Trivia: Reasons Bus Operators Give for Problems

Dai Corner · 10 Jun 2019

Heavy congestion - self explanatory and fair enough

Technical issue - vehicle broken down?

Operational issue - couldn't cover duty?

Police incident - usually road closed due to traffic accident or crime investigation.

Inconsiderate parking - couldn't get through the gap left by thoughtless drivers

One I saw for the first time today

"Due to an ongoing issue .... "

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DunsBus · 10 Jun 2019

"Technical issue" seems to be the term of choice for the West Coast Motors group when referring to vehicle breakdowns.

Busaholic · 10 Jun 2019

London Transport in the 1970s when I worked for them put every delay down to 'an incident', thus telling the passenger absolutely nothing of any use!

vlad · 10 Jun 2019

I find they don't give reasons - the bus just doesn't turn up.

RustySpoons · 10 Jun 2019

Depending on the duty manager on duty, Transdev can be pretty honest with their reasons for delays/cancelled journeys. One of the excuses for a delayed service a few weeks back was 'due to a driver taking a wrong turn'.

Think people appreciate that sort of honesty than vague 'operational issues'

SCH117X · 10 Jun 2019

RustySpoons said:
Depending on the duty manager on duty, Transdev can be pretty honest with their reasons for delays/cancelled journeys. One of the excuses for a delayed service a few weeks back was 'due to a driver taking a wrong turn'.

Think people appreciate that sort of honesty than vague 'operational issues'

One today was a service cancelled due to a passenger on board taking ill - the service in question being the 1455 7 from Leeds

Martin2012 · 11 Jun 2019

Have known a few instances of a bus not running or being delayed and the driver giving no explanation when it's eventually turned up.

robk23oxf · 11 Jun 2019

The one that annoys me is 'internal issues'. Just say you haven't got enough drivers or vehicles.

Martin2012 · 11 Jun 2019

I remember once being on a heavily delayed National Express service from Leeds to Birmingham that was being run by a private hire operator rather than a main National Express contractor.

Me and a few other passengers had connections in Birmingham which we had missed and I remember being really suprised at how the driver didn't make any announcement as we approached Digbeth Coach Station as to what passengers with connections should do.

A similar thing also happened a few years ago when I was on a service into Birmingham that was being covered by a replacement operator after the original vehicle had broken down- no announcement about what connecting passengers should do.

darloscott · 11 Jun 2019

Martin2012 said:
I remember once being on a heavily delayed National Express service from Leeds to Birmingham that was being run by a private hire operator rather than a main National Express contractor.

Me and a few other passengers had connections in Birmingham which we had missed and I remember being really suprised at how the driver didn't make any announcement as we approached Digbeth Coach Station as to what passengers with connections should do.

A similar thing also happened a few years ago when I was on a service into Birmingham that was being covered by a replacement operator after the original vehicle had broken down- no announcement about what connecting passengers should do.

Likely the replacement operators who don't normally do NX work won't know what the crack is with connecting passengers or indeed any NX standards on announcements etc if they've been thrown on it last minute.

Martin2012 said:
Have known a few instances of a bus not running or being delayed and the driver giving no explanation when it's eventually turned up.

Often as drivers we don't know what has happened to the bus in front or going the other way or whatever. I only know what's happening on the bus I am driving. Personally as I was a bit more enthusiastic sometimes I was able to work out where a certain bus should be if I'd seen it had broke down or whatever, but if it was just removed from service for whatever reason then we often don't know about it, other than if it was right in front of you and you ended up taking two lots of passengers from every stop which then makes you late too!

Martin2012 · 11 Jun 2019

Thanks for your response.

The first NX driver I encountered was from a company that at the time was contracted to work a regular weekend journey (Friday and Sunday Only) on that route and the driver was a regular on it. The cause of the delay was a combination of bad weather and a vehicle breaking down resulting in two services being merged together so obviously not the fault of the driver.

The second instance was a bit more of a surprise as the operator covering was a full time NX contractor. Something else rather suprising was that the service car should have continued beyond Birmingham but the replacement vehicle was terminating there. Can only assume there were no passengers traveling beyond Birmingham as no announcement was made on their behalf.

Jordan Adam · 25 Jun 2019

Arriva North East perhaps took this thread too seriously today...

(Copied from their Facebook)...
"Service update. Service X26 Colburn to Darlington. We apologise to customer that the 1541 service from Colburn is not currently operating due to a vehicle being stuck in Richmond Market Place on Wet Cobbles."

Surely this has to be one of the best excuses yet!

TheGrandWazoo · 25 Jun 2019

Jordan Adam said:
Arriva North East perhaps took this thread too seriously today...

(Copied from their Facebook)...
"Service update. Service X26 Colburn to Darlington. We apologise to customer that the 1541 service from Colburn is not currently operating due to a vehicle being stuck in Richmond Market Place on Wet Cobbles."

Surely this has to be one of the best excuses yet!

I guess you’ve not been to Richmond? It is a genuine issue for buses as they ascend into the market place!

Jordan Adam · 25 Jun 2019

TheGrandWazoo said:
I guess you’ve not been to Richmond? It is a genuine issue for buses as they ascend into the market place!

Obviously not, granted it does look like quite a steep hill. However it doesn't take away from the comical value of such a reason!

TheGrandWazoo · 25 Jun 2019

Jordan Adam said:
Obviously not, granted it does look like quite a steep hill. However it doesn't take away from the comical value of such a reason!

The cobbles are lethal when it’s wet and with a nice film of old and diesel. It’s the old leaves on the line stuff. Sounds comical but actually very much a real problem. Been a problem for years especially fully automatic Olympians!

wazztie16 · 25 Jun 2019

Martin2012 said:
Have known a few instances of a bus not running or being delayed and the driver giving no explanation when it's eventually turned up.

The issues with giving an explanation when it's eventually turned up, is that that takes extra time, which puts drivers even more behind schedule.

I literally say sorry I'm late, and if I get chance I'll shout down the bus the reason to tell more than one person at the same time but it's not practical to tell every passenger individually.

Trivia: Reasons Bus Operators Give for Problems

Dai Corner

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DunsBus

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Busaholic

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vlad

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RustySpoons

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SCH117X

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Martin2012

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robk23oxf

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Martin2012

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darloscott

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