Service bus myths...

[pompeyfan]

The railway myths section made me think it would be good to make one for the service bus industry...

I'll go first...

Drivers turn the engine off at particular stops and wait for x amount of minutes because they want to make you late for wherever you're going...

 

[AndyHudds]

That buses are for peasants and the great unwashed........

 

[trentside]

The fares are always cheaper than the train.

 

[gordonthemoron]

The fares are always cheaper than the train.

Indeed, Liverpool springs to mind for a start

 

[pompeyfan]

In times of disruption and unexpected diversions it's completely reasonable to expect someone from the company or police/local authority to go and be at every stop to make passengers aware of the disruption.

 

[90019]

If a driver stops a bus going the other way to speak to them, it's just because they want to have a chat.


You're at a bus stop, therefore the bus you want must stop there.


This bus doesn't just go to Elm Row.
It doesn't matter that it says Part Route Elm Row on the front of the bus, on the side of the bus, tells you it's only to Elm Row on the timetable and the bus tracker, and only goes as far as Elm Row on the running board, they're all wrong because when you used the bus at a different time, it went further.

 

[pompeyfan]

If a driver stops a bus going the other way to speak to them, it's just because they want to have a chat.


You're at a bus stop, therefore the bus you want must stop there.


This bus doesn't just go to Elm Row.
It doesn't matter that it says Part Route Elm Row on the front of the bus, on the side of the bus, tells you it's only to Elm Row on the timetable and the bus tracker, and only goes as far as Elm Row on the running board, they're all wrong because when you used the bus at a different time, it went further.

All of them are so true!

It's also completely acceptable to drop someone off at a set of lights even if you're in the middle of the road!

 

[90019]

All buses are fitted with a special button on the dashboard that allows the bus to ghost through solid objects, we just choose not to use it to annoy everyone else and make the bus late.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

All buses are fitted with a special button on the dashboard that allows the bus to ghost through solid objects, . . . .

It definitely works!

It's the explanation for passengers being so surprised that they've suddenly arrived somewhere beyond their intended destination.

 

[tbtc]

If there are no return fares available on a route, but a "day ticket" is cheaper than the cost of two singles, then enthusiasts are perfectly entitled to complain about lack of returns (rather than appreciate that buying a ticket that allows you to do a return journey also gives you the freedom to make additional journeys)

Its an outrage when one operator won't honour a ticket from another operator (do the same people complain when ASDA won't give them Tesco Clubcard points?)

The fact that you used to travel for 2p when you were a child thirty years ago (as people did in the heavily subsidised South Yorkshire) is totally relevant when discussing adult fares in 2013

First's national fleetnumbering system was intellegantly designed and it's perfectly sensible that the same batch of vehicles is treated as a "minibus" by one part of First and a "full sized bus" by a different part of First - under the classifications.

 

[neilmc]

Bus operators should double their fleet size so they can run double-deckers at peak and replace them with single-deckers off-peak.

 

[mlambeuk]

Drivers take great pleasure in driving off just as an intending passenger gets to the door of the bus,

 

[overthewater]

Drivers take great pleasure in driving off just as an intending passenger gets to the door of the bus,

The amount of people who do not release if the bus is reversing off the stance with its doors closed, it cant stop... I do know of many places where the driver can get fined £1000 but oh no that no reason not to stop.

 

[Eagle]

The numbers and placenames that appear on the front, side and back of buses are just for internal reference purposes and don't mean anything to passengers. The correct way to ascertain where a bus is going is to ask the driver before boarding.

 

[90019]

The numbers and placenames that appear on the front, side and back of buses are just for internal reference purposes and don't mean anything to passengers. The correct way to ascertain where a bus is going is to ask the driver before boarding.

Also, we just put the tramboards in the windscreen of the bus for fun, it's nothing to do with the bus actually going to those places.

 

[SS4]

The bus is late because the driver has been waiting around the corner for 10 minutes reading the paper

Off-Peak and Concessionary passes are valid at any time.

 

[Eagle]

The numbers and placenames that appear on the front, side and back of buses are just for internal reference purposes and don't mean anything to passengers. The correct way to ascertain where a bus is going is to ask the driver before boarding.

Actually a lemma to the above: you can't just ask the bus driver "where does this bus go?". All questions must be of the form "does this bus go to..." or "well, does this bus go near...".

 

[YorkshireRider]

The seat next to you is for your bag(s) only, other passengers are fine standing.

 

[pompeyfan]

Double deckers have a substantially higher capacity over single deck full length saloons...

 

[Eagle]

Even though the bus is full and standing, and there are people standing where they shouldn't (like in the doorway or on the stairs), when the driver refuses to let you on the bus they are being unreasonable.

 

[34D]

If you're a 17 year old lady, your half fare pass expired on 15th Sep 2013, you can still travel for half fare on 3rd Oct as long as you smile and flirt.

Oh wait

 

[notadriver]

The main purpose of CCTV cameras pointed at the driver is to help them.

 

[tbtc]

Pensioners are allowed free travel in England after 08:50 and should argue with the pesky driver if his electronic clock shows that it's still 08:50 - in fact, argue for ten minutes so that its then 09:00 and you can just barge on board

 

[90019]

When you get on the bus and dump a handful of change in the hopper without saying anything, the driver immediately knows exactly how much you've put in and what ticket you want.

 

[martinsh]

The bus is late because the driver has been waiting around the corner for 10 minutes reading the paper.

You obviously never sampled Bakers X1 Stoke - Stafford service where the drivers frequently parked up for 30 mins rather than run a short journey to the university

 

[Eagle]

If you ask the driver to let you know when your stop is, then it is fine to sit at the back or on the top deck rather than within earshot of them.

 

[pompeyfan]

When a driver takes excess coin out of his/her change machine and places it in a secure pocket on their person, they are stealing and there is no other plausible explanation for their action and they must be sacked then and there!!

 

[34D]

No bus driver can drive smoothly and gently

 

[Eng274]

The rear facing seats on the bottom deck are actually foot rests.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
The only measure of a decent bus service is wifi and fake leather seats.

 

[Mike395]

If a London bus says St Pauls on the front and side, and announces the terminus as St Pauls on iBus, it's actually going through to London Bridge. Also, when said bus terminates, oddly enough right outside St Pauls, the driver deserves abuse for not telling passengers individually that it's not going to London Bridge.