This as you can see is a First Day ticket which I bought. It cost £3.30 and is valid on First buses only. For £4.00 I could have bought a day ticket valid on most buses that run around Manchester. But I have a Stagecoach Pass so I only needed this ticket. After a day in Manchester I ended up in Peter's Square out side the Library. I needed to get to Piccadilly which is but a short walk up Moseley Street. There was a bus coming so I decided to catch it and save the legs. A glance showed it wasn't Stagecoach so out came the day ticket. The driver looked at it and proclaimed it to be a First Bus ticket in more or less the same tone of voice as I would use if I had just stood in some thing a dog had left on the pavement. "So", said I. "This is an Arriva bus." the driver replied. In pretty much the same tone of voice he had used to condemn my ticket.
I mumbled some thing about not being used to travelling on buses and left. 20 seconds later a Stagecoach bus arrived and carried me carmly,safely and efficiently to Piccadilly. For free.
2 comments:
Did you check with your Stagecoach colleagues if there was a local agreement regarding travel passes. I'm guessing your pass looks like the Manchester staff pass. If so you'd have probably been able to use any company's buses.
Agreements re using staff passes on other buses usually only happen locally. I can use my Stagecoach pass on any Stagecoach bus in the country and on First Bus and others here in the South West but not in Manchester. If I worked for Stagecoach Manchester I could use Firstbus. I did once get on a Firstbus in Manchester wearing my Stagecoach anorak (I'm an anorak!) and the driver waved me on when I tried to pay. Then at Heaton Park an Inspector got on. By the look of him neither his parents nor any of his grandparents were ever married (ideal person to make a ticket inspector).He told me in no uncirtain terms that I could not use my pass so far from home. He didn't make me pay though.
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