On the Buses

[WTF]

11 hours ago, NoTailT said:

Tale of woe from faceache

this should be in the 'off the buses' thread.

[La Colombe]

Omg, that poor CHILD. 

[Roger Mexico]

1 hour ago, Gladys said:

Yes, and if he had a debit card (although why you would give a 12 year old your debit card is beyond me), then he could have gone to a cash dispenser, got the cash and the next bus home.  Or  even a taxi! 

A lot of these kids have debit cards links to accounts with small amounts of money in them (topped up by parents) for low value purchases such as bus fares.  It won't be direct access to a parent's account.  Such child accounts are unlikely to have enough money in them to withdraw money from a cash point.

In any case this child had an alternative source of finance, getting one of his friends to pay.  The fact that the driver said he would let him and then drove off (no doubt pleased with his 'joke') isn't the kid's fault.  It's an hour between buses to the West in the evening, so he would have had to ring his mother to let her know where he was anyway.  And it would also take a 12-year old that long to walk to Strang.

(And "Why couldn't he get a taxi" is a real "Let them eat cake" remark).

[The Voice of Reason]

1 hour ago, Dirty Buggane said:

Would the bank not class this as fraud, using a card not issued to that person. What is the standing when some one presents a card that is obviously not the persons ie gender Mr/Mrs not matching person presenting it.(sorry to the gender/assimilation police) What if he had asked for ID and if not matching card details calls police under the assumption he is dealing with a stolen card.  😇 

Problem you have there is that people can identify as whatever gender they want and presumably can have a card issued to them as Mr, Mrs, Master, Miss or whatever etc. So it can’t be obvious that the persons gender doesn’t match.

Anyway I have had no problems previously paying bills for my wife (Mrs) with my card (printed Mr) both in situ and over the phone.

And it is only for the price of a bus fare. 

And should always carry at least a small amount of cash for unexpected circumstances like this. That’s sensible 

[Declan]

37 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

A lot of these kids have debit cards links to accounts with small amounts of money in them (topped up by parents) for low value purchases such as bus fares.  It won't be direct access to a parent's account.  Such child accounts are unlikely to have enough money in them to withdraw money from a cash point.

In any case this child had an alternative source of finance, getting one of his friends to pay.  The fact that the driver said he would let him and then drove off (no doubt pleased with his 'joke') isn't the kid's fault.  It's an hour between buses to the West in the evening, so he would have had to ring his mother to let her know where he was anyway.  And it would also take a 12-year old that long to walk to Strang.

(And "Why couldn't he get a taxi" is a real "Let them eat cake" remark).

We don't know the driver just drove off. It sounds like a miscommunication more than anything - "I'll go and get money from me mates" could mean "wait, while I get money from my mates" or "I'll get money and catch the next one".  If the friends were nearby the lad could have called them over to the bus and wouldn't need to get off, if they were far away how long was everyone on the bus supposed to wait? I doubt there was much conversation at all (bus drivers and teenagers communicate mainly in grunts, but are they mutually intelligible?

And why would the son be frantic, he's with his mates, he's got a phone and he knows Mum is going to pick him up. Unless the Mum has wound him up. This dramatising of everyday misfortunes isn't helpful.

 

Edited May 24 by Declan

[Declan]

6 minutes ago, The Voice of Reason said:

And it is only for the price of a bus fare. 

 

It's a contactless transaction anyway. Nobody checks the identity of people using the card.

The bank expects you to keep the card safe, and report it if it goes missing (you can block it on the app temporarily). 

[Anthony Ingham]

1 hour ago, Roger Mexico said:

A lot of these kids have debit cards links to accounts with small amounts of money in them (topped up by parents) for low value purchases such as bus fares.  It won't be direct access to a parent's account.  Such child accounts are unlikely to have enough money in them to withdraw money from a cash point.

In any case this child had an alternative source of finance, getting one of his friends to pay.  The fact that the driver said he would let him and then drove off (no doubt pleased with his 'joke') isn't the kid's fault.  It's an hour between buses to the West in the evening, so he would have had to ring his mother to let her know where he was anyway.  And it would also take a 12-year old that long to walk to Strang.

(And "Why couldn't he get a taxi" is a real "Let them eat cake" remark).

We all know that.

it has no relevance to Gladys correct observation that it’s a bit nuts for the mum to have given the kids her debit card.

[Anthony Ingham]

These sort of things make me glad I am not a bus driver.

Almost daily hassle from kids, drunks and people who are just a bit odd, and then the way you react is analysed and criticised online by people who weren’t even there.

Edited May 24 by Anthony Ingham

[Gizo]

5 hours ago, thommo2010 said:

I always find things like this funny. 

 

Oh I trust my 12 year old to go and do god knows what for hours but god forbid they don't get the bus otherwise they turn into helpless toddlers

Nothing better than a caring Bobby on the Beat. 
whatever happened to them? 

[Gizo]

I got the bus yesterday and the card machine didn’t work. I got a free bus trip.  
 

cash is king remember. 

[Dirty Buggane]

2 hours ago, The Voice of Reason said:

Problem you have there is that people can identify as whatever gender they want and presumably can have a card issued to them as Mr, Mrs, Master, Miss or whatever etc. So it can’t be obvious that the persons gender doesn’t match.

Anyway I have had no problems previously paying bills for my wife (Mrs) with my card (printed Mr) both in situ and over the phone.

And it is only for the price of a bus fare. 

And should always carry at least a small amount of cash for unexpected circumstances like this. That’s sensible 

Yeah but that is your card in your name, you can pay whatever you so wish, you are not using a card issued to some one else and I am assuming if some one asked you you would have ID to back up it is your card .

[Gladys]

3 hours ago, Roger Mexico said:

A lot of these kids have debit cards links to accounts with small amounts of money in them (topped up by parents) for low value purchases such as bus fares.  It won't be direct access to a parent's account.  Such child accounts are unlikely to have enough money in them to withdraw money from a cash point. Yes, I know, but the post clearly says my debit card. 

In any case this child had an alternative source of finance, getting one of his friends to pay.  The fact that the driver said he would let him and then drove off (no doubt pleased with his 'joke') isn't the kid's fault. If that is what happened in fact.   It's an hour between buses to the West in the evening, so he would have had to ring his mother to let her know where he was anyway.  And it would also take a 12-year old that long to walk to Strang.

(And "Why couldn't he get a taxi" is a real "Let them eat cake" remark). Is it really?  If I couldn't pick him up, that is exactly what I would tell him to do. 

I suspect there is more to this story and is, as usual, just from one side. 

[Gladys]

4 hours ago, Dirty Buggane said:

Would the bank not class this as fraud, using a card not issued to that person. What is the standing when some one presents a card that is obviously not the persons ie gender Mr/Mrs not matching person presenting it.(sorry to the gender/assimilation police) What if he had asked for ID and if not matching card details calls police under the assumption he is dealing with a stolen card.  😇 

Not fraud if he had permission to use it. 

[Roger Mexico]

2 hours ago, Declan said:

We don't know the driver just drove off. It sounds like a miscommunication more than anything - "I'll go and get money from me mates" could mean "wait, while I get money from my mates" or "I'll get money and catch the next one".  If the friends were nearby the lad could have called them over to the bus and wouldn't need to get off, if they were far away how long was everyone on the bus supposed to wait? I doubt there was much conversation at all (bus drivers and teenagers communicate mainly in grunts, but are they mutually intelligible?

And why would the son be frantic, he's with his mates, he's got a phone and he knows Mum is going to pick him up. Unless the Mum has wound him up. This dramatising of everyday misfortunes isn't helpful.

"bus drivers and teenagers communicate mainly in grunts, but are they mutually intelligible" actually made me laugh out loud.  I was going on the mother's Facebook post, but as you say it's all second hand and misunderstanding is certainly possible.  Most bus drivers are actually pretty good and go out of their way to be helpful, but there are a few who seem to resent the fact that anyone wants to get on their bus and disturb them (mainly Longworth's old cronies).   So the kid could have struck unlucky and got one of those.

Children can get very upset at that age, when they have their first taste of doing things on their own and things then go wrong - especially if they think it's not their fault.

[Two-lane]

Some decades ago I was in Borehamwood waiting for a 107 from Barnet. In those days a 107 was a rarer sight than an MHK paying for car parking.

Suddenly, two turned up. I got on the first. The driver said "We're full, get on the other". I walked back to the second, but it was already pulling away. I turned round to walk back to the first, but it had already pulled away.

About that time, in a newspaper (probably The guardian) in an article a journalist had written "He had on his face the look of a Barnet dweller waiting for a 107". Famous, was the 107.

These days, in the right parts of the island, you can get a bus from your front door straight to the front door of the Traf.

Luxury. At least the schoolkids have a bus. As a child my mother had to walk 4 miles to and from school each day - or it could have been 10 miles. And probably raining.