why do bus drivers not give change for notes?

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today i got my bday card with a twenty pound note in it i went to catch a bus and was told i had to get off and that he refused to take twenty pound notes as people did it to get a free ride
i said thats all i have and that i didnt want a free ride
he still told me to get off
so... if this is the case WHY is there no notice on the bus that says they do not give change???
or is this one of societys unspoken stupid rules where your just meant to know better

Yes, it's an unspoken rule that you generally do not offer a note that is larger than the next £5 up, unless you are well known by the person.

Where I live it is "exact change only."It makes perfect sense to me that a bus driver is not going to carry a bunch of change with them or that other bus riders are not going to want to wait for a bus driver to "make change" for everyone.....it would be impossible to keep to a schedule(which they all ready cant seem to do),because some days you might take an extra 20 min making change from point A to point B and other days not have to make any.

Doesnt sound like an arbitrary rule to me,it sounds logical.

I had this happen to me once.
I had to go to a snackbar for change and get the next bus.
What a piece of ##$#%%$%

Happy Birthday,

It may be a simple case of not carrying anything more than a couple of pounds change. This stops possible theft.

I only ever tend to carry notes and a card. I used to hate bus drivers getting annoyed with having to give change from even a £5 note, god forbid a £10. Assuming you're not paying with something ridiculous (a £50 or something), I don't see why it's a problem.

Now I just drive everywhere.

In New York there is no transaction with the bus driver, there's a machine that you can put coins in (exact change only) but you can swipe your Metrocard. Oh Metrocard, where would I be without you? Although I do miss the old tokens.

Happy Birthday!

I think that it might be against the legislation of the public transport system to take notes.

I carry a magnetic stored-value card. When I get on the bus, I just slide it into a machine that deducts the fare for one ride. Simple and convenient, if you ask me. In fact, the transit agency now has slightly higher fares for cash customers to encourage them to switch to the card.

In the states they post it clearly that it's Exact Change Only. Nowadays, it's a $1 even (.85 was stupid) and you can buy monthly cards, prepaid "stored fare", daily passes for $2.

The reason is because certain bus companies force the drivers to provide their own change floats and as this causes unreasonable expense and inconvienience for them; they refuse to do it. I don't know if this is just certain bus companies in Manchester or whether it is a nationwide thing. I only know this because my grandmother complained to a bus company a few years back because she only had a pound coin on her and the driver wouldn't give her change and she didn't want to miss the bus as it was fairly cold and she would have had to walk a fair bit to get change.

None of the bus drivers give change where I live.
You just have to pay that little bit extra, or find another passenger who's nice enough to give you change.

The bus fare where I live is 60p for a half (child> fourteen years) or 80p for a full (fourteen =) Bus drivers will change a pound. I've never had to see a two pound 'cos there's a shop that has conveniently priced things in for change more-or-less @ the bus-stop where I get on.

Those are amazingly cheap busses, what company? Here in Norwich it costs £1.50 to go the distance you can walk in 20 minutes, they no longer have return tickets and are generally rubbish