Sitting on the bus when a small lady with an accent, approaches me and asks me for quarters. She is holding a 20 dollar bill in her hand. I ask her if she is needing the change for her ride. She says yes. I am perplexed that she has only $20, as most people have more small bills than large and she did not look particularly well-to-do. So I leave my seat and my bag on the seat, wallet in hand and approach the driver. ‘There is a lady,’ I say, ‘who needs to have someone pay for a ride.’ I have an extra ride card in my hand. ‘ Don’t pay’, he says. I think I haven’t heard him correctly. He puts his hand over the fare box. ‘Don’t pay. She does this all the time. Why should we pay for it.’ He kept shaking his head, as obviously I was not swift at taking in his advice. So I didn’t and returned to my seat.