Dublin Bus / Notes

foggy_lad

Shelflife wrote: »

Just to clarify a point here, if a tourist and his family (or one who is not totally aufait with all the dub bus regulations ) attempts to board the bus and attempts to pay the fare of lets say €10.50 with a €10 note and a 50c coin, that the driver is obliged to refuse the fare on the basis that they dont accept notes ???

Yes.

http://www.dublinbus.ie/en/Tourist-Information/How-to-use-the-bus/Step-2/

Step 2
Getting on the bus - paying your fare

When you get on the bus, tell the driver where you want to go.

The driver will tell you how much your fare is.

Please make sure that you have the correct change to pay for your fare. All our services are exact fare only* and the driver cannot accept euro notes or give change.
*except Airlink routes 747/748

Put your coins into the automatic fare machine that you will see in front of the driver. Your ticket will be given to you by the driver. Please keep your ticket for inspection.

If you do not have the correct coins for your fare the driver will give you a change receipt. You can use this to collect your change at Dublin Bus Head Office, 59 Upper O’Connell Street, Dublin 1.

If you have a magnetic prepaid ticket you must insert it into the magnetic bus validator when you get on the bus.

All prepaid Smartcard tickets must be validated on the Smartcard reader by holding the Smartcard on the reader target for at least a second or until a light appears.

If you have a Free Travel Pass please show it to the driver.

Shelflife

Cheers foggy_lad.

Have to say thats just plain stupid, i know there is a security element to this but refusing business because of this rule is madness !!

How much business do they lose every year because of this?

Fine, dont give change for security reasons but to refuse a fare and call the guards for a customer who was more then willing ( maybe annoying/pain in the arse (sorry op)) to pay and accept no change, well thats just plain stupid.

noodler

Whilst there is no doubt the OP was 100% wrong, I still think it is pathetic in the extreme for the driver to have wasted the Guards time over this.

Assuming there is nothing you aren't telling us OP (you cursed, raised your voice, were drunk etc etc) then the driver really should have used a little more common sense.

Letting someone on for free in this instance sets a dangerous precedent of course but it was late, the person was just leaving work and to make the point the driver ended up delaying all passengers by more time than the OP did.

What were the options?

-Turn a blind eye and let him on for free (it has happened to me once in my life when a ticket I had was expired by a day)

- Maybe the OP could have offered someone (anyone) a five euro note for a 2 euro coin (I imagine he would have had some success here)


I know we should take each case on its merits but you see drivers letting some passenegers away with absolute murder (drinking, smoking, blaring music) without any recourse to the guards. They also clearly don't bother to challenge 'dodgy' passengers who walk past without paying, and I don't blame them one bit for this but in this instance the passenger was upfront with the driver and was punished for it.

Again, OP was wrong but it leaves a sour taste if events unfolded exactly as outlined.

foggy_lad

Shelflife wrote: »

Cheers foggy_lad.

Have to say thats just plain stupid, i know there is a security element to this but refusing business because of this rule is madness !!

How much business do they lose every year because of this?

Fine, dont give change for security reasons but to refuse a fare and call the guards for a customer who was more then willing ( maybe annoying/pain in the arse (sorry op)) to pay and accept no change, well thats just plain stupid.

Cash handling was stopped due to serious attacks on drivers. Most European cities have similar systems in operation on their busses so tourists being ignorant of this is minimal as will losses be due to advertising and information available from all busses and online

SteM

You're complaining about a 20 minute walk?! Plus, you would have passed some shop or chipper on the way where you could get change (although if they had have refused you change you probably would have shouted some bs 'law' about them having to give you change).

OP if I was one of the guards I would have taken you in to waste your time like you wasted everyone elses.

Nanazolie

And they wonder why people are not using buses more... :rolleyes:

OP, you obviously made a genuine mistake, but in fairness you did try to pay (certainly over twice the price of your journey) and the bus driver wasn't very friendly. Although you could argue that he was following the rules, and you can't fault him on that one.
May be you should have asked people on the bus if they had change before sticking your note in the machine

Anyway, this whole business of having the right change is a nightmare and not tourist friendly at all. I have family who come from abroad every year and they only take the bus once or twice, so a prepaid ticket is not good value for them. In their countries, you pay the bus driver a ticket, or you can buy single tickets at the newsagent that cover your whole journey if completed within 90 minutes. In Brussels, you can use a 10 journeys ticket for the whole group, the driver punches a hole for each passenger.
I understand the point about security threat to the drivers, etc.... But I find the current system too rigid

dudara

The issue raised by the OP has been addressed here - more than adequately.

If anyone wishes to discuss the merits of Dublin Bus' general policy regarding banknotes, then please use the Commuting & Transport forum.

dudara