Inspectors on Buses

[6Gman]

Not sure if this has been mentioned but Arriva definitely used secret shopper style inspectors, they board and pay a fare then watch your driving and interaction with the punters.

I got on a busy NXWM bus a year or two back. Sat next to a chap, and noticed he was cradling a small clipboard on which he made various entries at and between stops. Assume he was assessing driver performance in some way.

Presumably on an operator of that scale they can move people around to avoid them being recognised.

 

[arbeia]

One day, out checking tickets, I caught a housewife overriding her ticket. Asked where she was going, Another 3 stops. So done it all by the book and just charged her the fare between the stop she paid to, and the stop she was going to. A fairly routine happening. Was working my way back to the depot for a tea break. As I arrived, the receptionist said would I deal with a telephone complaint, as receptionists weren't allowed to, and no other Supervisors/Management were available. Now you've probably guessed, it was the Lady who I had charged not 30 minutes since. Asking her for details, it didn't take long to realise it was me she was complaining about. Now this is a strange situation to be in, taking a complaint about yourself!
She was sitting there telling a pack of lies, and I was just dying to tell her who I was, but the most I could do was explain to her that the Inspector was a highly regarded member of staff, who I know would never behave as alleged. She could rest assured that I would personally deal with her complaint! Anyway took the complaint, and took it to the Manager, and told him it was about me. All he asked me was I as nasty as she alleged? Well, I always played it straight with public and staff alike, and he knew that. We had a good laugh. Only ever happened once thank goodness.

 

[Busaholic]

One day, out checking tickets, I caught a housewife overriding her ticket. Asked where she was going, Another 3 stops. So done it all by the book and just charged her the fare between the stop she paid to, and the stop she was going to. A fairly routine happening. Was working my way back to the depot for a tea break. As I arrived, the receptionist said would I deal with a telephone complaint, as receptionists weren't allowed to, and no other Supervisors/Management were available. Now you've probably guessed, it was the Lady who I had charged not 30 minutes since. Asking her for details, it didn't take long to realise it was me she was complaining about. Now this is a strange situation to be in, taking a complaint about yourself!
She was sitting there telling a pack of lies, and I was just dying to tell her who I was, but the most I could do was explain to her that the Inspector was a highly regarded member of staff, who I know would never behave as alleged. She could rest assured that I would personally deal with her complaint! Anyway took the complaint, and took it to the Manager, and told him it was about me. All he asked me was I as nasty as she alleged? Well, I always played it straight with public and staff alike, and he knew that. We had a good laugh. Only ever happened once thank goodness.

Reminds me of a 'complaint' I received, by letter, about me, but addressed to me, when I worked in a Housing Aid Centre - I was accused of working for the local council, for which I was guilty as charged. The HAC was run by the council! The story actually has a bus connection, in that the complainant, a man in his thirties, was claiming housing priority on the basis of being totally blind. All well and good, but his 'blindness' had suddenly struck, with no accompanying medical evidence of such. Wrap-round sunglasses and a white stick were the only 'evidence': trouble is, on leaving the HAC into Euston Road, he made his way to a 'request' bus stop, served by about five routes at the time, each of which were operated by Routemaster buses , with no way of telling which were which without seeing them, or asking someone. From my office, I saw him standing alone at the stop, letting four or five buses go by until the no. 30 approached, at which time he extended his hand when the bus was about 20 yards away! My superior and I had a good laugh at the letter though.

 

[arbeia]

The disabled and elderly you had to be very sensitive with. Checked a bus and came across an elderly gentleman who could not produce his concessionary pass. Driver should have asked for it when he boarded, but that's another story. Hunches sometimes work. I asked if he had the same jacket on as he normally wears."Oh, I haven't worn this one today since about 10 years ago." He looked in the top pocket, pulled out his pass only to discover it was the pass he had mislaid all them years ago! 9 years out of date. Hadn't the heart to charge him, a nice, but slightly confused chap. Way I looked at it, he wasn't getting any younger and was automatically entitled to a pass anyway. You met some real nice people in the job. One old lady, unfortunately away with the fairies, used to board and was known by all the drivers. She would sit near the front shouting all the time, "steady driver," as the bus made the slightest manoeuvre. Needless to say she was known by everybody as "Steady Driver."

 

[Geordie driver]

If I was in a hurry and it was the 09 30 pensioners rush I used to tell them just to sit down, great until you say that to a lady who is too young and she then has to pay. Did that a few times.

 

[Chris217]

Same about people who want to get off inbetween stops.
I say no to everyone even if I am stopped.
Cameras never lie!
Once you say yes to one,you have to say yes to everyone else.

 

[Great_Western]

In Prague, a man and woman carrying shopping bags would get on the tram, then once the tram had started moving, they would pull out their ID badges and start checking tickets. Used to happen regularly, at least once per visit there, but not for a couple of years now.

The Prague system seems to work incredibly well. Bus drivers don't check tickets and metros/trains/trams have no visible barriers or anything. The inspectors turn up at random intervals and are very well camouflaged, and you get a hefty fine if you are ticketless. The fear of getting checked, along with reasonable ticket prices mean fare evasion is supprisingly low, especially outside of the main tourist areas.

As someone who lived there for over a year, I only got checked about 6 times. On a recent week long return to visit family, I was checked 5 times in a week. It is an exceptionally efficient system and one that would probably work well on public transport over here.

 

[paddington]

It is an exceptionally efficient system and one that would probably work well on public transport over here.

Not when you aren't obliged to carry ID in the UK and inspectors are not supposed to assault passengers.

I have been checked on buses in Sofia, Bucharest and Copenhagen, and ticketless passengers were found on all of them. The passengers who tried to run away were forcibly caught and restrained (in the first two cities - I suppose you wouldn't act like this in Denmark??). In Bulgaria I was actually the only passenger under 65(?) years old who had a ticket.

Been inspected in London many times even on buses with front-door only boarding. Here it's about catching people abusing freedom passes and travelcards that are not theirs. A few years ago I encountered a pointless inspection where the inspectors forced 30 schoolchildren (aged around 10-12) to get off the bus because none of them had touched in with their oysters - which they never did as the bus drivers couldn't make them. But there wasn't really anything you could do to children, so they all just got back on the bus after annoying the controller and everyone else as the bus was delayed 15 mins.

Actually I notice that nowadays schoolchildren all touch in with their oysters on buses, whereas they rarely did 4 or 5 years ago.

 

[neilmc]

I heard of a driver with a PTE who regularly worked on a cross-area service worked jointly by two former depots from different municipalities. He knew that inspectors would only check "their" buses within their own town, so he bought a second ticket machine and swapped them for inward journeys once he was in the territory of the other town. It worked until his bus broke down in foreign territory and an inspector, whilst sorting out a changeover, thought he might as well do a ticket check in the meantime.

 

[martian boy]

I heard of a driver with a PTE who regularly worked on a cross-area service worked jointly by two former depots from different municipalities. He knew that inspectors would only check "their" buses within their own town, so he bought a second ticket machine and swapped them for inward journeys once he was in the territory of the other town. It worked until his bus broke down in foreign territory and an inspector, whilst sorting out a changeover, thought he might as well do a ticket check in the meantime.

I remember reading, some years ago, that if a certain disused and filled canal is ever dug up, they will find a number of ticket machines. Apparently, conductors would acquire a “second” ticket machine change it with their original, then change back during the shift. When it started getting hot under the collar, dispose of “second” ticket machine.

 

[Geordie driver]

The was a legendary setright ticket machine at my old depot, this was before I started but people still spoke of it in hallowed terms, it didn't register the ten pence to ninety pence part of a ticket, drivers used to fight over it. Once a driver pulled over at Newcastle Central station ran to the river with his almex machine ( some distance) and threw it in the Tyne.

Tyne and Wear metro do proper checks using at least 4 inspectors and often the police, few bus companies could afford this, easier to blame the driver.

 

[arbeia]

My depot was at the end of the route(s), and they often stood for a few minutes between reliefs. If we had information that a particular driver was on the fiddle, me and a colleague would go on board with a brush and pan, and sweep up. Studying the tickets hung many a fiddler. Before free travel for the aged, when they paid, it was amazing how many aged concession tickets had been issued before 0930!

 

[njlawley]

I don't know if it is still the case, but Stagecoach Manchester had a team of over 30 (nearer 40) inspectors when I worked there. However, the team were responsible also for service delivery at bus stations and at the main university halls of residence, roadside monitoring/surveys, and even vehicle transfers. Two were Special Constables, so would on occasions work alongside TfGM on police operations. You would often find ticket checks being carried out around the universities, simply due to the huge amount of attempted fare evasion and fraud that could be found!