Saturday 14 February 2009

Why can't the bus companies get it right

I am a great supporter of public transport. I don't own a car so I get around by bus or train (or sometimes by cycling). But I have a major winge about the bus companies, particularly on services in the mornings. Regularly now if someone gets on to a bus and needs change (and we are often talking about 40 pence change here) the driver says he/she doesn't have enough coins to give it out. So people end up paying more for their fare than they should do. It surely can't be beyond the wit of Arriva (and it's on their services I've seen this happen the most) to give their drivers enough of a float at the beginning of the day. Imagine if you had a shop. You wouldn't take the chance of waiting for customers to provide your change - you'd have the float when you opened up. The same should be true of the bus companies. I've seen this happen too many times now for it to be a one off so I have banged off some letters this morning. After all why should people using public transport have to pay over the odds because of a management failing?

2 comments:

Martin said...

Paula, go and talk to them. We have worked very hard over here to establish very close relationships with the bus companies and we actively promote their services through Focus and our Newspaper Adverts, Websites, etc. But in return we ask them to do things like you have mentioned. So long as you can impress on them that you understand their interest (making more money) is often the same as your interest (providing a better service to residents) you will be surprised how co-operative they can be.

Anonymous said...

same happened to me . its not fair on the drivers if they don't have the money to give change but why dont they get their bosses to give them change money in the first place.