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Martin Rich[_2_] · December 27th 11, 12:55 PM posted to nyc.transit,uk.transport.london

"Neil Williams" wrote in message
.net...
On Mon, 26 Dec 2011 19:43:18 -0800 (PST), wrote:
Are London buses exact fare?

No, though in London it is "buy before you board" in the central area.
But most use Oyster anyway.

Exact change policies are generally considered passenger unfriendly in the
UK, and are practiced only by a minority of bus operators.

As you say, it's a minority but there also seem to be regional variations.
Like another poster in u.t.l I've encountered exact change policies in the
West Midlands and also in Scotland.

Until roughly 1970, bus drivers in major cities gave change so
passengers didn't need to have the exact fare in cash. But holdups
pushed transit carriers to go exact fare.

Not in the UK, where change being given is the norm.

From the late 1960s in London the 'Red Arrow' routes in the centre, and some
busy routes elsewhere in London, adopted an exact change policy along with
use of a flat fare, at a time when other routes charged fares that varied
according to the distance that a passenger was travelling. So if you
boarded a bus 200 (traditional London fare system) at Wimbledon station,
you'd pay one fare if you were simply travelling the short hop to the top of
Wimbledon Hill, a higher fare if you were continuing once the bus continued
along Ridgway, and so on. But if you boarded a 501 (Red Arrow) at Waterloo,
you'd pay a fixed amount irrespective of whether you were taking a short hop
across Waterloo Bridge, or continuing to Holborn or beyond. However my
recollection is that this was done to speed boarding, not because of concern
over security for drivers.

Martin

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