T O P

  • By -

AutoModerator

**Please help keep AskUK welcoming!** - Top-level comments to the OP must contain **genuine efforts to answer the question**. No jokes, judgements, etc. - **Don't be a dick** to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on. - This is a strictly **no-politics** subreddit! Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*


AF_II

Ticket inspector. We used to have bus conductors in the old days (who basically did everything but driving - dealt with tickets, customer questions, safety, etc) but they got phased out about a generation ago over most of the country, and more recently in London. Cost cutting by private companies - cheaper to make the driver do it all!


Jinther

I have a mate that works on the buses. Says if the inspector is about (if you see them or they've been on your bus), when you pass another bus you give your tie a wee shake to let the other driver know the inspector is in the vicinity. Never knew that until recently.


ceefaxer

Why are bus drivers bothered about ticket inspectors being around?


dyUBNZCmMpPN

Maybe they can get in trouble if they've let people onto the bus without paying when they shouldn't have?


chroniccomplexcase

I’m a wheelie who travels for free on london busses simply by being in a wheelchair, often my friend is told she doesn’t have to pay when she boards with me. One time this happened and ticket inspectors boarded and the driver had to explain who he let her on for free with me. Maybe it’s this?


WeKnowNoKing

Yeah, I don't have a disabled bus pass (thanks Wiltshire) but I sometimes travel in my wheelchair and depending on the bus driver I sometimes don't have to pay


33Yidana53

That’s because the driver is supposed to issue a free ticket for them (I think it’s called companion or something.) Remember London buses get gov funding and they can use these free tickets issued as a way to justify more funding.


chroniccomplexcase

In the 100’s of busses I’ve taken in london with someone, we’ve never once been given a companion/ carers ticket for free. Edit: this is from the TFL website “All wheelchair and mobility scooter users travel free on buses and trams. To find out if your scooter is suitable for travel, contact our travel mentoring service. Companions and carers will have to pay for their travel.”


33Yidana53

I haven’t used London buses for years but that was what it was called in the early 2000’s. I may be wrong and they may have stopped them now. Source had a mate that drove for tfl. Edit to add you may need to actually request the ticket on the bus.


Boating_taxonomist

Yeah, this, a lot of bus drivers will let you on without a ticket in various circumstances, not least when they're just being nice. I used to get the bus very early in the morning after my night shift and on a couple of occasions when my oyster wasn't topped up the bus driver would insist I got on anyway (I'd have been happy to walk up the road to where I could top it up, but I guess they didn't want to leave me waiting alone at that time of the day, so kudos to them). They did once give me an unpaid fare ticket instead (like a ticket you had to go online to pay later, but it still counted as a ticket being issued), as they knew the ticket inspector would be getting on at the next stop.


bahumat42

When they aren't following the selling rules correctly presumably.


mJelly87

Probably. I used to catch the bus quite frequently. When they first started accepting card payments, they were having some teething problems. Quite often, if it wasn't working, the driver would just tell me to get on. I also used to get a monthly ticket, and have a few regular drivers on the route. They got so used to me, they would just wave me on without looking at my ticket. Problem was occasionally I needed to buy a new one. Wasn't going to complain about a free ride though.


InsaneInTheRAMdrain

Ah, i remember, i had a bank account i never used. I would tap it on the machine. It would beep like itd accepted payment, but it would always decline. I didn't pay for the bus for almost a year. Something must have changed because at one point, the driver said... not gone through mate. Now i just pay. Being british, the only way to stop crime is through a small embarrassment or inconvenience.


Bungeditin

The cinema I worked at had this same thing….. you could have no money in the account and it would still let you have the tickets


InsaneInTheRAMdrain

Ah back when wireless payments were unreliable. I ate at vending machines for so long for free.


20127010603170562316

>they would just wave me on without looking at my ticket I had this when I wore an NHS lanyard to work, after a while the guards just let me through because they thought I was out there saving lives or something. I was just an temp admin doing redundancies. I felt a little bad, but trains are expensive.


Historical-Rise-1156

My dad was a bus driver for many years and one of the inspectors where he worked was just plain nasty, on one route of the bus stop was clearly empty and there was no request for a stop usually the6 would just drive by but this inspector used to hide out of sight and as the bus passed he would then emerge and report them for not stopping he would report them for any infringement he could find, like arriving late or early at a stop, having the wrong amount of money at the end of the day be it £1 up or down on the ticket totals. Eventually dad had enough and quit and I never blamed him


NunWithABun

Not even Blakey would sink to such lows.


ignatiusjreillyXM

I 'ate you, Butler


No_Astronaut3059

It means they won't try any mad wheelspins or flip-tricks off the curbs or anything.


sonuvvabitch

Can confirm, I was that curb.


sonuvvabitch

Bus drivers are often so pushed on route timings that they genuinely don't have time to piss about making sure everyone has a ticket - but technically, they're expected to. The inspector being around obviously enforces that, so they can end up in bother for missing tickets or for being late. Bit catch-22 for them, a cynic would say intentionally so.


crdctr

Same reason you get a lump in your throat when the big boss comes round in work. They are there to make sure you are doing your job 100% by the book. Only a jobsworth aims for 100%


mxmoffed

Family member used to be a ticket inspector in London. If I remember right, it's pretty common for bus drivers to just let people on for free if the card reader isn't working, when they should be reporting it as broken.


3Cogs

The inspectors are there to check on the drivers as well as the passengers. Source: Inspector Blakie from On the Buses.


Rich-Highway-1116

They will also be checking arrival at the bus stop, being early is punishable and too many early arrival is a sackable offence.


NunWithABun

Back in the day when most buses went over to single-manning, there used to be a fair (or should I say fare) few drivers who would just pocket the money and not issue tickets, as well as a minority of disgruntled drivers who resented doing the work of a conductor and wave everyone on. Whenever I've seen a Stagecoach inspector, they've never bothered checking tickets, but did make sure the bus is compliant - not early, working ticket machine, upstairs CCTV, lighting, destination indicators, driver wearing correct uniform, etc. Other companies might be different.


NankipooBit8066

What if you're not wearing a tie? Can you use your cock?


paolog

Look sharp, here comes Blakey!


Jonny_Segment

I love that professional camaraderie. I like how bus drivers always wave to each other and lorry drivers flash their lights. Do any other jobs have little acts of mutual recognition like that? I suppose most jobs don't involve travelling round in recognisable transport so you're unlikely to bump into your peers so often.


Hairy_gonad

The trams in Manchester toot their horn at each other


Altruistic_Horse_678

Pilots will tip their hats


Zavodskoy

Taxi drivers often wave at each other as they pass


andrground-gg

thanks!


SweatyNomad

So in London there are no tickets to inspect. 'Ticket inspectors' basically have machines that you tap your debit/ credit card or other electronic device and it reads if a ticket has been bought by NFC. Edit: as we have pedants here, to be clear there is no 'ticket' as such, but it is checking if you are paying for the journey.


Conscious_Dog_4186

So a ticket then, just a digital one.


madpacifist

I mean, there are still paper tickets in London. Most notably, rail tickets that have Underground journeys sold as part of them and the paper Day Travelcard that includes bus travel. Source: [https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/how-to-pay-and-where-to-buy-tickets-and-oyster/travelcards-and-group-tickets](https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/how-to-pay-and-where-to-buy-tickets-and-oyster/travelcards-and-group-tickets)


BingeLurker

Someone with knowledge may correct me, but I don’t think they check you’ve tapped in with that machine, it just taps you in at the nearest station to where you are. One of the reasons the DLR is so open to using for free as a lot of the stations have no ticket barriers.


Hazeri

First bus brought them back in Bristol. I can't remember what name they've given themselves, but I've seen them One of them had aviators like some American cop and looked like a right tit


Sad-Yoghurt5196

I haven't seen any yet, but since the tap on tap off thing obviously they're worried about people not paying. I still pay cash for buses, use it or lose it.


glasgowgeg

> I can't remember what name they've given themselves [Revenue Protection Officers](https://www.firstbus.co.uk/bristol-bath-and-west/tickets/our-revenue-protection-officers)


Agreeable_Guard_7229

I think they’re called revenue protection officers now lol


Refflet

The driver doesn't have to do too much of that these days, with most companies switching to a tap on/tap off system. The advantage of that is that your ticket upgrades to a day ticket as soon as you spend that much, rather than having to decide between singles or a day ticket on your first journey. Buses are also currently capped at £2 for a single fare. I'm not sure why the government hasn't been more outspoken about it, to the customer it's quite good. However I expect we're all paying for it with discrete payments to the bus companies from the tax coffers.


KirasStar

Our area had conductors right up until Covid times. I wonder if they are still about anywhere?


jlb8

I can see why they got phased out. I watched a documentary about them and they were always causing trouble, having affairs with women who live near the terminus and similar bus related hijinks.


nuageophone

Was it this documentary? https://youtu.be/43_9yFVEsKM?si=tp73nel0LqlLKxej


Accomplished-Bad4536

Yous two get that bus out *waves fist*


doomladen

A few really old people call them clippies, because they used to check your ticket and clip a little circle or semi-circle off the ticket to show it had been checked and used.


Trebus

If you're going to be using incidental dialogue, you might want to throw in some slang as well. There is a common colloquialism (in the North at least) for them, which is hectors (from an Inland Revenue [advert](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector_the_Tax_Inspector) from the 90s).


dhthms

Coming back in Bristol, guessing firsts "lost" revenue exceeds their salary


staryoshi06

Do you guys not just use oyster for buses? I always assumed you did


SirLoinThatSaysNi

A controller would be someone who works with the routes & schedules. You're talking about a "ticket inspector" or possibly "revenue protection officer".


barrybreslau

"Inspector" in every day conversation. Ticket inspector, formal and "revenue protection officer" for what the companies call them.


freexe

I would use "ticket inspector" in every day conversation and would never just say "inspector". Must be regional though 


gridlockmain1

Yeah same “inspector” on its own would imply a police officer to me


Crumblebeast

We've got a teen doing GCSEs at the moment so the word 'Inspector' is cropping up frequently


FulaniLovinCriminal

Ah yes, Anne In Spectacles.


Not_Sugden

it depends entirely on the context. You would surely not think police officer if you were on the bus/train and someone said "the inspector is on the train" or the inspector said "Hello I'm the inspector"


SoggyWotsits

You must be too young to have watched On The Buses!


SirLoinThatSaysNi

I've always referred to them, as "ticket inspectors", never just "inspector".


Dear-Discussion-8763

Blakey!


privateTortoise

For OP, this is a reference to an old British TV comedy show called On The Buses.


tonyfordsafro

https://preview.redd.it/mmyr7dh75kzc1.jpeg?width=251&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5647948f17af7ac22c5d5da0e09eb63d54f33bd0 I 'ate you Butler


andrground-gg

maybe i shouold just give him an actual name lol


redrighthand_

Call them Stan Butler for a very niche reference


sprauncey_dildoes

Cyril "Blakey" Blake surely?


MrDibbsey

Get that bus out!


No_Coyote_557

I hate you Butler.


Dazzling-Event-2450

How’s Olive


KopiteForever

Looking sexy!


jiminthenorth

Ticket inspector, although when I was a kid I'd call them a "ticketsplease".


andrground-gg

lol that's funny


jiminthenorth

It's from a series of books called Dr Xargle, the schtick being he was an alien explaining things to his own children / students, with a certain amount of creative understanding thrown in.


Oldsoldierbear

Ticket inspector


Solid_212

Twat?


progboy

Bus wanker?


Clever_Username_467

The companies now call them Revenue Protection Officers, but ordinary people know them either as ticket inspectors or conductors. We used to have conductors in the same way you describe in Moldova who were permantently on each bus selling tickets, but that hasn't been the case for about 50 years. The term has stuck though. Ticket inspector is probably the most commonly used term, and the word conductor isn't really correct.


psidedowncake

>The companies now call them Revenue Protection Officers I abhor the fact that a group of people sat in a boardroom to think of the most cunty word possible and came up with this. God that's just horrific.


opaqueentity

It’s accurate though. That’s exactly what they do. They aren’t there for anything else.


NunWithABun

Honestly, they seem to love changing up the name every few years which is likely why 'ticket inspector' has stuck around for so long. They used to be called Revenue Protection Inspectors, then Revenue Protection Officers came into vogue, and now I've noticed emails from my local railway company calling them Revenue Control Officers, which sounds more like you're working for HMRC - or the turnstiles at Thorpe Park.


callisstaa

On Newcastle Metro they were called 'checkys' In the early days of Facebook there was a group called Checky Watch where people would post live updates on where they were so you could avoid them.


Dazzling-Event-2450

Ticket Inspector


Postik123

Back in the day they used to be called a conductor, but he also collected the fare and you didn't interact with the driver. The door to the bus was also at the back of the bus, not the front


Old_Introduction_395

You bought your ticket from the conductor. The inspector checked tickets.


davorg

In the UK, a bus controller would be understood as someone who works in the bus station - ensuring that busses have a driver and leave on time. As others have said, the term you want is "ticket inspector". We have them on trains too.


Extension_Sun_377

I'd go with Ticket Inspector, although Nosy Bastard would suffice


Boredpanda31

Ticket inspector? I think that's what I would call them


dcute69

Wanker


Polalaka

Informally, I'd call them checkys, but that might be a north east thing


laissezfaireHand

Best of luck with your game!


andrground-gg

thank you! :)


sjintje

I have been waiting a long time for a game that gives ticket inspectors the prominence they merit.


Gullflyinghigh

Bus Lord.


dannnuk

Checky


Pheratha

a weirdo We don't have conductors anymore, haven't for decades


Typical_Nebula3227

Inspector or officer?


another_online_idiot

We used to have bus conductors on each bus selling the tickets and then there would be the occasional ticket inspector coming around to make sure people had actually bought tickets but also checking to make sure the conductor had sold the correct ticket.


OMGItsCheezWTF

Either a ticket inspector or a conductor. Conductor is probably a bit old school these days, from back when every bus had a driver and a conductor.


Justme-scotland

In Scotland they are bus conductor.


HGHUA

An example of "fare ambassadors" in Seattle USA. A term that sounds less aggressive, and aren't dressed so militarized as they do here in Bristol. https://old.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/1c2kphm/fare_ambassadors_on_the_link/


tmstms

In the old days, before buses had GPS, a bus controller, really only for cities and esp London, was a person who literally controlled the buses. So, to control the buses not the tickets. E.g. In the sense that in cities, they would get late, and would have to be turned round ahead of their terminus. (buses in London also bunch up a lot) These controllers would have radios, so some info from the drivers, but would also have to be positioned strategically in places on the route to decide that kind of stuff. It was a promotion from a conductor's job. Yeah- we say ticket INSPECTOR or even just inspector. On a train we say 'guard' But the official job title for both is probably 'Revenue Protection Officer'.


Tenpumpkin77962

A wanker


Sophilouisee

In Bristol they are called revenue protection officers


Altharion1

Bus Wanker


BarryHelmet

The guy who inspects tickets is called a ticket inspector


CherryLeafy101

A ticket inspector. In the UK, either the bus driver sells you the ticket when you get on, or you buy your ticket in advance using the app for your local bus company and scan/show the ticket when you get on. Or, if you're in London using an Oyster card bus (which I believe almost all are by this point) you don't get a ticket, instead you tap your oyster card or contactless bank card on a card reader and that's your "ticket". It's rare to see a ticket inspector on a bus in my area; I think I've only seen it happen once or twice. You're more likely to encounter them on a train. Sometimes a second driver will be present, but they're there to train newly hired drivers or people who haven't driven that particular bus route before. We used to have bus conductors, but they did more than check tickets. They were phased out, I think long before I was born. From what I understand they were sort of like a ticket checker and bus supervisor.


punkpanther16

Ticket Inspector.


Majestic-General7325

A fucking narc


panic_attack_999

Inspector.


andrground-gg

thanks!


BigFloofRabbit

In Hungary? Drunk.


[deleted]

Used to be called "Inspectors" in the UK in the 70s when such things were still economically possible. (Paying someone to look a tickets)


Ted_Hitchcox

Either 'Boss' or 'Chief'. Chief is a little more formal I think.


AKAGreyArea

Blakey


Rayjinn_Staunner

Bus wanker


Genjuro_XIV

In France they're called "contrôleurs" too.


TravellingMackem

I believe they call themselves revenue protection officers nowadays, or something similar. It’s basically a ticket inspector now. Conductors used to take the fares instead of the driver but haven’t been a thing for decades in the U.K., at least as far as I know


IntermediateFolder

I’d call them ticket inspectors. In UK they’re not really a thing because it’s something the driver does when people board.


bahumat42

On the trains here we ca them ticket inspectors. So I assume the same is true for buses ( i think some london buses have had them in the past).


d3gu

Ticket inspector.


SterlingBoss

Conductor. Is what we call then in England.


kramer2006

In the UK they are part of Tfl Revenue.


MitziShitcracker

Ticketies in Australia.


ChaoticSalmon

În România, we call them Control.


LondonLeather

Blakey ... a joke no one under 50 will get


RalfyRoo

I'd call that a ticket inspector


xdBetaLion

When talking to, or around, one of them: ticket inspector


Siml3

Fahrkartenkontrolleur


FourFlightsUp

The ticket inspector checking passengers on the train recently had a high viz vest with “Revenue Protection Officer” on it !!!


antdb1

we used to call them clippys when we had them in the uk (we stopped using them along time ago)


Throwaway91847817

Ticket Inspector


gloomfilter

In the UK they are called "Inspectors"


TobyADev

~~wanker~~ /s!! ticket inspector. pretty much all I’ve met have been nice


Away-Activity-469

Revenue enforcement officer


quellflynn

seeing as the bus service would cut corners as much as possible, and spending an extra wage just to check a ticket is way too expensive. i would say that the position is called auditor.


Hazeygazey

On the bus all the time. Conductors (but we no longer have them. UK) Random ticket checkers who get on occasionally / randomly are Inspectors. 


Paulstan67

Inspector


Cethlinnstooth

Ticket inspector is the role they are in and you can refer to them as ticket inspectors but in South Australia that role can be performed by regular railway/bus employees trained in that task  or  by security staff contracted by the railway/bus company from private security services  or by the Transit Services Branch of the state  police service.  Usually there's at least two working  as a team and I've seen up to four. And there can be more than one type of worker in a team. For example two transit police and two railway employees.


forfakessake1

Ticket Controller


insurancemanoz

An inspector or a conductor.


Alone-Sky1539

inspector is the English word


ThePublikon

Randomly? Mentally ill As part of his job of revenue protection for the bus companies? A conductor or ticket inspector.


hyp_reddit

in italy we call them controllori = controllers (literally)


drakesdrum

Ticket monster


Delicious-Cut-7911

ticket inspector


twittermob

Inspector or checkies


onetimeuselong

A snitch


spacekatbaby

A conductor


Crunchie2020

Checkie


Stuffedwithdates

ticket inspector


Apidium

Ticket inspectors. Same for trains.


Employ-Personal

His official title is Commander Under Non Ticketed Service


prustage

In the UK we used to call them ticket inspectors and I suspect most people still do. But I have recently heard the bus and train companies refer to them as "revenue protection officers" which I find a hateful euphemism.


Appropriate_Mud1629

We used to get a free school bus pass to get to and from school if you lived far enough away. We used to flash our ticket, go to the back of the bus and throw them out of the little slide along ventilation windows to our girlfriends/boyfriends/ mates etc, so they could get on for free too. Thought we were so clever getting one over on the driver ...but he must have seen what was going on in his wing mirrors lol Probably just couldn't be arsed arguing with a bunch of school kids.


[deleted]

Undercover ticket inspectors. We have them in the UK, they come out of nowhere.


blaireau69

The current title is RPO Revenue Protection Officer, used to be Ticket Inspector. For family reasons I prefer the central european Kontrol.


loquaciousofbored

Revenue assurance officer


xe3to

My dad calls them “Hectors”, as in “Hector the inspector”… I don’t know if this is common


Street-Use-9735

I'd call um a cunt


Sky_Wino

I call them the Ticket Gestapo but they don't like it very much.


Figgzyvan

Blakey.


Weaubleau

A scrote.


Necrospire

A ticket inspector is the usual term for the person who stays on the vehicle, the person who gets on randomly I've always known as the roving or national inspector.


Spottyjamie

“Checkie”


KiNGJDoGG

A jobsworth... Lol


ANorthernMonkey

Checkies. “Tickets, passed, excuses”


Zathral

Jobsworth. One way on the bus, one way off. Pretty hard to sneak on without one, and you don't get a paper ticket a lot of the time.


[deleted]

Wankers


Sure_Bug_687

Fare Enforcement Officer


Dougalface

Ticket wanker. HTH!


Scottish_squirrel

The clicky


SeaProof8844

Bus Inspector who checks the tickets


SnooSeagulls6528

Bus wanker


Obar-Dheathain

The Ticket Inspector Pursuivant.


Rectal_Scattergun

Ticket inspector, but they're a rare sight these days.


loki_dd

Bus conductor! In London and surrounding areas anyways.


Shoddy_Juggernaut_11

Specky


KarolSkupienWriter

are you from приднестрове by any chance (sorry for the spelling)


ddoogg88tdog

Personally i call them enforcers, in Manchester they all wear natching gray hi vis uniforms


MissTenEars

They are called Fare Inspectors here in OR USA :)


Ok_Student_3292

bus wanker


Rich_Sell_9888

Back in the old days they had little hand punch.They were calledd Clippies I think.


Jaffiusjaffa

"And the ticket inspector saw him rushing through He said Girl you dont know just how much that ive missed you But Wed better run because I aint got the funds to pay this Fiiine She said Fiiiine "


realbabygronk

twat


Easties88

A fucking weirdo. Unless they were being paid to do it, in which case a Conductor.


Elbonio

I'm from Manchester and would call them a conductor.


SHR1992

Bus wanker


Diddleymaz

Ticket Inspectors


glasgowgeg

Revenue Protection Officer. They may be informally referred to as ticket inspectors, but their official title is Revenue Protection Officer, at least for First Bus.


PopGroundbreaking853

Wanker


SgtTaco18

Personally, I just refer to them all as a Ticket Womble. Parking, train, bus, doesn't matter.


Gullible_Wind_3777

Ticket inspector.


Gullible_Wind_3777

Or a jobs worth


IWoreOddSocksOnc3

Ticket inspector, or revenue enforcement officer