As Tue, 26 Aug 2003 11:55:34 GMT appeared fresh and rosy-fingered,
"Martin Underwood" wrote:

Anyway, what about the delays while tourists who don't know the fare count
out their coins to meet the "exact fare" requirement? What about if you have
the correct fare but not in the coins that the ticket machine will accept -
there is a growing trend for ticket machines (especially in car parks) to
only accept some coins (eg not copper or not 5p). To require people to carry
not only sufficient change but also in the correct denominations is
LUDICROUS.

The ticket machine at my local South Central station isn't very keen
on 20p coins. Sometimes it will accept them, but not always.

I was recently caught out in Germany when I tried to buy a ticket from
a machine on a tram. There were no machines at the stops, and on-board
ticket machines seem quite common over there. It wouldn't accept any
of our money, so we, erm, might have had a free ride. Still, we bought
day tickets later on, so the company didn't lose in the end (just in
case Freiburg transport are reading this!).

In the case of the Reading buses, they actually have the cheek to describe
their "exact fare" scheme as being "more convenient" (placards on the sides
of buses). How can a system that won't give change be *more* convenient? It
is *less* convenient from the passenger's point of view.

You also need to make it clear in advance what the exact fare will be.
While the fares in London are round figures, exact fare is a real pain
when the fare is 83p, but varies according to phases of the moon.

When I Were A Lad we used to let the blue buses go past as they were
exact fare, and wait for the red ones which gave change. It was in
Yorkshire, though :-)

--
Arthur Figgis