Beeyatch got owned on the bus and I loled!

Binomate

Usually you only see the odd bus conductor or two get on your bus and ask to see your ticket once every four months or so. Today on the way home from college, not one, not two, but three bus conductors got on my bus and started checking everyone's tickets. There was a lady in her late 30's / early 40's sitting in the seat opposite me who saw two of the three inspecters come up the stairs and tried to make a break for it, but the two conductors grabed her as she was going by and smacked her in the face with an €80 on the spot fine. She had a ticket, but they were pointing out to her that it was invalid for where she was at the minute from where she got on, so whether or not she intentionally paid less for the ticket is unknown. Either way, her wallot felt the pain and I'd say she was pretty mortified because of the fact she tried to get off and got caught by the conductors in front of about 20 people who then began to stare and in my case, laugh. Anyways, what's the deal with these muppets? Why does it take 3 conductors to check a bus for tickets? What happens if you can't pay the on the spot fine? Why do the bus conductors all have no hair and why is it such a rarety to see them get on your bus?


P.S, Maybe this thread would be better suited to the Dublin forums seeing as it was on Dublin Bus, but I'm sure there are conductors on Bus Eireann too so it might or might not apply.

Degsy

Was the woman foreign as a matter of interest?

Binomate

Degsy wrote:

Was the woman foreign as a matter of interest?

Nope, she was Irish.

Degsy

Binomate wrote:

Nope, she was Irish.

Good enough for her then!!!:D

Wigertoods

The fact that she tried to do a legger would suggest that she knew that she hadn't paid the correct fare in the first place so serves her right.


as for 3 of them maybe it's the safety in numbers thing.After all like the clampers they wouldn't be the most liked people even if they are only doing their job.

Rhyme

Binomate wrote:

...but the two conductors grabed her as she was going by and smacked her in the face with an €80 on the spot fine...

I initially thought you said they smacked her. I imagined a conductor close-lining a woman and laughed

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Kimbot

I see people underpaying on the bus all the time!!
They get on ahead of me at the very first stop, pay about a Euro and go the full distance of the bus route!!
At the end of the day people will always try to get away with as much as they can!!

jellie

Twice in the last week bus drivers have given me the wrong ticket despite paying the correct amount.. what happens then i wonder..

phantom_lord

jonny24ie wrote:

I see people underpaying on the bus all the time!!
They get on ahead of me at the very first stop, pay about a Euro and go the full distance of the bus route!!
At the end of the day people will always try to get away with as much as they can!!

i wonder if this is +ev.

u only get checked every few months. someone work it out...

Kimbot

phantom_lord wrote:

i wonder if this is +ev.

Sad Professor

sar84 wrote:

Twice in the last week bus drivers have given me the wrong ticket despite paying the correct amount.. what happens then i wonder..

You need make sure you get the right ticket, there's no way of proving it later.

nesf

phantom_lord wrote:

i wonder if this is +ev.

u only get checked every few months. someone work it out...

Maybe but a few bad runs back to back and your bankroll could be ****ed. €400 for a week of getting caught every day in a row for instance...

Kimbot

Ah right, me gets it now!!

thelordofcheese

phantom_lord wrote:

i wonder if this is +ev.

jonny24ie wrote:

I think he meant +ve, the maths shorthand for positive.
as in "i wonder if this is positive"

patrickolee

sar84 wrote:

Twice in the last week bus drivers have given me the wrong ticket despite paying the correct amount.. what happens then i wonder..

That happened me recently too... and have you noticed they seem to have stopped giving the refund slip? I paid 2Euro and asked for a 1.60, got 1.40 with no over charge thing. I thought the used to give a 'refund' ticket which you could then take to the main dublin bus office and cash in?

brianthebard

Fantastic pwnage there. Regarding your question of the on the spot fine, I believe the on the spot part refers to the dealing out of the fine and you actually have ninety days in which to pay it (or appeal).

phantom_lord

nesf wrote:

Maybe but a few bad runs back to back and your bankroll could be ****ed. €400 for a week of getting caught every day in a row for instance...

hmm, yeah, i guess that could happen, you'd have to make sure you're adequately rolled to take the swings.

maybe the lower variance, method of paying correctly would be better, albeit it would be passing up an edge i think.

Macspower

phantom_lord wrote:

hmm, yeah, i guess that could happen, you'd have to make sure you're adequately rolled to take the swings.

maybe the lower variance, method of paying correctly would be better, albeit it would be passing up an edge i think.

Problem i see with this is the variance. you could go on a run of BB and start running badly and then tilt off your BR by trying to buy more tickets than you should thus increasing the variance.

Or you could go for a full week and be ahead and on 5th street ...... bang there she is....

Mac

ditpoker

so a bus conductor says "here's your fine of 80, you have 90 days to pay"

you smile and say thank you and walk off the bus and throw it in the bin.... then..!?!?

do they ask for ID? can they ask for ID? would i be right in saying they have little power in this regard?!

Bus guy: "whats your name"
me "robert robertson the fourth, junior"
Bus guy "here's your fine robert"
me "good man, i'll be paying this promptly"
... fine gets lost somehow!??!

EDIT: and suppose they do have the power to ask for id, (and im 85% certain that you have no obligation to anyone guards included to have your wallet searched) but what if you genuinely have no id... what happens then!?!

phantom_lord

i'm serious about this!

It's something I wondered about very briefly as I was buying my ticket, the whole ev of going for the cheap ticket. i dunno what you're risk of ruin would be but I'm sure it's not difficult to calculate.

there's the metagame aspect of the embarrassment/stress, but we'll leave that aside for the moment.

Mitch Connor

ditpoker wrote:

so a bus conductor says "here's your fine of 80, you have 90 days to pay"

you smile and say thank you and walk off the bus and throw it in the bin.... then..!?!?

do they ask for ID? can they ask for ID? would i be right in saying they have little power in this regard?!

Bus guy: "whats your name"
me "robert robertson the fourth, junior"
Bus guy "here's your fine robert"
me "good man, i'll be paying this promptly"
... fine gets lost somehow!??!

EDIT: and suppose they do have the power to ask for id, (and im 85% certain that you have no obligation to anyone guards included to have your wallet searched) but what if you genuinely have no id... what happens then!?!

one of my mates was on a dart the other day - he was heading back to greystones, and says he 'forgot' he had originally got his return from Bray, into dublin. Anyway, he got caught.

The lad asked for his details, name address and the like, so my mate gave them - all the correct info. The guy asked him if the nifo was correct and my mate said it was.

Inspec:"Are you sure?".....
Mate: "Yep".
the inspector then takes out a mobile phone;
Inspec:"I can ring the gardi and ask them to meet us at the station to confirm your details"
Mate: "Fine, the info is correct"
Inspec: "I will....i'll ring them!"
Mate: "OK"
Inspec: "..........fine! I've no way of checking....this information better be correct!"

InFront

I was on the bus before with no ticket (bad habit of throwing them into the ticket bin after getting it, had never met an inspector before) and I explained to the inspector what had happened and he was just like, yeah, thats grand, whatever!
You see it happening on the Luas a lot though. I don't know why people won't just pay the fare.

Pherekydes

Binomate wrote:

Usually you only see the odd bus conductor...

Back in the day, when we actually had bus conductors, there existed a species of CIE employee known as the ticket inspector. I'm thinking that the bus conductor has become extinct, while the ticket inspector still inspires terror wherever they roam, now in threes.

Just a clarification from an old fogey. Carry on with the thread...

brianthebard

ditpoker wrote:

so a bus conductor says "here's your fine of 80, you have 90 days to pay"

you smile and say thank you and walk off the bus and throw it in the bin.... then..!?!?

do they ask for ID? can they ask for ID? would i be right in saying they have little power in this regard?!

Bus guy: "whats your name"
me "robert robertson the fourth, junior"
Bus guy "here's your fine robert"
me "good man, i'll be paying this promptly"
... fine gets lost somehow!??!

EDIT: and suppose they do have the power to ask for id, (and im 85% certain that you have no obligation to anyone guards included to have your wallet searched) but what if you genuinely have no id... what happens then!?!

You are legally required to carry id. If you don't give it to them i assume they either have the right to ask for it/take it, or they could bring you to a garda station. if you "lost" the ticket, you would probably get a court summons after the ninety days.

Binomate

Slow coach wrote:

Back in the day, when we actually had bus conductors, there existed a species of CIE employee known as the ticket inspector. I'm thinking that the bus conductor has become extinct, while the ticket inspector still inpires terror wherever they roam, now in threes.

Just a clarification from an old fogey. Carry on with the thread...

They are the Dublin Bus elite.

LuckyLloyd

Macspower, Phantom Lord and Ditpoker are clearly trolling this thread and should be banned from this forum. Just my two cents.

InFront

brianthebard wrote:

You are legally required to carry id.

Everywhere? Or just on public transport?

brianthebard

I'm pretty sure its required of every citizen to carry id.

zuutroy

I remember getting the bus when I was younger and I'd ask for a '55' which was the short journey adult fare, and the bus driver'd say....'Ya better be off by Annesley Bridge, I'll remember ya', in a threatening manner, after which I'd have to pretend I didn't know and cough up the extra 25p to go to town.

zuutroy

brianthebard wrote:

I'm pretty sure its required of every citizen to carry id.

It sure ain't! Most EU countries thats the case, but not in Ireland

mickoneill30

brianthebard wrote:

You are legally required to carry id.

You what? Where do you think you're living?

AnonoBoy

brianthebard wrote:

I'm pretty sure its required of every citizen to carry id.

I'm pretty sure you're wrong.

What form of ID? Would a library card suffice?

ditpoker

UnLuckyLloyd wrote:

Macspower, Phantom Lord and Ditpoker are clearly trolling this thread and should be banned from this forum. Just my two cents.

im not actually, i'm genuinely unsure of the process of this "on the spot fine"...

if a ticket inspector asked me for id say i don't carry any on me, just my college id that just has my name on it. it identifies me. i dont have any proof of my adress in my wallet or my contact numbers... but have lots of "id".

phantom_lord

UnLuckyLloyd wrote:

Macspower, Phantom Lord and Ditpoker are clearly trolling this thread and should be banned from this forum. Just my two cents.

this is cause I've a project to do isn't it? :rolleyes:


meh, dunno about the other two, I'm just wondering about the ev* situation of bus tickets. forget it. just trying to add some content instead of "zmog lol she got caught"




*expected value

Iago

UnLuckyLloyd wrote:

Macspower, Phantom Lord and Ditpoker are clearly trolling this thread and should be banned from this forum. Just my two cents.

No I think they make a fair point.

Say your fair is €1.60 each way and you decide to pay .90c instead.

You save €1.40 a day, so for it to be +ev you would have to get away with it
58 days in a row.

The OP reckons you see one inspector every 4 months or so, so if you had traveled to work every week day in that period (assuming the average 22 working days per month) then

22*1.4*4 = 123.20
1*80.00 = 80.00

Profit = €43.20
Profit per day = .49c

It is +ev but my recommendation would be to pass and wait for a better spot

[size=-12]yes I am bored in work[/size]

phantom_lord

Iago wrote:

It is +ev but my recommendation would be to pass and wait for a better spot

lol, "Dublin bus" life syndrome!

Judt

brianthebard wrote:

I'm pretty sure its required of every citizen to carry id.

There's actually no requirement for Irish or UK citizen to identify themselves in Ireland. That's why we don't have a common ID card...

Nothingcompares

Usually when a ticket inspector has got on it's because the driver has tipped them off that he knows someone on the bus didn't pay the correct fare. If you get the same bus at the same time driven by the same driver he'll get to know where you get on, where you get off and how much you pay. Although there are plenty of instances of random inspections. (Do remember there are 100s of buses on the go, they can't/don't check everyone).

in finland for the tram you prepay with a ticket. You're supposed to scan the ticket when you get on. However, it's only checked by the ticket inspector who gets on only every so foten. There is a company that "insures" you against the 50 euro (at the time, 4 years ago) fine. That means you pay them 25 euro, you never but a bus ticket, and if you get fined they pay your bill!

AGain, I'm not sure how the inspectors deal with people giving false addresses and names. For instance, the only ID I can think of that 'almost' everyone carries is a bank or credit card. Which only has your First and Second name. Other IDs include Student cards and start cards which again only show the name. The correct name and the incorrect address won't get them anywhere. The gardaí can check your name and address in a big book, but the inspector surely cannot detain you on the bus can he? I suppose if you were really sneaky you could give someone you don't like name and address...

Fidelis

patrickolee wrote:

have you noticed they seem to have stopped giving the refund slip

They still print off the refund slip. Although sometimes the bus driver might not look at how much you have put in to the machine and will just print off whatever you say.

That issue of being given the wrong ticket has happened to me before and I had wondered what I would say if a bus conducter jumped on the bus, "no, I paid €1.80 but he printed off a ticket for €1.20"

skywalker

Slow coach wrote:

Back in the day, when we actually had bus conductors, there existed a species of CIE employee known as the ticket inspector. I'm thinking that the bus conductor has become extinct, while the ticket inspector still inspires terror wherever they roam, now in threes.

Just a clarification from an old fogey. Carry on with the thread...

There is at least one bus conductor still making the rounds. See him occaisionally on the 20b.

brianthebard wrote:

You are legally required to carry id.

According to what law is this that you have to carry id?

LuckyLloyd

Iago wrote:

No I think they make a fair point.

Say your fair is €1.60 each way and you decide to pay .90c instead.

You save €1.40 a day, so for it to be +ev you would have to get away with it
58 days in a row.

The OP reckons you see one inspector every 4 months or so, so if you had traveled to work every week day in that period (assuming the average 22 working days per month) then

22*1.4*4 = 123.20
1*80.00 = 80.00

Profit = €43.20
Profit per day = .49c

It is +ev but my recommendation would be to pass and wait for a better spot

[size=-12]yes I am bored in work[/size]

Sigh. I think the OP is drastically overestimating the frequency with which one will come across an inspector on a Dublin Bus.

In any case, I think the greatest EV will probably be gained from paying for a fare that allows you travel for one level below your full journey. I would estimate that the probabillty is that you will generally run into inspectors towards the start of runs (buses generally thin out towards their destinations; apart from runs towards the City Centre at peak times - in which cases thye become too full in the latter half of the run for a ticket inspector to operate efficiently). As such, on any occassion that you run into an inspector but are paid up for three quaters of a full journey you will probably get away with it unscathed and will always be saving money on each trip. You will have a reduced saving level on each trip, but an almost non - existant level of risk.

Dun laoire

Just pay the correct and amount for christ sakes. 2 euro from dun laoire to town. Tight gits.

Actually it's 1.90 so the bus lads get 10c for every time i travel. Towards the xmas drink

shoutman

IS it not spelt Dun Laoighaire?

Karoma

shoutman wrote:

IS it not spelt Dun Laoighaire?

No. Dun Laoghaire.

Dun laoire

shoutman wrote:

IS it not spelt Dun Laoighaire?

No its Dun laoghaire

brianthebard

Dun laoire wrote:

No its Dun laoghaire

Kingstown ftw!!1

Dun laoire

brianthebard wrote:

Kingstown ftw!!1

ah yes, them brits having a laugh again.

InFront

Nothingcompares wrote:

There is a company that "insures" you against the 50 euro (at the time, 4 years ago) fine.

Haha, how long did the insurance policy last?

zuutroy

Nothingcompares wrote:

There is a company that "insures" you against the 50 euro (at the time, 4 years ago) fine. That means you pay them 25 euro, you never but a bus ticket, and if you get fined they pay your bill!

Surely they can't legally insure people de-frauding the bus company?

brianthebard

Dun laoire wrote:

ah yes, them brits having a laugh again.

Kingstown is the name the town was founded with, by the Dublin middle classes. believe it was the 1820s/1830s....