Male bus passenger had to pay but not a female bus passenger

[snugglegirl05]

This happened while I was going home on the bus tonight.


Male bus passenger:
At one of the bus stops there was a guy who told the driver he did not have any money. The bus driver told him he had to pay the fair. The guy told him he did not have any money. The bus driver told him he had to pay the fair. So the guy looked in his pockets & found some change. He paid his fair, but he was short 25 cents. The bus drive told him that was fine.

Female bus passenger:

She got on the bus & told the bus driver she only had a big bill & that she had to ask the other bus passengers for change. The bus driver spoke to her, but I could not hear what he was saying. She told him she had to get change for her big bill. The bus driver continued speaking to him. She told him she did not have any one dollar bills. The bus driver told her to pay next time, & he let her ride for free.

I feel it was not fair for her to get a free ride. The guy had to pay.

[Zellie Crescent]

Totaly unfair, I would have said something.

[fma_fanatic]

Feminine wiles ftw!

No?

Yes, it's unfair. I've been in that situation. I learned quickly it was to my advantage to have a monthly bus pass rather than deal with money and not having enough. No, it's not fair. I guess the buses don't have cameras?

Or maybe he put in the fare himself later when no one was looking for the woman.

[bainsidhe]

While it does appear to be a gender thing, I wonder if that's all there was to it. People asking for freebies are seen as scammers and it's hard to tell if they're speaking the truth. Even if it is the truth, it's just one more person trying to get something for nothing. I wish I had a dollar for every stranger who's approached me asking if I could spot them bus fare due to a sob story. Sadly, this has made me quite cynical and I no longer ever cut anyone a break. I'm betting the driver gets asked over and over again to let passengers slide on the fair.

On the other hand, Ms. Big Bill does have money, thus I would argue she should be allowed a ride. However it means sacrificing time and other riders' patience while she asks other people to be her bank. As a driver, why would I want to piss off an entire bus of passengers? Thus I would tell her to take care of it next time.

Just my thoughts...

[infinitemonkies]

While it is completely sexist, I too wouldn't tell a woman she'll have to walk alone at night because she doesn't have change for the bus.

[Darkforge]

around here its well known that bus drivers don't like accepting notes (the smallest british note is £5) and I've known people who instead of paying have gone on a bus, "searched" for change and then gone "Sorry, all I've got is a £20".

They say that 9/10 times they get on for free as the bus driver can't break it and just say "pay next time", and the one time out of 10 they actually break it, then hey, you just got change for a £20!

[Lace Neil Singer]

Not the bus drivers where I live; they'd just tell the person to get off. No buses run later than 9pm, so making women walk home alone late at night isn't going to happen.

I once was on a bus and only had a tenner. The driver couldn't break it, so he asked me to get on and wait til he'd gotten some change, then pay before I got off. Since this was at the beginning of his route it wasn't surprising.

[Jetfire]

Honestly, it's hard to say for me, but that may just be because I'm used to a small city system.

How often do you ride that route? Was the man or the woman a regular that you know of? It could be as simple that the driver knew/knows the woman as a regular, but doesn't know the guy. Or vice versa even (maybe the guy has a history of 'not having change').

On the surface it does seem fishy, but there's still a lot more to the story that we are not privy to.

[trunks2k]

Personally I think that one person not having any money and one person having the wrong type makes a big difference in the situation. In the former, the guy is just trying to get a free ride and had no intention of paying, in the latter the person wanted to pay but could not break the bill. That would lead me to react differently to the people.

Not to mention there's additional issues beyond the sex of the people involved, such as the desire to keep the bus on time. Driver could maybe spend the time arguing with one person over the fare but not a second person so it's just easier to let the second person have a pass this time around.

[chainedbarista]

either is a failure to plan (the first may have been a scammer, true, but the second had the money and simply didn't take the time to take care of the change issue), so i can't really feel sorry for either one.

[Sparky]

It's possible there are other circumstances. Maybe the female rides all the time and this is the first time she's not had the fare. Maybe he make pulls this "I don't have any money" stunt all the time.

On the other hand, maybe not. Who knows?

When I was a bus driver one of my coworkers told me about a guy who used to get on every day with "nothing but a $20." At the time we carried coins to make change, but no bills, and policy was not to make change for anything over a $1. Fare was $0.50. The driver used to tell him to pay the next time, but finally one day he said "Okay, put the $20 in and I'll remember. You can ride free the next 39 times." The guy made a face, reached in his pocket, and pulled out $0.50.

[Chromatix]

This is one of the things that smartcard systems help with.

Smartcards are a pre-pay system - there's a fee for the card itself, but then you can recharge it as many times as necessary and - this is key - the fares are noticeably cheaper than paying cash. You then pay for individual tickets using the value stored on the card, at machines by the doors of every metro station, commuter train, tram or bus in the city. (And in Helsinki, that's a *lot* of buses, trams and trains.)

I have a subscription ticket on my card, which means I don't have to pay for individual tickets within the city limits. For the wider area, I still have to use stored value.

There are still people who pay cash - tourists and business visitors in particular. But this part of drivers' and conductors' workload is considerably reduced by the smartcard system.

[Teskeria]

In my city, you put the cash in and you get a ticket with the change on it.

In Boston, where I used to live, they use 'Charlie cards' a hard reloadable card. The 'I only have big bills' doesnt work in either place

[elsporko]

The guy tried to not have to pay. He did have at least some money but not enough and got to ride at a discount.

The woman tried to pay but didn't have change. She got to ride for free

I don't see it as being unfair. The bus driver saw the woman trying to pay and gave her a break because he likely didn't want her pestering the other riders and she never asked to ride for free.

[Mr Hero]

Totaly unfare, I would have said something.

Fixed for accuracy.