It rained all day today, Traffic wasn't too heavy but the driving conditions were bad so everyone drove slowly and it was hard work if not especially busy given that it is half term here.
I worked on Sunday when the new machines were introduced and then had Monday and Tuesday of so today I was still not 100% confident that I would remember everything. So I got on the bus and pressed the right buttons until the machine asked me to present my card. I have a small card holder with the machine smart card in it as well as 3 or 4 other cards and I presented the holder. "No, sorry that card's no good." said the machine (not exactly those words you understand but in my brief moment of panic I failed to make notes) One of the other cards in the holder was my Concessionary Bus Pass and the two cards together were confusing the poor machine. After I worked that out things went well and I was beginning to relax a little and try out other methods of issuing tickets. There are 3 or four ways of getting the same ticket out of the machine. A lady, bless her asked for a concessionary to Brixham and I pressed what I thought were the right buttons and a ticket emerged. She looked at it and said,"£4.55. I thought it was free." Which was why I said bless her. I grabbed the ticket and went back to the basic method which has worked so far and gave her the right ticket and cancelled the £4.55 one and resolved not to press any buttons unless I knew exactly what I was doing. I had a few minutes at Brixham and worked out what I had done wrong. Too complicated to explain right now as I would like to get some sleep tonight. Several people boarded the bus in Brixham and they all got their tickets fairly briskly. Then one gent said, "You seem to have mastered the machine. The driver on Sunday was at 6s and 7s with his machine." He asked for a concession to Newton and I smiled sweetly and promptly issued a return for £6.00. Bugger.
As the day went on it got easier. In Torquay I even managed to issue a multi ticket, five singles to Brixham. Instead of issuing 5 individual tickets the machine allows you to save paper and issue one ticket with single to Brixham X 5 printed on it. What a good idea. I even changed a ticket roll today, my first.
I worked on Sunday when the new machines were introduced and then had Monday and Tuesday of so today I was still not 100% confident that I would remember everything. So I got on the bus and pressed the right buttons until the machine asked me to present my card. I have a small card holder with the machine smart card in it as well as 3 or 4 other cards and I presented the holder. "No, sorry that card's no good." said the machine (not exactly those words you understand but in my brief moment of panic I failed to make notes) One of the other cards in the holder was my Concessionary Bus Pass and the two cards together were confusing the poor machine. After I worked that out things went well and I was beginning to relax a little and try out other methods of issuing tickets. There are 3 or four ways of getting the same ticket out of the machine. A lady, bless her asked for a concessionary to Brixham and I pressed what I thought were the right buttons and a ticket emerged. She looked at it and said,"£4.55. I thought it was free." Which was why I said bless her. I grabbed the ticket and went back to the basic method which has worked so far and gave her the right ticket and cancelled the £4.55 one and resolved not to press any buttons unless I knew exactly what I was doing. I had a few minutes at Brixham and worked out what I had done wrong. Too complicated to explain right now as I would like to get some sleep tonight. Several people boarded the bus in Brixham and they all got their tickets fairly briskly. Then one gent said, "You seem to have mastered the machine. The driver on Sunday was at 6s and 7s with his machine." He asked for a concession to Newton and I smiled sweetly and promptly issued a return for £6.00. Bugger.
As the day went on it got easier. In Torquay I even managed to issue a multi ticket, five singles to Brixham. Instead of issuing 5 individual tickets the machine allows you to save paper and issue one ticket with single to Brixham X 5 printed on it. What a good idea. I even changed a ticket roll today, my first.
4 comments:
good idea with the brixham x5.
I get where you went wrong with the bloke at Birxham now, £6 return instead of issuing an explorer. Oh well, i doubt he noticed.
you must of had a good teacher when you were shown how it worked
nice to see one of the actual machiens now up. ;)
The best; teacher that is.
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