r/Glasgow Tools

Title
Author	Bamba1977
Comment	1/ There are at least two different bus companies running in Glasgow (FirstBus and McGills). They both have buses with the same number but the routes aren't the same because each company has just arbitrarily picked a number for each route they run. 2/ I can't speak to McGills as I don't use them but for FirstBus there certainly used to be two levels of fare: one for a 'short' journey (like a few stops) and the higher fare for literally everything else. The easiest thing to do is to ask for a ticket by price and that's what the drivers expect which is why you're getting a bad reaction from the worst of them. Obviously you shoudn't be getting that reaction and it's pure cuntery on their part but, it is what it is. So, like, you just get on and go "£1.70 driver" or whatever the price is. The reason though that I can't be specific about what the actual fare is despite using the buses a lot at the moment is because I never buy tickets on the bus any more. Just download the app and buy a pack of single tickets (either five or ten at a time) which you can then activate and use whenever you want. It's cheaper that way and it also means you never need to speak to a driver ever again. You just activate your ticket, get on the bus, scan the barcode from the app and walk to a seat without ever even having to acknolwedge the driver exists, which should hopefully help with your anxiety. 3/ Yeah, certainly for FirstBus it can be a bit shit like that. It happens very rarely for the routes I use but I hear it can be pretty common in other parts of the city. 4/ I've actually found Google's knowledge of the bus routes to be reliable in Glasgow but I agree that it doesn't seems to differntiate between, say, a McGills 17 and a FirstBus 17. I wouldn't have thought though that many bus stops are used by the same number bus from both companies? Even in that scenario though, because they two buses will cover wildly differernt routes as you note, you can look the route up beforehand (the FirstBus website will give you a schedule for each bus and a set of stops) and know which 'type' of 17 you need to get presumably?
Reddit Link	https://www.reddit.com/r/glasgow/comments/psgyuu/just_moved_here_need_some_advice_for_busses/hdq8rrs/
Created	Tue 21st Sep 2021 4:32pm
Status	normal ()

1/ There are at least two different bus companies running in Glasgow (FirstBus and McGills). They both have buses with the same number but the routes aren't the same because each company has just arbitrarily picked a number for each route they run.

2/ I can't speak to McGills as I don't use them but for FirstBus there certainly used to be two levels of fare: one for a 'short' journey (like a few stops) and the higher fare for literally everything else. The easiest thing to do is to ask for a ticket by price and that's what the drivers expect which is why you're getting a bad reaction from the worst of them. Obviously you shoudn't be getting that reaction and it's pure cuntery on their part but, it is what it is. So, like, you just get on and go "£1.70 driver" or whatever the price is.

The reason though that I can't be specific about what the actual fare is despite using the buses a lot at the moment is because I never buy tickets on the bus any more. Just download the app and buy a pack of single tickets (either five or ten at a time) which you can then activate and use whenever you want. It's cheaper that way and it also means you never need to speak to a driver ever again. You just activate your ticket, get on the bus, scan the barcode from the app and walk to a seat without ever even having to acknolwedge the driver exists, which should hopefully help with your anxiety.

3/ Yeah, certainly for FirstBus it can be a bit shit like that. It happens very rarely for the routes I use but I hear it can be pretty common in other parts of the city.

4/ I've actually found Google's knowledge of the bus routes to be reliable in Glasgow but I agree that it doesn't seems to differntiate between, say, a McGills 17 and a FirstBus 17. I wouldn't have thought though that many bus stops are used by the same number bus from both companies? Even in that scenario though, because they two buses will cover wildly differernt routes as you note, you can look the route up beforehand (the FirstBus website will give you a schedule for each bus and a set of stops) and know which 'type' of 17 you need to get presumably?