Dublin Bus

boardinwork

Live near town so usually pay euro to get on the bus. Was asked for €1.05 yesterday, only had €1.20 and of course not offered my change and couldnt be arsed to ask. Then today i forgot again its now €1.05 and he wouldnt let me off 5 cents so i had to give him 2 euro.

Not a penny pincher in the slightest but found the principal annoying. Does anybody here actually ever cash in their "change" on their tickets? Seems like a bit of a farse:cool:

L1011

I did when I was a student

Now I'm not I won't be seen dead on a Dublin Bus, snob that I am.

biko

Long discussion in Commuting & Transport, got moved from AH yesterday
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=246

connundrum

I used to keep all the slips at the back of my wallet when I was at college. I added them all up after about 6 months and had the guts of €100 in change. A good night on the town followed

And whilst I agree that the 5c is only 5c, but its still 5c which you should pay

senordingdong

No, but the college I went to had charity collection points all over the college and they accepted bus reciepts as well as cash.

_JOE_

I handed my collection of tickets yesterday and made 20 quid...not bad and you don't feel the time go...

faceman

senordingdong wrote: »

No, but the college I went to had charity collection points all over the college and they accepted bus reciepts as well as cash.

we do this in work too. was surprised at how much built up over time

boardinwork

I dont mind paying a petty 5 cents extra. No worries, just annoyed that i had to pay two euro because the driver wouldnt let me off the 5 cents. Dublin Bus know most of us will never collect our "change" i reckon they're making a fortune because i think alot of people would have my attitude of "couldnt be arsed". Does annoy me though that i wont be offered my "change" unless i ask most of the time, which i dont, and then this tosser wouldnt let me off 5 cents. Im driving tomorrow

martin84

Ya ive noticed that with a lot of drivers, they wont give ya the change unless ya ask for it.

Please kind sir, may I have my change?

_blank_

On the bus I got this morning, the driver let me off 10c.

Fair play to him.

boardinwork

Its not the money, its just the double standard that got to me :mad: Ok im finished

KTRIC

Some of them give you filthy looks when you ask for your change, you'd swear it was coming out of their pocket.

skywalker

What I dont understand is why cant you use your change tickets to pay for your next journey?

xzanti

connundrum wrote: »

I used to keep all the slips at the back of my wallet when I was at college. I added them all up after about 6 months and had the guts of €100 in change. A good night on the town followed

And whilst I agree that the 5c is only 5c, but its still 5c which you should pay

Must have been some wallet lol..

Thirdfox

Or have an electronic swipe card system that automatically deducts the exact amount from a prepaid account like in the Europe and even China...

godtabh

boardinwork wrote: »

Dublin Bus know most of us will never collect our "change" i reckon they're making a fortune because i think alot of people would have my attitude of "couldnt be arsed". Does annoy me though that i wont be offered my "change" unless i ask most of the time, which i dont, and then this tosser wouldnt let me off 5 cents.

I dont think they can use the money. I think its all heald in reserve

Sizzler

On the upside I think Dublin Bus give away all the unclaimed cash to charity at the end of each year, although I dont recall hearing anything about it at the tail end of 2007.

Mully

Sizzler wrote: »

On the upside I think Dublin Bus give away all the unclaimed cash to charity at the end of each year, although I dont recall hearing anything about it at the tail end of 2007.

I used to think that to, maybe some of it is a charitable donation. The extra money from the change reciepts is used to subsidise the Prepaid Multi-trip & weekly/monthly tickets.

Dublin Bus in fairness, do have decent selection of prepay tickets, that save alot if used correctly. I generally buy 2 or 3 books of different types to use when I use the bus, infrequently as I do.

My main issue with the Change receipts, is that you have to go to O'Connell St to cash them in. I think that any shop that sells the tickets should accept the receipts & return them to DB ... Acting as a reverse middleman. Its not like we have to go to O'Connell St to get our tickets, so why not the other way around ?

jdivision

Sizzler wrote: »

On the upside I think Dublin Bus give away all the unclaimed cash to charity at the end of each year, although I dont recall hearing anything about it at the tail end of 2007.

Well they usen't, they used to say they had to keep it all in case people came forward. They had a reserve of over e750,000 at one point. I thought they decided to give some of it to charity but kept most of it, and even that came after years of campaigning (I remember being involved in trying to get them to do that nearly 12 years ago).

The reason they don't let you use them on the next journey is for security reasons. they're afraid junkies will start robbing people on the buses of their change receipts. That was the excuse anyway.

MOH

skywalker wrote: »

What I dont understand is why cant you use your change tickets to pay for your next journey?

I heard someone from DB explaining this on the radio years ago.

The rationale is something like:
They introduced the 'no change (cash)' policy partly to deter people from attacking drivers for the cash. If they accepted the change tickets in payment of the bus fare, then they would be treating like cash, and thus putting the drivers at risk again.

Apparently there's a fear that gangs of skangers would target bus drivers for their change tickets, which they would then use to ... umm ... buy drugs. The drug dealers would use the tickets in their own transations, and this whole black economy would flourish based on the alternative currency of dublin bus change tickets. Eventually this would spill over into the main economy, and the wide availability of change tickets would lead to this becoming the main currency. The resulting devaluation of the Euro would have a ripple effect throughout most of Europe, causing a continent wide economic crash. The remaining economic powers (e.g. US, China) would scramble to buy up most of Europe, but this would lead to escalating tensions resulting in a military conflict, which would eventually go nuclear, leading to the extinction of all life on the planet.

And that is why DB do not accept change tickets.

Kintarō Hattori

Thirdfox wrote: »

Or have an electronic swipe card system that automatically deducts the exact amount from a prepaid account like in the Europe and even China...

Even China eh?

On another note as has been mentioned don't they give away all the unclaimed change to charity?

PeadarofAodh

MOH wrote: »

I heard someone from DB explaining this on the radio years ago.

The rationale is something like:
They introduced the 'no change (cash)' policy partly to deter people from attacking drivers for the cash. If they accepted the change tickets in payment of the bus fare, then they would be treating like cash, and thus putting the drivers at risk again.

Apparently there's a fear that gangs of skangers would target bus drivers for their change tickets, which they would then use to ... umm ... buy drugs. The drug dealers would use the tickets in their own transations, and this whole black economy would flourish based on the alternative currency of dublin bus change tickets. Eventually this would spill over into the main economy, and the wide availability of change tickets would lead to this becoming the main currency. The resulting devaluation of the Euro would have a ripple effect throughout most of Europe, causing a continent wide economic crash. The remaining economic powers (e.g. US, China) would scramble to buy up most of Europe, but this would lead to escalating tensions resulting in a military conflict, which would eventually go nuclear, leading to the extinction of all life on the planet.

And that is why DB do not accept change tickets.

...and then all the drivers would be out of their job

Nalz

KTRIC wrote: »

Some of them give you filthy looks when you ask for your change, you'd swear it was coming out of their pocket.

well it would be goin in there otherwise

prendy

Apparently there's a fear that gangs of skangers would target bus drivers for their change tickets, which they would then use to ... umm ... buy drugs. The drug dealers would use the tickets in their own transations, and this whole black economy would flourish based on the alternative currency of dublin bus change tickets. Eventually this would spill over into the main economy, and the wide availability of change tickets would lead to this becoming the main currency. The resulting devaluation of the Euro would have a ripple effect throughout most of Europe, causing a continent wide economic crash. The remaining economic powers (e.g. US, China) would scramble to buy up most of Europe, but this would lead to escalating tensions resulting in a military conflict, which would eventually go nuclear, leading to the extinction of all life on the planet.

And that is why DB do not accept change tickets.

lol brilliant!!!!
didnt realise the decisions DB make were so important!

sillo

I was always surprised that the whole thing is legal. What's the point in having legal tender if certain vendor's can just circumvent it? Dublin Bus must save millions because of this.

Tar.Aldarion

boardinwork wrote: »

Live near town so usually pay euro to get on the bus. Was asked for €1.05 yesterday, only had €1.20 and of course not offered my change and couldnt be arsed to ask. Then today i forgot again its now €1.05 and he wouldnt let me off 5 cents so i had to give him 2 euro.

Not a penny pincher in the slightest but found the principal annoying. Does anybody here actually ever cash in their "change" on their tickets? Seems like a bit of a farse:cool:

Just put them in the charity box that is for them. I'll move this.
Couldn's see commuting and transport.

Ste.phen

This has come up before, they don't keep the money.

Thirdfox

eo980 wrote: »

Even China eh?

On another note as has been mentioned don't they give away all the unclaimed change to charity?

Yep - it costs students 2 cent (adults 4c) to ride on a particular bus for as long as you like (all around Beijing). You can use the metro with the same card (costs 30c for a trip).

Then again taxis usually cost around 2 euro

fillefatale

I'm a student myself and I try and have the right change to hand in. After about 2 months I only have about €4 saved up.
Anyway, how long can you keep them before you can collect your refund?

spurious

Mully wrote: »

Dublin Bus in fairness, do have decent selection of prepay tickets, that save alot if used correctly. I generally buy 2 or 3 books of different types to use when I use the bus, infrequently as I do.

The Taxsaver Annual ticket saves me loads. I used to use the Travel 90s a lot too - people seem to forget about them.

Wishbone Ash

boardinwork wrote: »

just annoyed that i had to pay two euro because the driver wouldnt let me off the 5 cents.... ......then this tosser wouldnt let me off 5 cents. ............Im driving tomorrow

That's great logic - you are going to drive to work tomorrow because you're annoyed that an employee of Dublin Bus wouldn't supplement your bus fare! :rolleyes:

Victor

boardinwork wrote: »

Live near town so usually pay euro to get on the bus. Was asked for €1.05 yesterday, only had €1.20 and of course not offered my change and couldnt be arsed to ask. Then today i forgot again its now €1.05 and he wouldnt let me off 5 cents so i had to give him 2 euro. Not a penny pincher in the slightest but found the principal annoying. Does anybody here actually ever cash in their "change" on their tickets? Seems like a bit of a farse:cool:

Was it the same driver? How was the second driver to know you overpaiod the first time?

skywalker wrote: »

What I dont understand is why cant you use your change tickets to pay for your next journey?

Drivers are not allowed handle cash. Now, realise that drivers can print change receipts. If they were allowed collect them from passengers, they would be able to exploit the system, essentially printing their own money.

sillo wrote: »

I was always surprised that the whole thing is legal. What's the point in having legal tender if certain vendor's can just circumvent it?

There is an obligation to accept euros. There is no obligation to give change. Any business is allowed dictate their terms of business. Dublin Bus say exact fare in coins only. By your reckoning, one should be able to show up on a bus at 7am and demand change of a €500 note.

fillefatale wrote: »

Anyway, how long can you keep them before you can collect your refund?

They are flexible. Once you don't turn up with €30,000 date 2002 printed on the new paper.

FensterDJ

I give my unused change tickets to beggars and the homeless, you get some dirty looks sometimes but come on, I'm a busy man, I don't have time go up o connell st to cash them in, but a beggar, he has all the time in the world. lives a few gypsies scratching their heads as well

loyatemu

FensterDJ wrote: »

I give my unused change tickets to beggars and the homeless, you get some dirty looks sometimes but come on, I'm a busy man, I don't have time go up o connell st to cash them in, but a beggar, he has all the time in the world. lives a few gypsies scratching their heads as well

you're probably the only person giving them change tickets - so they would have to go to O'Connell St. just to cash your poxy 30c. Never mind dirty looks, you're lucky not to get a broken bottle of Buckfast rammed in your face...

Tar.Aldarion

They need money, yes?

FensterDJ

loyatemu wrote: »

you're probably the only person giving them change tickets - so they would have to go to O'Connell St. just to cash your poxy 30c. Never mind dirty looks, you're lucky not to get a broken bottle of Buckfast rammed in your face...

hey they can sling it in the bin if they like, no one is forcing them to cash it in, anyway it's not like I'm doing this everyday, only when the odd coincidence of change ticket and beggar arises,

raheny red

loyatemu wrote: »

you're probably the only person giving them change tickets - so they would have to go to O'Connell St. just to cash your poxy 30c. Never mind dirty looks, you're lucky not to get a broken bottle of Buckfast rammed in your face...

Beggars can't be choosers

John R

Victor wrote: »

Was it the same driver? How was the second driver to know you overpaiod the first time?
Drivers are not allowed handle cash. Now, realise that drivers can print change receipts. If they were allowed collect them from passengers, they would be able to exploit the system, essentially printing their own money.

I have heard a story from a few drivers about something like that happening. A driver printed out a large amount of change tickets over a period of time and got a relative to go into HQ and cash them in, was eventually caught after someone noticed a higher than average % of change tickets from the one module. No idea of it is true or not though.

In the old days one of the scams conductors had was to get hold of a second ticket machine and use both, issue some tickets for the company and some for themselves.

Flukey

If you are a regular bus user, just buy a commuter ticket and that's the end of the problem. No messing with change to get the exact fare; no looking for change back when you haven't the exact fare; no queueing to pay cash; get in on the faster queue. Much better.

carlmango11

why doesnt the box you put cash into count it automatically? I was really surprised when I realised that the "counting system" was a glass pane for the driver to look at the coins. Would it be slower or something?

Wishbone Ash

John R wrote: »

In the old days one of the scams conductors had was to get hold of a second ticket machine and use both, issue some tickets for the company and some for themselves.

I recall a driver (on the 46A?) route being convicted of that back in the early '90s. He had his own machine and used to swop them around when he came to a stop with a large crowd such as at the Rugby Stadium (Bective?) after a match. He was eventually caught after a period as his takings were always less that other comparable drivers on the same route.

phasers

carlmango11 wrote: »

why doesnt the box you put cash into count it automatically? I was really surprised when I realised that the "counting system" was a glass pane for the driver to look at the coins. Would it be slower or something?

don't ruin a good thing, you can get into town for 50c if you're stuck this way
throw in a load of coppers and you're away


the biggest problem with the refund tickets is getting into town to get the money

they should have outlets in local shops

Wishbone Ash

phasers wrote: »

don't ruin a good thing, you can get into town for 50c if you're stuck this way
throw in a load of coppers and you're away

How is fare evasion a good thing?

If all passengers paid the correct fare I'm sure Dublin Bus could make many improvements.


EDIT: re reclaiming change. The idea is to encourage people to have the correct fare. If they had many refunding outlets it would only make it too easy.

Personally, I don't think they should issue any receipts. Correct fare only.

ian_m

skywalker wrote: »

What I dont understand is why cant you use your change tickets to pay for your next journey?

You can if you cash them in. in fairness drivers can't be expected to verify receipts.

phasers

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

How is fare evasion a good thing?

I'm sorry, I'll never try to be funny again

luckat

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Personally, I don't think they should issue any receipts. Correct fare only.

Illegal, surely?

If people object to this, and really want to make Dublin Bus hurry up and join the 19th century, I suppose you could always start a movement to pay with vast amounts of coppers. If enough people did this, eventually they'd have to institute the Dash swipe card system they tested in... was it 1995?

Wishbone Ash

luckat wrote: »

Illegal, surely?

If people object to this, and really want to make Dublin Bus hurry up and join the 19th century, I suppose you could always start a movement to pay with vast amounts of coppers. If enough people did this, eventually they'd have to institute the Dash swipe card system they tested in... was it 1995?

AFAIK no business is required to give any change (althoughh most do). It's up to the customer to tender the correct amount. If they haven't, the business is entitled to refuse service. (I'm open to correction on that).

In other countries, one is required to have the correct fare on public transport.

Many vending machines here require the correct change. Put in too much and you lose it.

ian_m

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

In other countries, one is required to have the correct fare on public transport.

In other countries scumbags don't try and rob the drivers the drivers give you your change.