May I see your ticket please?

Today I left work about 6:00 PM. It was a long day since I was on the train at 8:00 AM. Anyway, I was waiting for the bus and this car pulls up in the bus lane. It just sits there and has four guys in it. The guys are all wearing suits. Eventually, three get out of the car and have caps that look like pilot hats that they put on. I didn't think much of it. I just figured that they were pilots. I wasn't really sure why they were waiting in the car but thought that they were lucky since a bus came not a minute after they got out of their car.

I put my bus ticket into the reader and stood in an open area where people with strollers/buggies go or if there is a passenger in a wheelchair they go. So, one of the guys asks to see my ticket. I think that is strange since he just watched me put it into the reader not a minute ago. I dig it out and he then asks to see my bus/rail ID. I just got a new one this month because I lost my old one and the only way to get a monthly bus/rail ticket is to have one of these stupid IDs that cost 3.50. Anyway, he asks to see my ID so I take out my wallet and start digging through it. Normally, I only show it once a month: to get my new bus/rail ticket. I finally find it and get the guy's attention who is talking to the elderly guy behind me. I show him my ID, he looks at it, looks at me, frowns and hands it back to me. By this time, guy 2 went to the upper level of the bus.

The third guy is watching all of this and watching me. He approaches me and says in a quiet tone that when an Inspector asks to see my ticket, always show my ID with it. I probably should have been a bit deferent to him, but I just said I didn't know. He wasn't impatient but cut me off and said just for next time.

The same Inspector then told me that I had to sit on the bus since there were seats available. I told him that I didn't want to sit. He insisted so I explained that I hurt my back and it physically hurts a lot to sit on the seats. He then "excused" me from sitting and allowed me to stay standing. Besides, I had my (full) backpack (nice one that John gave me for Christmas) on my back, a big bag and my purse with me. It is hard to manage all that stuff and sit down.

Finally, the first Inspector finishes with the guy behind me and writes down some numbers. See, the guy behind me had a bus pass. This is different than what I get. A bus pass (as two mates told me as they laughed at me calling my ticket a pass this autumn) is for people who are elderly, disabled, or too poor to afford the bus. At least I think the last category is true since I see some young adult very able body people with bus passes. Anyway, you have a special ID with information in it. So the inspector was very interested in this guy's bus pass and I think the guy had to do some follow-up but I don't know since I wasn't listening. I was trying to relax to Shania Twain.

A while later, while Inspectors One and Three are looking at the bus tickets of everyone in the lower area, Inspector Two comes down with some One-Day Ramblers (one day tickets that can be used as much as you want but for a day) and puts them in the card reader to mark them. He also had a pad that looked like a ticket book. I guess some people upstairs didn't either pay the full fare or couldn't prove they paid at all. Funny since there is a place on the bus to throw away your slip that you get if you pay cash. So, its presence encourages one to throw this slip away almost as soon as you get it. And a lot of people do. I watch them daily.

So, after about 20 minutes, the three guys meet back up, tell everyone that they have to sit if there are seats available. Three of us are standing. One of the guys looks at me and tells me to sit because I stay standing. The Inspector I explained my issue to told the guy I was OK. The Inspector claimed that it was a safety hazard to be standing on the bus. Then why were they standing and why were they standing in the stair way? That isn't a very good example to set.

Anyway, they finish their inspection and get off two stops later. The next bus driver gets on at the stop as the Inspectors get off. The new bus driver gets on, the old one gets out of his area, and they exchange a look. I couldn't quite see it since the Inspectors were blocking my view. However, the bus driver who was done glanced at the Inspectors and the other one laughed. I bet they don't like them on their buses anymore than we like them on the bus.

Ok, so that is my story. Now, I still want to know why I have to have this stupid special bus ID. I think it may be 1) to make a bit of money and 2) to prevent people from sharing the monthly ticket. However, there is another monthly ticket that doesn't require an ID. If you were going to share (which you aren't supposed to), wouldn't you just use that one? By the way, I would get that one but it doesn't come with bus and train. Anyway, I digress again. If the intention is to cut down on sharing, what is to stop people from paying the 3.50 for the ID, getting Month C's ticket and sharing it with the people who bought tickets for months A and B? Besides, wouldn't people want to use the tickets about the same time? That is assuming that you are a commuter. I think that there has been an increase in Inspections on the buses and trains. Maybe that is where my extra 5 Euro a month for my monthly ticket is going.