| Comment | McGills seems to do something similar here (not an old codger - although I've had many a journey from Glasgow to Braehead, that actually says it's to Greenock...) but also something else - on most routes, singles are considerably more expensive than returns! This seems unusual to say the least, until you notice that they're paid for concessions based on the proportion of the *single fare*... IMO there's a few potential ways to deal with this:
* Make the money they receive a proportion of the single or the return fare, whichever is lower - so if they want to try and pull this trick, they need to increase those fares as well, and annoy quite a few more people (though with longer-term tickets becoming more common, another way may be needed in the future).
* Calculate fares in such a way that's irrespective of the company's fares - it seems unusual to say the least that, if a bus company raises prices, the government just has to go along with it.
* More regular inspections, perhaps done externally (maybe a "secret shopper"-style system?), to check that companies are giving tickets to the right places. The system right now seems quite self-reported to say the least. |
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