Bus firm warns school children to stop ticket scam
GRAMMAR school children could be stripped of their bus passes in a "clampdown" on cheeky ticket cheats.
Plymouth Citybus is launching on-board checks amid a spike in what it has labelled "ticket fraud" on school services.
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The company says youngsters have been hitching free £6 rides as far afield as Kingsbridge by borrowing pals' pre-paid passes.
In a letter to parents, bosses warned the scam is getting "completely out of hand" – and threatened to withdraw buses.
They are introducing checks where 11 to 18-year-olds caught lending a pass will have it torn up – and be hit with a £20 fine.
Commercial manager Peter Oliver said the firm was trying to put the brakes on fare-dodging before it became widespread.
He told The Herald: "We've been going through a phase where a number of children are taking advantage.
"We're clamping down hard – as we would with any service – because clearly any revenue damage is going to have consequences.
"If we can nip this in the bud quite early on it stops the problem from spreading. It would be a pretty big shame if the problem got so widespread that we had to take further action."
Mr Oliver said pre-booked rural buses serving Tavistock, Callington, Kingsbridge, Saltash and Liskeard were affected. But drivers had reported the 127 service from Tavistock to Devonport High School for Boys carried the worst offenders. Citybus offers costly passes to parents, allowing children to travel to and from the city's three grammar schools.
No pass in the morning and youngsters must pay the £6 casual fare or get left behind. But none in the afternoon and those with names on a driver-held boarding list are allowed on.
Mr Oliver said some pupils had been handing their passes to friends, allowing two people to travel on a single pass.
He warned parents: "We are currently going through a high period of ticket fraud with students giving their pass to a non-paying customer and then saying to the driver they have forgotten their pass.
"This problem is now getting completely out of hand and is a clear abuse of our good nature.
"We will be conducting random full boarding checks on all grammar school services."
Any student with someone else's pass will be thrown off the bus, while its owner will have their seat sold to the next person on the waiting list. They will get a refund, but minus ten per cent and a £20 penalty fare charge.
Mr Oliver said the firm operated the services because they caused little hassle and were profitable.
"If any of those reasons were to change then we would no longer provide the service," he added in his letter.
Devonport High School for Boys headteacher Kieran Earley said staff saw pupils onto the 127 every afternoon.
"We've got a good working relationship with Citybus so I think if there was a significant issue they would probably have come to us," he said.
Nobody at Devonport High School for Girls or Plymouth High School for Girls was available for comment.
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by star2sparkle
Thursday, November 03 2011, 10:24AM
“I think Mango_Moose's experiences should be listened to intently. Greenarmyface could do without being obnoxious on these forums...I have had dealings with him before and dare I say it, his unpunctuated, misspelt and grammatically incorrect contributions. Nice comment Brizz_Tony.”
by Mango_Moose
Wednesday, November 02 2011, 7:18PM
“I currently travel to school on this bus service city bus provides. Parents have to pay around £600 for ONE pass for one year. I couldn't believe it either. At one point my parents had to pay about £1800 as 3 of us had to get the bus at one point. As for the conditions of some of the buses - dirty, actual puddles inside the buses, water dripping - these prices are totally unacceptable. Whereas for some of the attitudes from the bus drivers; rude! I used to get the 127 and at points it was so oversubscribed, it resulted in some of us having to sit on the stairs! We had no choice as the stairs was the next comfiest thing to a seat and we didn't want to stand up for the duration of the journey (or just didn't want to get flung around). So no suprise that it's the bus with the most ticket fraud! And as for those saying that why do parents send their children to local schools, I agree with 'Brizz_Tony'; what's harm in letting our child go to a school were it is pretty much written in stone that you will get a decent education and the support we need. Maybe there are personal reasons that they can't send their children to the 'local' schools as well or maybe they just don't like them! OK?
As for the fraudulence, what do you expect when parent's are having to pay this amount of money? We expect more than just a 'journey'; I think a clean bus will do. Fraudulence is bad but the consequences introduced are not acceptable on an account of the condition of the service and the prices we have ALREADY paid. So if we forgot our pass, why should we have to pay again for a journey which has already been paid for? I think city bus is making a big deal out of people forgetting their passes and even in scamming us in some ways.
It's sad to have to say this about the company, but this is true. I've commented here in the slightest hope that the points I have made may become apparent to city bus, but as lots of people have said on here, city bus have always had a rather bad reputation and sadly I feel this isn't going to change any time soon. Come on! Give us a bus service to be proud of yeah?”
by Brizz_Tony
Tuesday, October 25 2011, 8:58PM
“Greenarmyface, I think they probably send their children there, rather than somewhere local, so that their grammar, spelling, and punctuation are not too bad.”
by JohnnyDabo
Sunday, October 23 2011, 7:03PM
“Kids ticket scamming? What about the drivers?
I was in a pub once when a drunk bus driver told me that he and his colleagues had a scam going themselves. They would put an old ink cartridge in the ticket machines so that you could not read the ticket printed. You would pay £3, they would ring in £1 and pocket £2!!
I also know a bus driver who had his day's takings stolen by another driver while he was waiting to cash in. He had to pay the value out of his own pocket.
About time the bus companies got their own houses in order before blaming their customers for falling revenue. And blaming kids for their mismanagement is even worse and an easy target.”
by Dunthiel
Sunday, October 23 2011, 3:20PM
“Cause and effect. It's as simple as that - which doesn't equate to condolence.”