My dads a bus driver, has been for a few years, but yeah, there a lot of bus drivers that are inconsiderate barstewards. However, theres an equal amount of nice, pleasant ones.
Plus, people moan that bus drivers do this, bus drivers do that, and I myself used to do it when I was at school and used to use the busses regularly. But what people don't understand is that they have a job to do. They've got set rules to follow, set times to be at places, and set do's and dont's.
My dad was on an early morning shift a few weeks ago, he was heading into Manchester at about 9.20am. He stopped at a bus stop, and an old women got on, by this time it was about 9.26am. After 9.30am, OAP's get free travel.
So, this old women gets on and shows my dad her free travel pass. It was 9.27am, not 9.30am, so he made her pay the 70p. A women gets on behind the old lady, pays, and my dad sets off.
He gets a few minutes down the road to the next stop, and the old lady, aswell as the other lady, both get off the bus. As this other lady gets to the front, she said to my dad 'it's disgusting, making her pay for the sake of 3 minutes'.
Whilst shes correct, and it is a bit picky, what people dont realise is that my dad made her pay for a reason. It was 9.27am, not 9.30am
Ok, so look at it like this. The old women gets on again, at the same time, and my dad politely smiles and lets her on the bus, for free, 3 minutes earlier than it says he's allowed to. He sets off, and when he gets to the next stop theres an inspector there, he gets on and starts checking tickets etc. It's a random act, as that's what inspectors do, you never know where there might be one.
The inspector gets on, see's this womens pass and it's not 9.30am. My dad looses his job.
Not so picky really is it, when theres a job at stake. He looses his job, he doesn't provide for his family, pay the bills etc. So for the sake of 3 minutes, she has to pay. Just that people don't seem to understand this, but it'd be different if the shoe was on their foot & it was their job at stake.
It's definatly made me look at it in a new light.