Can buses let you off between stops?

I still drop my elderly customers off close to their houses but it's at my own risk

With the modern blame and claim culture I would be reluctant to let people off between stops, possibly if I was stuck in traffic and felt it was safe I might. If you were a regular user who I could identify and you routinely pressed the emergency button because it suited you I would refuse to carry you.

Hail and ride services are a pain, you get people standing ten feet apart and expecting the bus to stop twice to pick them up.

That situation has come up for me a number of times. Most recent was back in July when Bristol's roads were clogged up by Extinction Rebellion Protestors and the bus I was on got stuck in traffic.

Have also been set down at the bottom of my road in the Yate area on more than one occasion. With First drivers its tended to be ones who know me and remember where I live but it regularly happened on one other term time only service where the drivers were not always following the full route and only going where there were passengers to be set down.

Back in the summer I went by NX coach to a bus event in Netwon Abbott. It turned out the rally site was located on the way into Netwon Abbott so I asked the driver if he would let me off. He pointed out it wasn't really allowed but did agree to once we reached a bus stop.

Also I once went on a Megabus to London and as we neared a tube station in the Kensington area we hit heavy traffic. Me and several other passengers asked the driver if we could get off there and he let us.

Geordie driver said:

Hail and ride services are a pain, you get people standing ten feet apart and expecting the bus to stop twice to pick them up.

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What would happen if you were to pull up with the door half way between the two of them?

Peter Mugridge said:

What would happen if you were to pull up with the door half way between the two of them?

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Normally I would stop at the second person so the first would have to walk to get on. I have seen people standing a few feet away while people get on and assumed they were not wanting my bus, but no, as soon as you pull away they stick their hand out.

I have mixed feelings but agree you shouldn't expect to alight anywhere.
However, in the summer I caught a Stagecoach 56 in Exeter (I rarely visit this city) going to an appointment. I had printed out an all stops timetable. The nearest stop was on Ambassador Drive. I rang the bell well in advance and the driver said the next stop was half a mile further on! Luckily the traffic lights were red and he let me off there.
The stop on the opposite side was still there, but returning I walked to a Fitzroy Rd stop. The driver of the return bus also didn't remember an outward stop on Ambassador Dr!
Looking on Google Earth there appears to have been a road alteration some 10 years ago when I presume the stop was removed.
I reported it and I believe it has been removed from S W Traveline timetable and maps. Still showing online as a dot on the Stagecoach SW Exeter map. The paper map I have was Nov 2017 so I hope both are changed shortly!
Lucky I had a friendly driver, as I might have missed an important appointment.
As a student, I worked some summers and a gap year as a conductor. I was very reluctant to open manual operated doors between stops. Luckily most of the buses were open platform or had driver operated doors so rerely had to decide.
Wuz

Geordie driver said:

Normally I would stop at the second person so the first would have to walk to get on. I have seen people standing a few feet away while people get on and assumed they were not wanting my bus, but no, as soon as you pull away they stick their hand out.

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While there aren't many in MK any more, when there were people tended to congregate around certain stopping points. This meant it was quite logical to put flags there and make them bus stops instead, though these had to be in slightly different locations as most of these places weren't the safest, e.g. blocking roads.

Ianno87 said:

Sorry, but how impatient *are* you? Things, and times, change. Sorry.

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I'm sure, he, like myself survived without accident for decades jumping off routemasters. I don't see any reason to stop doing that.

GodAtum said:

I'm sure, he, like myself survived without accident for decades jumping off routemasters. I don't see any reason to stop doing that.

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Feel like there might be some degree of survivor bias there

GodAtum said:

I'm sure, he, like myself survived without accident for decades jumping off routemasters. I don't see any reason to stop doing that.

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But you're no longer jumping off Routemasters?

takno said:

Feel like there might be some degree of survivor bias there

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Or people don't believe in the modern-day drive towards perfect safety at the expense of convenience.

FWIW, I don't either. And what seems to have happened as a result is the spawning of lots of things that people do that are deliberately dangerous to compensate for the lack of everyday danger, e.g. the growth of obstacle courses races (on one of which I had a very awkward fall from height which I was lucky didn't break my neck), "skyline" running along mountain ridges, rock climbing etc.

GodAtum said:

I'm sure, he, like myself survived without accident for decades jumping off routemasters. I don't see any reason to stop doing that.

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The problem is the number of people that didn't, acquired a minor injury as a result and could then claim compensation because of the rise of no-win, no fee lawyers. The cat is out of the bag and it's next to impossible to put it back.

GodAtum said:

I'm sure, he, like myself survived without accident for decades jumping off routemasters. I don't see any reason to stop doing that.

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As indeed did I, and well before Routemasters were introduced too, but jumping on or off an open platform rear entrance bus is very different from a bus that doesn't have those features, as I discovered the first time I tried it with an RF, front entrance with open platform and nearly came a cropper. Being nineteen at the time I survived with pride the only wound but I was exceedingly wary after that. Hearing about all the deaths and serious injuries caused on the Southern, particularly at London Bridge, with slam door stock and people impatient to get home reinforces my view now that it's foolhardy to mess around with bus doors - one slip and you could go under that bus.

richw said:

In urban areas I was taught stops only, rural areas anywhere safe within reason.

The door/brake interlock on modern buses means we can’t open the doors quickly sat in traffic anymore to let someone jump off quick.

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It’s often in rural areas where I find it most difficult, especially if I am visiting an area or travelling on a bus route which I am not familiar with. Sometimes, outside of villages a bus can run for quite some considerable distance where there are no visible bus stops or even unmarked locations which are official stopping points.

This summer I got on the Stagecoach West Scotland number 500 (Dumfries-Stranraer) at Dumfries and was travelling to Threave Gardens near Castle Douglas. This is a popular National Trust for Scotland attraction at which although the 500 passes the end of the lane leading to it there is no bus stop there. There were another couple of passengers who also boarded the bus going to Threave Gardens and they asked the driver if she could inform them when they were there. The bus stopped at a marked stop on the outskirts of Castle Douglas and the drive shouted Threave Gardens. As we got off she informed us that this was the nearest stop and we were to walk along the road for about half a mile and we would see the gardens on the left. We did that and after what seemed like more than half a mile walking along the main road where the 500 would have travelled we got to the turn off. It would have been quite safe for the bus to have stopped there and I could see no reason why there was no bus stop there and why the driver had not stopped there for us.

Another example was when I was visiting the Anderton Boat Lift in Cheshire and was catching the last bus back to Warrington. This is only a very infrequent service along a very rural route with few bus stops. There were no bus stops at the Warrington end of the village and so I stood in a safe place and signalled for the bus to stop. He did stop but he was not very happy and firmly told me that this was not a bus stop.

What is the general situation on routes where there are few bus stops on the roads and lanes between the villages.

ChrisC said:

What is the general situation on routes where there are few bus stops on the roads and lanes between the villages.

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I was trained if it’s out of town such a between Villages if it’s safe to stop consider it, especially for a vulnerable passenger (I.e. disabled, child, elderly). I don’t want to be leaving a child to walk a mile down a country lane, if I’m passing their cottage. Within the town or city, marked stops only. This of course applies to my training at my opco and may vary.

I got let on half way between stops when I was running towards the stop (if you just miss it at one stop you can run to the next and make it due to the queue at that next stop), and once I was let on between the stops as the bus went past me. I was then told to not bother scanning my monthly ticket (I hadn't even got it out, I can't think the bus driver recognised me). This is town centre, first two stops on route.

A Challenge said:

I got let on half way between stops when I was running towards the stop (if you just miss it at one stop you can run to the next and make it due to the queue at that next stop), and once I was let on between the stops as the bus went past me. I was then told to not bother scanning my monthly ticket (I hadn't even got it out, I can't think the bus driver recognised me). This is town centre, first two stops on route.

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I once had a regular driver stop for me when I was just out for a walk. It was really embarrassing to say "no thank you"!

I may be wrong but I seem to remember that busses are allowed to stop anywhere safe on roads which have the national speed limit.

A route which comes to mind operating this policy is the Scottish Citylink between Inverness and Fort William which advertises stopping anywhere where it is safe to do so

I miss jumping on the Routemaster and off again where ever I like, I also miss getting off the train at Tonbridge and being half way up the stairs before the train actually stopped, H&S gone mad me thinks.

Terry Tait said:

H&S gone mad me thinks.

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Except for the large reduction in accidents and casualties.

Terry Tait said:

H&S gone mad me thinks.

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A standard tabloid response. Most changes like this have happened because the cost of insurance is high (or it's impossible to get) and this has happened because of the rise of no-win, no-fee lawyers since solicitors were deregulated by the same government that deregulated the buses.

This is quite an important issue in rural areas for passengers wanting to get ON when there isn't a bus stop in sight.

Services are usually infrequent and marked stops are often large distances apart. I have been on walks ending on a bus route without a stop in sight. It wasn't even obvious on some occasions which way I should walk to find one. What do you do in such circumstances? Stand still on hurtle off in one direction or the other and hope the bus doesn't zoom past you while you walking.

Old Yard Dog said:

This is quite an important issue in rural areas for passengers wanting to get ON when there isn't a bus stop in sight.

Services are usually infrequent and marked stops are often large distances apart. I have been on walks ending on a bus route without a stop in sight. It wasn't even obvious on some occasions which way I should walk to find one. What do you do in such circumstances? Stand still on hurtle off in one direction or the other and hope the bus doesn't zoom past you while you walking.

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Here in Rural kent you find somewhere where the bus won't block a junction and isn't on a bend and put your hand out like you would at a request stop in the city the bus will stop, if the driver doesn't like where you are stood he may stop a little further on.

Getting on you just ask the driver to stop where you want to get off, eg Smallhythe Place, Church, Chapeldown Vineyard or Hope Farm etc and it will normally stop at the gate.

We don't have bus stops anywhere out of the towns or villages.
DFLs feel awkward because they have to talk to the driver but its quite normal in the country. its normal to say thank you when getting off as well. When I worked in to London I had this thing about saying morning and thank you to driver on the 501 and did train some of them to respond!
(DFL = Down From Londons)

richw said:

I was trained if it’s out of town such a between Villages if it’s safe to stop consider it, especially for a vulnerable passenger (I.e. disabled, child, elderly). I don’t want to be leaving a child to walk a mile down a country lane, if I’m passing their cottage. Within the town or city, marked stops only. This of course applies to my training at my opco and may vary.

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Yes, definitely varies. I have had busses drive straight past flagged stops listed in the timetable just because their route number sticker had fallen off the flag or not been reapplied after the flag was replaced, leaving me calling a taxi because I could not walk safely along an unlit rural highway with no side pavement to the next stop in the next village. Bus company then denied it happened and the local newspaper I think did not want to upset a big advertiser. This was in days before facebook and big forums.

I recently emailed Stagecoach Lancashire about a service they run which has no bus stops for 6km (280 between Gisburn and Barnoldswick), asking if the bus could be hailed at any intermediate points. I even suggested a potentially suitable layby. The response was that as the route "isn't a hail and ride service" this would not be possible, and that I should contact the county council to ask for a new bus stop to be added.