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Can Arriva do this?

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Today, my wife had to travel by bus and, as her bus-pass had expired tendered £2 for the £1.70 fare. To her surprise, she was issued with a ticket for the correct amount, but no change. The bus driver explained to my wife that change was no longer given, and this had been company policy for about a year now. Surely, even if this is legal, a receipt should be given for the amount paid, not the amount due?

Comments

  • jon81uk
    jon81uk Posts: 3,882 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Twenty years ago I was catching buses in Birmingham with exact fare only signage on the doors. Money into the cash chute and no option for change. 
  • daveyjp
    daveyjp Posts: 13,502 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Cardiff Bus is the same and has been for many years.  As long as you are informed you have a choice to pay or not.

    Use a card if possible.
  • Not only can they, it sounds as though they already did.
  • martindow
    martindow Posts: 10,566 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    She could probably have used a contactless card to pay the exact amount.  In London you cannot use cash at all.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 4,176 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
     Been this way for a year to protect the drivers as much as possible from covid.
     Its been widely advertised. Next time get change in advance. 
  • Carlsdad
    Carlsdad Posts: 58 Forumite
    Fourth Anniversary 10 Posts
    _shel said:
     Been this way for a year to protect the drivers as much as possible from covid.
     Its been widely advertised. Next time get change in advance. 

    Didn't stop them taking the £2, though. :) Any excuse to help themselves to your hard-earned. We don't normally use the bus service, but today my car battery died on me, so it was a case of needs must...........  My main concern is handing over £2, and being given a receipt for £1.70. That bit doesn't sound right to me.

  • Andy_L
    Andy_L Posts: 13,012 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Carlsdad said:
    _shel said:
     Been this way for a year to protect the drivers as much as possible from covid.
     Its been widely advertised. Next time get change in advance. 

    Didn't stop them taking the £2, though. :) Any excuse to help themselves to your hard-earned. We don't normally use the bus service, but today my car battery died on me, so it was a case of needs must...........  My main concern is handing over £2, and being given a receipt for £1.70. That bit doesn't sound right to me.

    Was it a receipt or was it a ticket?
  • martindow
    martindow Posts: 10,566 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I think no change is getting increasingly common partly to speed up boarding buses but also for the safety of drivers.  Cash drops into a vault where the driver has no access to it and so is not in danger of being attacked.  Most buses now accept contactless card payments and in time are likely to follow London in not taking cash at all.
  • pogofish
    pogofish Posts: 10,853 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Buses here have done this for years, decades even. Ever since they sacked the clippies and went over to one man operation in the 1970s.

    For larger amounts of change, drivers could issue a chit that you could reclaim from the kiosk at the main terminus in the city centre and later (Post-deregulation) from their city centre shop but for smaller amounts you just had to lump it. 

    Country buses still do change though - probably due to larger/more complex fare structures but personally, I’ve used contactless since the moment they introduced it. Much less hassle!
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