"Colin Rosenstiel" wrote in message
...
In article ,
() wrote:
CJG wrote:
Buses are slowed down so much with drivers getting change. And even
I strongly believe (based on personal observation) that most of the
delay to buses is actually tourists (etc) asking "does this bus go to
Harrods?" and so on, and if told no, entering into a debate about which
bus does. Or people asking the driver of Bus A where Bus B (being the
one they need) has got to, because there hasn't been one for ages.
Neither of these cases will be helped by cashless or fixed-fare buses.
I suspect the pay before boarding requirement will lose a lot of tourist
traffic. I know that I never used a bus in Warsaw because I couldn't find
anywhere to buy the right tickets with my limited Polish. The guides said
to use street kiosks but they seemed always to be shut. If you don't have
the exact money the new machines don't want to know you.
Exactly. Over the past few decades there was been a steady erosion in the
level of service provided by public transport, especially as regards getting
travel advice and buying tickets. I can remember the days (not that long
ago - I'm only 40) when all buses had conductors who would have change for
whatever money you tendered and would advise you on the best ticket to buy
("what's the best ticket(s) if I want to go from A to B to C to A?") or when
to catch the return bus (given that few bus stops have timetables on them).
Nowadays you have to buy your ticket from a machine that can't give change
or else from a driver who can't/won't give change. If you only have a note,
rather than coins, forget about trying to travel! Is this what's called
"progress"? "Progress" is evidently a vector quantity: it can be (and often
is) negative! Or at least, it is only positive as seen by the company,
rather than the customer.