CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh

"Lothian Buses make £194k from keeping spare change"

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  1. wee folding bike
    Member

    A friend paid his bus fare with his wedding ring once. He had been tarting up his doo and put his ring in his back pocket while applying some oily product. The exact change for the bus was in the same pocket. When he got on the bus he pulled out the contents of the pocket and watched his treasured ring go into the hopper.

    First Bus brought it back to his work the following day and he appeared in a number of trashy papers as a human interest story.

    I don't have a wedding ring so no worries there.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  2. gembo
    Member

    Tarting up his doo?

    What, giving his one pigeon a shampoo and set? Was you friend drunken Duncan ferguson and was the doo called Coisty?

    Posted 11 years ago #

  3. wee folding bike
    Member

    That's a football reference isn't it?

    As well as no ring, no hair here either.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  4. gembo
    Member

    Yes drunken Duncan started with DUFC, then rangers, where he met ally mccoist took up doo fleeing, named one doo after ally using his nickname Coisty. Also played for Newcastle but is loved by Everton fans for his vigour. A tall and fearless striker not blessed with. Much brain.

    You meant hairdo, I see now, not pigeons

    Posted 11 years ago #

  5. Min
    Member

    Lol, I was visualising a man greasing a pigeon too.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  6. wee folding bike
    Member

    On a recent Bromptonite ride in Glasgow we had a look at some doocots in Yoker. There is one in Bothwell castle but that was for the kitchen.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  7. kaputnik
    Moderator


    The foot of Leith Walk by georgeupstairs, on Flickr

    When they had a mix of driver-only and driver/conductor buses, they needed an illuminated sign on the new buses to tell you the approaching bus was one of the new-fangled ones. This was 1968.

    It later changed to two large stylised coins dropping into a stylised hopper on each side of the front destination blind;

    George Street by georgeupstairs, on Flickr

    I remember in my yoof in the early 1990s when they went from staged to flat fare the "Exact fare ready please" used to be on a yellow vinyl across the width of the front windscreen and also had the price, so no excuses when the bus turned up and you made a prat of yourself asking for how much was a half to Pilrig.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  8. gembo
    Member

    Those buses have happy faces

    Posted 11 years ago #

  9. chdot
    Admin

    Posted 11 years ago #

  10. wingpig
    Member

    ...and you made a prat of yourself asking for how much was a half to Pilrig."

    When I first came here twenty years ago bus drivers seemed to delight in obtusely demanding "Where are you going?" or "How much?" depending on whether you'd stated how much you were putting in the dish or said where you were going. Perhaps it was just the drivers of the 42, 46 and 38 having funny japes with students who had come from strange far-away places without frequent and efficient bus services who had to try and learn the rules and customs by copying other people when getting onto the bus.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  11. Cyclingmollie
    Member

    "buy a 70p ticket for a few stops and try to stay on longer"

    My guess is that the passengers staying on beyond the number of stops they paid for more than cancel out the overpayment.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  12. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Maybe Lothian Buses is still trying to recoup it's losses from 30 years of citizens staying on beyond their paid-for stage. After 30 years of keeping the extra change we should be about evens.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  13. Cyclingmollie
    Member

    "students who had come from strange far-away places"

    Likewise some of the bus destinations. What a disappointment Captain's Road turned out to be.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  14. kaputnik
    Moderator

    "students who had come from strange far-away places"


    Or tourists going to "Circle".

    Posted 11 years ago #

  15. Stickman
    Member

    Little France is disappointingly short of patisseries and charcuterie.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  16. AKen
    Member

    When I was in Dublin, I was impressed by the frequent and numerous bus service going to the suburb of An Lar.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  17. rosscbrown
    Member

    When I first moved to Edinburgh a spent much time planning trips to the end of the bus line. I figured that there must be something really amazing to justify the bus going there.

    To say I was disappointed would be an understatement.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  18. rosscbrown
    Member

    Also: I found myself at a careers fair today, where a nice man introduced himself as being from "Transport for Edinburgh, part of Lothian Buses".

    Posted 11 years ago #

  19. steveo
    Member

    To say I was disappointed would be an understatement.

    You obviously got on the wrong 26, it goes all the way to the beach!

    Posted 11 years ago #

  20. chdot
    Admin

    http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/0_edin_t/0_edinburgh_transport_-_buses_termini.htm#26

    http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/0_edin_t/0_edinburgh_transport_-_buses_termini.htm

    Posted 11 years ago #

  21. crowriver
    Member

    I remember when there were Routemaster type buses still operating, with conductors. You could hop on and off when the bus was stopped at lights.

    I also remember those 'pay on entry' buses too, with air vents in the roof on the top deck. They seemed all modern back in the early 1970s.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  22. cb
    Member

    http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/opinion/why-lothian-buses-no-change-policy-must-go-1-3854191

    "
    Not only is there a “no change” policy but also no evidence is provided of any excess paid and there is no refund system and no credit notes are issued that could be used to pay for future journeys.
    "

    Not strictly true (as stickman pointed out upthread) as the conditions of carriage state that "If a passenger is obliged to pay more than the required fare, an overpayment slip will be issued if requested. Such overpayments can be reclaimed at the Company’s Hanover Street Travelshop after 5 working days."

    (Has anyone ever tried that?)

    Posted 9 years ago #

  23. chdot
    Admin

    "after 5 working days"??

    Posted 9 years ago #

  24. gdm
    Member

    @cb I wish I'd known about the repayments slip! The number of times I've had to overpay when I wasn't able to get the correct change from my wife's purse is ridiculous. Having said that, I'd then have needed to get another bus to the depot which would have set me/my wife back more.

    Just as well I'm on the bicycle...

    Posted 9 years ago #

  25. acsimpson
    Member

    Is there a similar clause for the trams? Their on street machines don't seem to offer a request proof of overpayment option and instead force you to buy additional tickets which you don't then use.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  26. twq
    Member

    Dublin buses used to give out slips if you overpaid. You'd occasionally see big clear bins at universities to put them in, which student unions would gather up and donate to charity.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  27. cb
    Member

    No similar clause on the Tram's conditions of carriage page.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  28. Snowy
    Member

    I did get one once on a bus (because I'd got on the wrong bus), and it had to be handwritten out by the driver. It may be considered easier to take the hit than to incur the wrath of a bus full of passengers by delaying them several minutes.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  29. chdot
    Admin

    http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/transport/former-lothian-buses-bosses-collected-1m-before-stepping-down-1-4572231

    Posted 7 years ago #

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