Bus Card (#2)

And the saga continues, ha-ha!  More like, and the waste of money continues!  After realizing my bus card was in the negative I knew I needed to reload it in preparation for the next bus trip.  I went online, signed into my account and explored my options.  There was a great deal that for just €10.90 I could get a 40% discount on my trips (most of our trips fall into the qualifications for the discount).  With excitement I ordered and paid.  Then as I closed the order I noticed the amount didn't just appear on the card, I was actually going to have to take my card to a machine in order to load my order.  What!  Again another hassle pertaining to the bus card.  Later that night it crossed my mind that possibly the order I placed was purely to receive the discount and not actually put a usable balance on my card.  I crossed my fingers.  But unfortunately the next day when I went to load the card I found out the money I had spent was only to apply for the discount, I still had a negative balance on my card.  I tried to collect myself, like I said, I despise wasting money... and now on top of it, I was going to have to tell my husband that my brilliant plan to save money was actually costing 3 times more than I expected.  Since I was already at the machine I finally went ahead and put actual money on the account.  And of course they immediately deducted what I owed.  I'm hoping that with the discounts I applied for the balance will last a long time.  Of course after all this effort and investment we're going to have to ride the bus more often to make it worth our while.  Starting next week I should have a working card, I now know how to use it, and I can actually monitor the expenses properly.  I'm really curious what an actual round trip will costs, because up until this point something has gone wrong on both round-trips.  Up until this point two trips to swimming class have cost around €37!!!  And I used to walk for free (and exercised along the way)!

While on the topic of buses, I've noticed something else.  The drivers in the early morning are very nice and the ones in the late morning have panned out to be quite unfriendly.  One even snapped at me in front of my 3 yr old!  He claimed we didn't press the button for our stop and that we just stood up expecting him to stop.  I know my tot pressed the button, and I pressed it after her for certainty, so we weren't the crazy ones.  And even if the button didn't work there was no need for the attitude, I'm not some punk kid giving him a hard time.  I'm often shocked at how rude people can be in front of a child, tisk-tisk!

Well, I'm sure our bus trip next week will deliver some kind of story, so I'll do my best to follow up on it!

Bus Card (#1)

Since our big stroller bit the dust and we have not yet bought me a car (it's in the works) my tot & I have started riding the bus.  Very exciting for her, a little stressful for me.  After our first trip I was appalled at the costs and very thankful we had walked for free for the past 3yrs.  While on the bus I noticed everyone using passes instead of paying cash, it seemed convenient and possibly they were even receiving a discount.  So needless to say, since I'm frugal and hate wasting money, I went in search of this pass.  Happily I registered for an "ov chipkaart", paid the €7.50, & eagerly waited for us to use it.  I wouldn't say the 1st time I used the card went smoothly though.  I couldn't get it to work before the bus sped off, so I quickly put my tot in a seat and waited until the next stop to ask the bus driver for help.  Turns out in my haste I didn't bother to read the machine, it clearly tells you where to swipe your card (large pink circle/symbol).  Now that I knew how to use the card I was prepared for the trip home and not so anxious.  But of course things didn't go smoothly on the way home either.  When I scanned the card an alarm sounded and the machine began flashing that I didn't have enough  money on the card.  Impossible, I paid for the card & had already used it.  I assumed in my swiping frenzy somehow I wiped my account clean.  The bus driver was not friendly and seemed annoyed that I needed to pay cash.  Once I was home I went to work finding out where it went wrong.  Turns out the money I spent was purely to order the card.  Now I actually owed money for the trip I had taken in the morning.  The card was turning out to be a costly hassle.  Also found out the same trip the bus driver charged me €3.50 for costs just short of €2 with the card.  So you actually get punished for paying cash!  At this point I had spent a little more than €16 and we had only ridden to swimming class twice!  I'll save the rest of the story and costs for another post!