YOU TWO GET BACK HERE NOW” and they turned around confused and said what? Then they called for me, that was the whole interaction. Given the way he spoke to me, a fully grown adult, I’m inclined to believe them. Should I complain to the bus company? My heart was racing and I was shaking, I haven’t been shouted at like that for many years and just don’t expect to be. It’s certainly put us off using buses again!

It sounds like he shouted back at them because they just got on the bus and strolled past before he realised what was happening.

Absolutely fine but he could have nicely said “excuse me” not OI YOU TWO GET BACK HERE.

He does sound like a knob but like a pp said, your kids should have boarded in front of you with you last to speak to the driver and explain what you were doing.

It's a bit odd to walk ahead and leave your kids to sort themselves out on the bus.

I say thanks when I get off unless the driver has been a dick to someone. But no one says hello to the bus driver.

This.
let it go
Don’t lose him his job

We all got on together, I just paid and walked on with them behind but I was admittedly away with it after a busy day so didn’t pick up on what was happening till DD called after me.

Next time check the terms and conditions of an offer- I do see his point about your 14 yo- free kids travel is never older than 12.
The bus driver may have been rude, but bus drivers get a lot of stress so you may just have been unlucky

When are people going to realise it's much nicer to be nice to your fellow human.beings. Life is so much easier.
Yes complain about him.

He was very rude. I use buses a lot and you get the odd one like that. I wouldn't have been as apologetic as you though. I wouldn't have caused a scene or anything (like he was) but would have been a bit firmer in my replies

All kids under 16 are free in August nationally.

If that's all he said, it's fine. Excuse me, and they wouldn't have known he was talking to them. Unclench. It's not like he was rude or swore at them.

He was rude.

I would suggest to the bus company that they put up a sign explaining that every passenger needs a ticket, even if it's a free one. Like PP, I get very cross when staff think everyone should know their system, even if it is far from self-explanatory. Cafes seem to get the worst.

He should have been more tolerant but he’s probably had a fucking nightmare few weeks with teens on the buses. And it’s really rude to just float past him and not acknowledge him.

Of course he was rude. It's the driver who needs to unclench

I wouldn’t complain as he was probably just having a bad day. Your children now know they need to acknowledge the driver and get their free tickets. It’s not a big deal.

OP I think you were very polite and handled the situation well by de-escalating. I think you should try not to apologise so much to arseholes, but you didn’t do anything wrong here and neither did your children.
And I think you should complain. I don’t know what’ll be done (probably not much) but get it off your chest and let them know how their twat of an employee treats their customers.

Point taken, I’ll make sure they say hi if we use them again.

Well I can only judge by major city bus driver standards where many people take the piss, so he wasn't by those. Not by a long shot.

Either way, not worth complaining about for someone who clearly won't use the buses when she has to pay for her kids.

Yes agree with this but also the other drivers didn’t give me free tickets and this happened three separate times so I genuinely had no idea.

A joined up system and signage would definitely be a good idea and there's no harm in writing in and suggesting that.

It's a bit hard to shout nicely really isn't it? Your kids could have acknowledged him in the first place then he wouldn't have had to shout but they didn't. Everyone in the situation could have behaved better but they didn't.

I live in a major city and use the bus daily to get to work. I can assure you some bus drivers are dicks.

Understandable

Maybe “excuse me, you two girls, can you come back here please” then?