SBS bus driver kicks me out and . . .

[arctos]

For school concession card: http://www.transitlink.com.sg/ezlink_school.html

Main points under Usage:

• The concession card must be carried as proof of eligibility when traveling on the MRT/LRT/bus in order to enjoy travel concession. School uniforms do not prove students' eligibility for travel concession.
• If you are a concession card holder and intend to pay cash, please let the bus driver know. Then tap your concession card at the reader for verification of the card’s validity before you drop your cash into the farebox.

So legally speaking, because you did not show your ID, nor did you tap it on the reader for verification, the drivers (all 12 of them) have every right to request that you pay the full adult fare. Failure to do so would require them to request that you disembark at the point where the fare you paid allows you to travel until. This is actually the policy the bus companies give to their drivers.

The previous 11 were "eating snake" so to speak, in letting you travel more than you paid for, and this is a common attitude among drivers because when they follow company policy in booting people off the bus, they get complaints from the commuters (i.e. people like you). So they'll rather not, to avoid trouble, as long as the company does not find out (e.g. through having a ticket inspector on board). The 12th driver is merely doing his/her duty and following company policy in asking you to alight at the point where the fare paid allows you to travel until.

Naturally, whether he/she did so in a polite manner would depend on the CCTV footage.

 

[Limsgp]

Maybe the driver has always been kind and let passengers off.. then on one fine day, the supervisor reviewed the CCTV and found that she has been causing the company to earn less because of underpaid fares.. and screw her upside down..

So she got very very pissed with pple under paying.. and took it out on TS.. and telling herself that 好心没好报..

End of story..

Just speculating what might have happened.. not commenting on who is right or wrong..

 

[kei1309]

correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't ITE already considered tertiary education? Poly and Uni as well. the only course that isn't considered Tertiary is Junior College, where it's called "Pre-U". therefore in that sense, adult fare must be paid regardless of whether or not student pass is shown. when i was in polytechnic, i had to pay adult fare even though i was a student, when my ez-link card had no cash.

after reading this, seeing how TS blew up from just a few negative comments, i would also take his version with a pinch of salt. always remember that other than words, body language and mannerisms can also be considered rude and might piss people off. people don't get angry without reason.

oh and. we haven't seen the bus driver's side of the story. has TS even reported the incident? by just claiming that SMRT will just say "driver is undergoing counselling" if a complaint is made without even trying to make a formal complaint, isn't going to help much. if you want something to happen, make sure u do the action, then complain later.

by the way, i managed to get a reckless taxi driver suspended after he almost knocked me down three times by forcing into my lane even after i horned relentlessly, then pissed me off by glaring at me at a traffic light. how did i do that? i complained and made sure they took action.

 

[ninelives]

domdomino, were you burning joss paper on the bus? that's why she threw you down lor. during my school time, i smoked on the bus(double decker), one driver simply dont care, most drivers asked me to get out.

 

[arctos]

correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't ITE already considered tertiary education?

That's why poly students are 'short-changed' in a sense. Both ITE and JC are considered 'schools' still due to government subsidy, but Poly and Uni are considered 'tertiary', a.k.a private. I remember there was a little debate about this in the news last time, not sure when that was. Obviously the outcome didn't change. You can try googling for it if you're interested.

by just claiming that SMRT will just say "driver is undergoing counselling" if a complaint is made without even trying to make a formal complaint, isn't going to help much.

Actually if you complain, the bus companies don't lose much. They just send the driver for counselling, while the driver loses their performance bonus for the month (quite a substantial portion of their monthly salary). If the driver's attitude is really bad and receives lots of complaints, the company only need to sack the driver and replace him from their stable of cheap labour. (Exaggerating a little, but you get the drift.) They won't lose their customers from the bad publicity either, because frankly, for those taking public transport, do we have a choice of alternatives?

Honestly, it would help to cut the drivers some slack at times. They drive for pretty long hours on the road, and at times even have to forgo their toilet/meal breaks due to traffic conditions in order to start the next trip on time. Sure, there's always black sheep among the company, but most are just normal people like you and me, trying to earn a living while taking crap from the employer (and sometimes commuters).

 

[kei1309]

domdomino, were you burning joss paper on the bus? that's why she threw you down lor. during my school time, i smoked on the bus(double decker), one driver simply dont care, most drivers asked me to get out.

that's why i miss the old non-airconditioned SMRT buses :bsmilie:

 

[kei1309]

Actually if you complain, the bus companies don't lose much. They just send the driver for counselling, while the driver loses their performance bonus for the month (quite a substantial portion of their monthly salary). If the driver's attitude is really bad and receives lots of complaints, the company only need to sack the driver and replace him from their stable of cheap labour. (Exaggerating a little, but you get the drift.) They won't lose their customers from the bad publicity either, because frankly, for those taking public transport, do we have a choice of alternatives?

the point of complaining isn't to cause them to lose revenue, but to improve service, or to look into matters pertaining to customer satisfaction. this is something known as customer relationship management. although SBS and SMRT are monopolizing the public transport industry, it doesn't mean they should rubbish complaints. in fact, SMRT takes customer satisfaction and service standards quite seriously.

 

[Royale With Cheese]

take down the driver's name, lodge a formal complaint with sbs, taking into account the name/time of incident.

be nice, smile at the driver. in fact, just happily ask her for her photo also, in a nice manner. then when you leave, tell her happily that you will be lodging a complaint with sbs, have a nice day and please drive safely.

SBS will reply with template answer :bsmilie::bsmilie:

 

[Submarine71]

TS, try to take the same bus with the same driver again, pay $1, silently turn on your whatever video recording devices that u have, if same thing happen again, SBS will lan lan take actions against the driver.
else, u know where to post...

 

[Snowcrash]

I'm from ITE , i show my ITE ezlink card to the driver which clearly shows the word " student " there. Show her but she still ask me get out.

Thanks for sharing more info as well as your bad experience on this particular bus incident.
The people here are expressing their opinion based on your sharing as well as their personal experience relating to bad customer service.

I hope you learn something too by posting your bad experience on a public forum.

I read up on the transit website that one is supposed to tap the concession card even when paying cash for the concession rate.
Are you aware of this or no one had told you about this before?

 

[enzeru21]

SBS will reply with template answer :bsmilie::bsmilie:

ya, all our G'ment and big corps like singtel.. all know how to give B/S answer and say it is not like this, not like that, we do our best, blah blah blah...

everytime see newspaper oso sianz le...

dunno what this can't be helped, it only happens once every 50 years...

 

[Muckafutha]

according to SBS customer officer, CCTV is only used in emergency . wtf? :dunno:



let me make this clear, i took that bus to my destination or further from yishun like a dozen time. i never encounter this problem until today. and i always pay $1 if i my ezlink card has no money.

ok , lets say(if have no money in my ezlink ) i took that bus to my destination from yishun 12 times, all 11 different drivers they let me pass with a $1 trip and sometimes request me to produce my ID and i did without hesitation.

but this 1 driver today , i put in $1 like every normal day i take the bus, but she didnt ask for my ID so i dont bother , its not my duty to ask what, she is the one working , its her duty to ask. i pay money and i still need me to ask if she want to look at my ID ? not as if im working for SBS. if so , next time i might as well paste my ID on my forehead everytime i take the bus. :sweat:

so you tell me , who is wrong who is right . The 11 drivers or the 1 driver .

why didnt the 11 drivers kick me out as well ? or ask me to pay extra to my destination.

I can't be sure how much your trip actually costs, but your logic is a bit off. It could be that the other 11 drivers were lazy. Doesn't mean the one driver that kick you out was wrong. She may just be doing her job. Plus it is your responsibility to show your concession pass.

 

[Muckafutha]

well, if you are an ITE student with a valid student ezlink card, then the bus driver certainly shouldn't have kicked you off as the max fare for a student paying cash is only 75c... I suggest, as others before have, that you write simultaneously to SBS as well as to the ST forum...

and whilst the TS should have shown the student card without the driver's demand, failure to show the card should not result in the TS getting kicked off...

Do they still issue a bus ticket nowadays? Anyway if TS did not show the concession card, then I don't think the bus driver can identify he is a student, especially since he was going to work. in that case, he did not overpay. In fact he underpaid as the fare was supposed to be $1.80 and not $1.

 

[theRBK]

Do they still issue a bus ticket nowadays? Anyway if TS did not show the concession card, then I don't think the bus driver can identify he is a student, especially since he was going to work. in that case, he did not overpay. In fact he underpaid as the fare was supposed to be $1.80 and not $1.

yes, if you pay by cash, they will issue a ticket... the machine looks similar to how it has always been, with a niche where the ticket will drop into for collection after it is issued...

and surely, if the protocol to tap the concession card was not followed for whatever reason, surely the appropriate remedy would be for the bus driver to ask for the card, and upon the card being produced and verified, allow the transaction to take place... sometimes, people are preoccupied for whatever reason and fail to produce the card; surely with the courtesy campaign and better service campaign and all that sort of stuff, asking politely for the card is not too much to expect?

 

[night86mare]

SBS will reply with template answer :bsmilie::bsmilie:

smrt did that once,

i asked the officer to kindly escalate it to her superior, because she had not given me a satisfactory answer.

 

[johnlim]

I saw a similar incident yesterday when the bus driver(male) stopped at a bus stop & shouted from the driver seat at a male passenger(about 40 years old). in the cabinThe driver was very rude; The passenger was obviously treated as a person who cheats on bus fare.

The passenger explained to him that he had not enough fare in his card, that he will be alighting at the next stop, but the driver persisted that he get off the bus; all the while shouting from the front, oblivious to his bad manner in the public. But the passenger refused to get off the bus, the driver "lan lan" can't do anything and drove to the next stop where he alighted the bus.

I guess if the passenger was a student, the driver will be even more persistent & ruder(will bully small child). :sweat:

 

[Muckafutha]

yes, if you pay by cash, they will issue a ticket... the machine looks similar to how it has always been, with a niche where the ticket will drop into for collection after it is issued...

and surely, if the protocol to tap the concession card was not followed for whatever reason, surely the appropriate remedy would be for the bus driver to ask for the card, and upon the card being produced and verified, allow the transaction to take place... sometimes, people are preoccupied for whatever reason and fail to produce the card; surely with the courtesy campaign and better service campaign and all that sort of stuff, asking politely for the card is not too much to expect?

yes i totally agree with you when handling such a situation, the driver should be polite, even if the person at fault is the passenger.

however, most passengers drop the coin into the coin thing, and just expect the driver to count what was the fair put in, and print the ticket. If i was the driver, i will assume that this passenger is paying adult fare and i will just print a $1 ticket for him.

On the other hand, if the passenger flash the concession card, and drop in one dollar, I as the driver will print a $0.75 ticket for him because that is the max concession price. This will prevent the student from getting into trouble when an inspector comes on board and checks the tickets.

bottomline, if you dont tell, the driver wont know.

having said that, i have also previously written in to complain about rude drivers that put passengers lives at risk. so i do agree that driver courtesy is lacking in some cases.

 

[domdomino]

I can't be sure how much your trip actually costs, but your logic is a bit off. It could be that the other 11 drivers were lazy. Doesn't mean the one driver that kick you out was wrong. She may just be doing her job. Plus it is your responsibility to show your concession pass.

Do they still issue a bus ticket nowadays? Anyway if TS did not show the concession card, then I don't think the bus driver can identify he is a student, especially since he was going to work. in that case, he did not overpay. In fact he underpaid as the fare was supposed to be $1.80 and not $1.

i took same bus to work today but different driver.

I boarded the bus and asked the driver how much isit to go to pasir ris drive 1 with student card. He told me 75cents, and i double check with him are you sure? he said , yea.

so how the problem is , how much is the actual fare? 75cents or $1.80. both drivers telling me different amount.:think:

 

[Limsgp]

i took same bus to work today but different driver.

I boarded the bus and asked the driver how much isit to go to pasir ris drive 1 with student card. He told me 75cents, and i double check with him are you sure? he said , yea.

so how the problem is , how much is the actual fare? 75cents or $1.80. both drivers telling me different amount.:think:

It depends on whether you declare you're a student at the point of entry, and displaying the necessary documents/articles/pass when required.

 

[kei1309]

It depends on whether you declare you're a student at the point of entry, and displaying the necessary documents/articles/pass when required.

that's why... was TS wearing school uniform at the point of entry? then it might clear up some of the air