Poor CS at First Bus

[whole diary]

[thetrout]

I had an argument with a driver over a fare on the 70 service at City of Bristol College - Ashley Down Road. The Driver should change his fare zone just after Muller Road depot stop. The Fare was normally ^2.70 (Can't remeber exactly) into the city centre. However this driver was certain he didn't change his zone until the Junction for Montpellier just after City of Bristol College. So he attempted to charge me the fare from Muller Road (^3.60 Again can't remember exactly). I argued that he was wrong and even showed him the day before's ticket and the ticket before that... He then said in a way less polite than i'm going to say now, Pay the fare or no travel... Now normally I would have waited for the next one as the 70 runs every 20 minutes... Unfortunately for me I had to connect onto a Coach Service at the bus station, so I paid up

I got to the bus station and went straight to the ticket office to complain and ask for the 90p back, the women again was really unhelpful and said, "You should have queried the price with the driver" to which i replied "I did and he said, pay or no travel and I had a connection to make here" upon realising that I was going nowhere I demanded to speak to the manager upon which I now had an audience of about 20 people... The manager was a bit cheesed of that I was causing a major stink and told me it's only 90p, I replied that it was about the principle and that if he did not give me the 90p back straight away I would be writing a formal letter of complaint and getting trading standards as well as passenger focus involved... The speed in which my 90p appeared was astonishing

[JayMac]

Cuts both ways, that one. I'm often undercharged for my fare on a certain route operated by Wessex Connect. Again it is because the drivers do not know where the fare boundary is. I'm hypocritical when this happens. I'll happily accept the undercharging, but woe-be-tide anyone overcharging me!

[matt473]

Easy way to remedy this problem is at certain bus stops, have a sign saying start/end of zone x or y. That way even unfamiliair drivers should have no problem on when zones start or finish. The outlay shouln't be too much as it can be a quick sticker added whilst Clear Channel I think it is do the usual changing of adverts at bus stops.

[devon_metro]

In Torbay the buses run on GPS or something fancy like that, meaning the ticket machine knows where it is.

[JayMac]

Easy way to remedy this problem is at certain bus stops, have a sign saying start/end of zone x or y. That way even unfamiliair drivers should have no problem on when zones start or finish. The outlay shouln't be too much as it can be a quick sticker added whilst Clear Channel I think it is do the usual changing of adverts at bus stops.

Bust stop signs have had something similar on them for years. A sticker or panel saying 'Fare Stage' is the most common.

[matt473]

Bust stop signs have had something similar on them for years. A sticker or panel saying 'Fare Stage' is the most common.

They seem to be a thing of the past weirdly as the only places I've seen them are on old signs for bus stops from the days of South Wales Transport in South Wales for example. If anything they should be even more relevant now such signs with drivers not necessarily being local anymore as they once were

[thetrout]

Bust stop signs have had something similar on them for years. A sticker or panel saying 'Fare Stage' is the most common.

I know a certain Bus Stop in Flax Bourton definately has one... or it did when I was last there I've seen them on the outskirts of Taunton and Bridgewater too

[Chris from Nailsea]

I know a certain Bus Stop in Flax Bourton definately has one... or it did when I was last there

Yes: at Cambridge Batch.