Ticketing
This domain tests the mechanical and legal side of issuing tickets: correct fare stage, correct fare, correct record, and correct handling of exceptions.
Issue of tickets
- Collect the fare and issue the ticket at the same moment; never collect cash on a promise to issue later.
- The ticket must show the fare stage of boarding, the destination stage, the fare paid, the date, the trip and the serial number.
- Charge the fare shown in the approved fare table for the actual stage travelled, not the stage at which the passenger boarded the bus in the queue.
- Children below the age fixed by the operator travel free; children between that age and the height limit pay half fare, as set out in the fare table.
- Excess luggage is charged at the prescribed rate and a separate receipt is issued.
Exceptions and records
- Concessional and free passes are accepted only in the prescribed form and must be recorded, not waved through.
- Spoiled or cancelled tickets are retained, marked and accounted for; they are never discarded.
- On returning unused ticket stock, count it against the issue register.
- A passenger without a valid ticket who refuses to pay is dealt with under the operator's procedure and reported; the conductor never argues or physically detains anyone.
Electronic ticketing
Handheld machines print the ticket and store the trip data. Enter the correct stage before printing, and never reprint a ticket to hide an earlier error - record it instead.
Worked example
A passenger boards at stage 3 and travels to stage 7. Reasoning: the fare is the stage 3 to stage 7 fare from the fare table, not a flat minimum fare and not the stage 7 to terminus fare. The ticket must print both stages so the fare can be verified at inspection.
Traps that cost marks
Charging the fare for a later stage than the one boarded; destroying spoiled tickets; and accepting a pass without recording it.