Wayfarer Whinge (Riot ACT Post)

[Buzz Killington]

My daughter has an ACTION student pass that cannot be used dueto the ticket machine having issues with reading the magnetic strip.The bus driver told her that she would have to pay the fare or walk toschool as her ticket is now invalid. What he failed to consider wasthat her pass was valid every other day this term when she traveled onthat service and the problem with the ticket was caused by the ticketmachine on the bus, not by her. Luckily her friend had some money tobuy a ticket otherwise she would have been stranded.
I contacted ACTION customer service who informed me that sometimesthe magnetic strips fail when the weather warms up. This response was atotal cop out as we had the same problem with another student passlast term in the middle of winter. I didn't worry too much about theprevious pass as it failed on the second last day of school so mydaughter just paid $3.80 cash on these days.
ACTION informed me that I have to take the pass to their depot forreplacement and that there will be no refund for the bus fares I wasforced to pay. I have to take time off work and travel a 26km roundtrip, during their office hours of 8.30am to 4.30pm weekdays, to obtaina new pass as they don't deal with kids. So far their faulty ticketmachines have cost me $7.60 in term 2, $7.60 for Monday and Tuesdaythis week, plus the time I will be docked when not at work to get thepass replaced. All of this stuffing around for a $65.00 bus pass hardlyseems worth the effort, especially when I need to make sure that mydaughter carries cash in case the new ticket is rendered invalid by thedodgy, double dipping system in place on these buses.
I was not even offered an apology by any of the ACTION staff I dealtwith, instead the problem was turned around by blaming my daughter formisusing the pass.  I did inform the arrogant staff member at the depotthat the pass is kept in the plastic sleeve provided and had never beenbent or tampered with. He replied in a flippant manner that the kidsuse black textas to colour in the bar codes which stuffs up oursystem.  He didn't even bother to look at her pass to see that it wasstill in perfect condition.
Come on ACTION, lift your game.  Why bother wasting tens ofthousands on TV and radio advertising to attract new patronage?  Whydon't you look after the customers you already have by taking ownershipof the problem with your ticket machines?

[Irisbus Rider]

Ugh. $3.80? Haven't these people heard of concession tickets?

Usually, drivers will just check the expiry date on the term ticket, I've never seen a driver forcing a student with a term ticket to pay $3.80..........I can't help but get the feeling we're not getting all of the facts here.

[Buzz Killington]

Never let the facts get in the way of a good rant!

I don't buy the "had to go all the way to the depot" story either.

[Busnerd]

Well the girl probably told her dad that he made her pay even though he wouldn't have. You can't make a student pay or get off the bus, you have a duty of care and cannot do anything.

Here's how it works, if your ticket prints invalid, just keep using it. Thats what i do, in most cases it will print invalid on one bus but work fine in the next bus. Sometimes they will just print invalid again and the drivers check the date and hand it back, some will tell you to get it replaced to which I always said no as it usually only had a week left and it wasn't my fault the technology is out dated.

[particleman]

Well the girl probably told her dad that he made her pay even though he wouldn't have. You can't make a student pay or get off the bus, you have a duty of care and cannot do anything.

I had that happen to me once, I was 5¢ short, luckily the guy in the gunzel seat lent me some. This was not a school route though so it could be different

[Busnerd]

On a school service if the child does not have money you have to let them on for free.

I believe the same applies for regular services where the pax is under 16 you are responsible. If they have no money and you leave them at the bus stop and anything happens its on you.