Let’s paint a scene, early Monday morning I’m running late scurrying up Windsor Street to catch a bus across the bridge. To see if I can gain a few minutes, I hop on a bus that happens to be passing by.
The bus driver asked to have a closer look at my bus pass, after which I am accused of fraud in front of a packed bus.
The bus pulled over while a call was placed to verify it. I have a unique one because I travel on the MetroX bus to the Airport to and from 5 days a week since the bus route began a year ago (that’s $1200 I’ve given the transit system).
The MetroX pass is blue and another color which changes with the month like any other bus pass.
This bus driver did not recognize (shouldn’t she?!) it and accused me of counterfeiting it. I visibly upset and now late for my connection and subsequently work refused offers of fellow passengers to pay my way, I only planned on taking the bus up the street after all and I pay $100 a month for that pass. Money that is hard earned I can assure you. I felt like I was being held hostage, she said I could leave without my pass, but as its worth $100 I stayed in sight of it, the people she called returned with the answer that the pass was “blue” meaning my blue and green pass was a fake. I can’t be sure what else was said but she eventually gave me my pass and I quickly exited. Perhaps it was my distress or the distress of the 30 or so now late commuters behind me but she let me go. Feeling like a fugitive as I ran to a second bus, the driver again questioned my pass, but did not question my explanation. As I traveled across the bridge I heard myself and my pass being discussed on the radio.
On the way home which was thankfully false accusation free I read an article about the crack down on fake passes. If Metro Transit is worried about pass fraud maybe they should educate their drivers on what ALL possible methods of payment look like, I’m pretty sure there are only 4 options Student, Adult, Link and MetroX. Have examples at the wheel for them to compare with, is this really an issue?!
Please stop making me pay $100/month to be treated like a criminal! —Ms. Treatment
This article appears in Jun 20-26, 2013.
I guess the whole boy named Sue thing really set her teeth on edge.
Nah i’m just poking the fire op. That sucks, etc. I fly about once a week to once every two weeks op. I didn’t even bother with a pass at this point for that very reason. I’ve heard similar stories, from other travelers and from peeps living in fall river.
“If Metro Transit is worried about pass fraud maybe they should educate their drivers on what ALL possible methods of payment look like, I’m pretty sure there are only 4 options”
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA –
Lets win the small battles first, OP. Teaching them how to count past 10 without unzipping their pants is a lofty enough goal, for now.
And even then, Local 508 is balking like a mule on a hot day.
I always wonder why we do not have rechargeable cards that is valid for metro, trams, urban trains, most buses and ferries as they do in most other countries.
Wow. This just screams of incompetence. I would be so fucking pissed. You don’t deserve this shit. The drivers should be able to recognize all the passes, or at least have a reference book for the month with all the different pass types. What a joke MT is.
If the management idiots at MT that think up and make these passes had a brain we would not be having this issue. They have way too many kinds and colors of passes out there. We bus drivers may drive for weeks and not see a metro X pass, or a link pass etc. They used to put up a sheet with real voided passes on a bulletin board for all to see, but of course as always there is no consistency at and with management of Metro Transit. So you want to blame the assholes at the other wheel, the management wheel!
“They have way too many kinds and colors of passes out there.”
In the same way that urban planners are to blame for traffic accidents in having such a multiplicity of signs and signals in all sorts of different shapes and colours. >; )
Or you know Wheels, you could do your fucking job and memorize the cards that you could probably count on one hand. It’s like elementary school, where you learn shapes and colours, maybe that’s too much to handle for the bus drivers though eh… I don’t think they’re paid enough for that.
Ahhhh. It feels good to not have to worry about transit, being a cyclist has many advantages.
Yes, Wheels. It must be horribly difficult to be able to keep them all straight. I guess that’s why they pay you the big bucks though, huh Sport? I know its hard to imagine a person having to know all the relevant information to be able to do their job properly and professionally but, being the union slug you are, you find someone else to blame. Bravo, douchebag!!!!
So Wheels, if you managed at a grocery store and one of your employees only new one price for one item, how long would you allow the to work there?
See? No valid argument.
And no, the driver was a douchebag as were all the other idiots who questioned the valid pass.
The colours, children!
Mmher, mmhay.
Bus drivers make how much and they aren’t expected to know what passes are valid? No wonder the mandatory drug testing didn’t go over so well. But then again, whats the minimum education requirement for bus drivers? Anybody? Beuller?
OP, I don’t even take the bus and your Bitch kinda pissed me off a little.
The bus driver was obviously a control fiend and an ass…but OK, I might be able to see where they are coming from. Their boss probably told them to be on the ball with the fake passes. A lot of people using fake passes will result in higher fares for everyone, etc.
It was when the driver phoned dispatch and was informed that your valid pass was a fake by someone who wasn’t even there to look at it that irked me. Unacceptable, disorganized, mismanaged and expensive!
Why can’t all the drivers have a laminated sheet with all the passes on it? They can just check it when they see an unfamiliar pass. They can just update it when a new one comes out. It’s about solutions here in Regville.
no driver should have to question passes. if they suspect a pass is fake, call h/o to get a supervisor to haul ass out to the next stop. ditto rowdies on the bus, get a supervisor or some burly guard to do it unless it truly is emergency NOW!
We’re too used to seeing fake passes. so when we see a real one we think it’s a fraudulent one. Hardy har har.
Sarge, if you had a brain you might actually be dangerous.
Well I think its time you all know how many passes there are. We have the basic passes which comes in child/senior
Student and Adult these are the most seen and carry the monthly color very clearly on them. Then we have the Metro Link pass only comes in Adult these passes have a little less of the monthly color and is mostly blue. Then there is the Metro X pass these passes only come in adult and have very little of the monthly color on them. Very rarely do you see them out side of where the X buses are. Even though I know what they look like if I see them at Mumford they catch me by surprise. Some drivers hardly see them.
Then we have the Halifax regional School board passes and they are a different color all together. Then come the Dalhousie staff e-passes those come in two different varieties regular and link these are credit card style passes that look way different. Then you have the CNIB passes that come in two varieties the old kind and the new kind we are told to accept both. Then we have the city passes for staff that qualify. Last but not lease we have the Metro Transit Retire passes for admin staff and others. So as you can see we have a lot of passes to remember.
Now the largest problem is we have no reference as to what all these passes are.Some times when they are introduced we see notice with a picture of it other times when a passenger shows us the pass its the first time we see it. So yes we call in to make sure its a valid pass. Also every month the color changes would you like to know how we find out what the new color is? I will tell you how I find out its usually a couple of days before when some one accidentally shows me the pass for the next month. I still don’t know what color the July passes are yet.
Oh I forgot to mention the U-passes which comes in 4 flavors. Oh wow I also forgot the special event/convention passes that crop up at least once a month.
Really the answer to all this would be a smart card reader takes guess out of it. I have been in cities that all the driver sees is a green light or red light. Person swipes the card if driver sees green then good if driver sees red then they question. Not only would this be easy but would enable day passes, week passes and would also make it so when you buy a monthly pass it would be good for a month from the date you bought it. Instead of being the 1st till the end of the month.
And the blame lies where it should, with the idiots who thought up the half dozen or more different kinds and colors of passes, the stupid transfer good for as long as they disintegrate, or spontaniously combust, or are so tattered, wtf? They are supposed to change the fareboxes, thus the passes as well and transfers? We shall see what happens, hopefully they get it right for once, but I won’t hold my breath.They have the insight intelligence, and all around know how of a bag of hammers. About like Sarge.
I don’t think anyone can argue that the management at Metro transit are fools; it doesn’t, however, excuse bus drivers from knowing their job – part of which is the foolish decisions made by the management.
If your job includes knowing the many types and colours of passes/transfers, so be it. If you don’t know your job and someone complains, so be it.
Yeah, I have to commit relevant information to memory to do my job. I don’t see why bus drivers can’t do the same. Like it or lump it, you’re in a customer-facing position, you have to treat those people appropriately and know the methods of payment. Sorry I’m not sorry.
As long as i can possibly afford it Im driving my car, Ill never step foot on a Metro transit bus unless I must for some reason.
When the Good Lord God had spent the first 6 days creating the World and all the living creatures in it and the leviathans that swam in the deeps, the birds of the air and finally Adam and Eve, on the 7th day he rested and thought “How can I fuck all this up? I know, I’ll create a union” and so it came to pass, a fake pass in some instances.
Shalom and pass the BACON.
I work at a grocery store and I have to memorize a SHIT TON of produce and other miscellaneous codes. Some of them we see so often (such as bananas) that we never forget. But the odd time someone will bring up something we don’t see very often (such as Chinese lettuce) and we have a produce picture book to find the code. If memorizing ten different bus passes is so hard then perhaps MT can consider a similar system. Although, the recommendation of pre-loaded cards is also a good one. Honestly though, the “there are too many different kinds and colours to memorize” arguments is absolute bullshit. If I get paid minimum wage and I can tell the difference between a sweet and spanish onion (which look almost identical), then bus drivers who get paid more than cops should be able to distinguish between bus passes…
When it comes to fake passes I don’t think bus drivers should have to do jack shit. When someone pays me with fake money do you think a cashier is responsible for calling out a customer on that? Hells no!! My manager can deal with that shit. Same should go for fake bus passes and drivers. Report your suspicions and let management deal with it.