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Service bus myths...

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edwin_m

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Myth googol+1: If you're the last person in the queue who's under the shelter on a rainy day, it's perfectly acceptable to stay where you are when the people in front of you board a bus and then give black looks to those who go past you in the queue to get out of the rain.

Myth googol+2: The best place to put timetable information is in a pod on the stop pole, which is perfectly positioned in the sightline between approaching buses and people in the shelter.

Myth googol+3: Yellow and light green type on timetable posters is perfectly legible under sodium light.
 
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quarella

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The rear seat cushion is of a special design to prop against the rear of your bus when you break down.

Any bus driver worthy of the name deliberately breaks down mid way across a major junction at 5pm
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Bus drivers are specially trained to stop in a location to cause maximum inconvenience to any other road user.
 

PermitToTravel

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I don't think that very many of these are actually myths that people believe :p

One I have heard a lot: It is a criminal offence to reverse a bus in passenger service
 

kevjs

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I don't think that very many of these are actually myths that people believe :p

One I have heard a lot: It is a criminal offence to reverse a bus in passenger service

I've been on NCT buses where the driver has said he's not allowed to reverse with passengers on (normally when some eejit has decided to pull in front of the bus leaving it no room to pull out), but I've also been on other where they have reversed (and also ones where the bus has been so far on the pavement it's been brushing the hedges in the gardens thanks to the ropey parking).
 

High Dyke

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I don't think that very many of these are actually myths that people believe :p

One I have heard a lot: It is a criminal offence to reverse a bus in passenger service
Yep that is a good one. A number of bus stations i used to drive in / out of were built with nose-in bays, so you had to reverse a loaded bus to depart.
 

Tom B

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If your bus has been turned back short, drivers don't have to tell their passengers. They love nothing more than thinking their bus will be going the full route, only to be thrown off three stops down!

If you're driving a bus behind one which is terminating, you don't have to stop. The passengers who are all being thrown off will love it when you overtake and fail to stop!

A bus driver who doesn't drive a particular route often should never check if there have been any changes since he last drove it!
(A service in Edinburgh a few years ago changed its stopping pattern, and the tramboards were altered to indicate this. Several drivers would refuse to stop at the additional stop as "This bus doesn't stop here, it never has done!". I did actually point the driver towards his own tramboard and suggest he read it).

The bus with the bright pink display on the front is actually an entry to the LBGT Pride week, not on a part route.

The driver should always wait for every passenger to sit down, even if they select the seat right at the back on an empty bus and take their time getting there.

Ticket machines are unreliable and break down regularly.
(A regular trick played by the staff of a now defunct operator was to say that the ticket machines had broken, therefore tickets could not be issued. The only time you would be given a ticket was if an Inspector were on board!).

As to asking where the bus goes. There was a time when First Mainline used to run buses with cheap nasty LED units which would fail or get stuck. If someone noticed, an advert was ripped off the wall, a number scribbled on the back and it would be left in the windscreen. Under such circumstances it makes sense to stop such a bus and ascertain what service number he is!
 

Shrimper

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I've been on NCT buses where the driver has said he's not allowed to reverse with passengers on (normally when some eejit has decided to pull in front of the bus leaving it no room to pull out), but I've also been on other where they have reversed (and also ones where the bus has been so far on the pavement it's been brushing the hedges in the gardens thanks to the ropey parking).

When I worked at Stagecoach Manchester the policy was reversing in service was only to be done at authorised locations (Manchester Airport and the Trafford Centre being the only two permitted locations) and was generally to be avoided at other times. Of course it was done on occasion; but were anything to happen the onus would be on the driver.
 

Tom B

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When I worked at Stagecoach Manchester the policy was reversing in service was only to be done at authorised locations (Manchester Airport and the Trafford Centre being the only two permitted locations) and was generally to be avoided at other times. Of course it was done on occasion; but were anything to happen the onus would be on the driver.

I can think of two occasions when a bus on which I was a passenger had to do a 3-point-turn due to an accident ahead. On both occasions the driver insisted on having somebody guiding him back - on one occasion a WPC did it, on another a passenger. I presume that if anything did happen, the driver would have been seen to have taken some precautions.
 

edwin_m

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I was once on the Nottingham Skylink in NCT days when it was radioed to divert through Kegworth due to problems on the A453, but couldn't get thorough the village due to some inconsiderate parking. After backing up 100 yards it did a 3-pointer in a hotel car park, grounding the rear bumper in the process.
 

Liam

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I can think of two occasions when a bus on which I was a passenger had to do a 3-point-turn due to an accident ahead. On both occasions the driver insisted on having somebody guiding him back - on one occasion a WPC did it, on another a passenger. I presume that if anything did happen, the driver would have been seen to have taken some precautions.

A place I used to work would not allow us to guide lorries about the yard. The reason given was that if we helped the drivers, we were therefore taking full responsibility for that vehicle and any damage it may cause. But that company did make up a lot of ridiculous rules.
 

34D

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Myth 900 - when drivers are changing over, there's no way that the first driver can take fares or passengers at the change point
 

causton

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Myth 900 - when drivers are changing over, there's no way that the first driver can take fares or passengers at the change point

Can understand that if they've already done the procedures to close down the ticket machine for the next driver... wouldn't want them to start the whole log in route/driver/trip/duty etc just for one ticket :P
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Just thought... I actually do have one!

Myth 724: The front seat of a Mercedes Citaro just behind the front doors is not for passenger use and you are not allowed to sit in it.

(Perhaps the driver didn't want to be watched!)
 
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Myth Y36 - Yourbus are incapable of running a route that's not in competition with another operator

Myth i4 - trentbarton are always perfect and have never made a mistake
 

34D

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Can understand that if they've already done the procedures to close down the ticket machine for the next driver... wouldn't want them to start the whole log in route/driver/trip/duty etc just for one ticket :P

At the company I manage, staff are instructed not to press 'log off' until the replacement driver is confirmed as there, and are in fact encouraged to set up for the next service anyway.
 

kevjs

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At the company I manage, staff are instructed not to press 'log off' until the replacement driver is confirmed as there, and are in fact encouraged to set up for the next service anyway.

Now that is sensible - being stood out in the rain while the drivers take, what feels like, ten minutes to switch over is a pain. Glad I don't live near one of those points any more (still annoying having such a switch over half way along a 15 minute journey though and timing it as taking longer than 5 minutes to do!)
 

Andrew Nelson

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When I worked at Stagecoach Manchester the policy was reversing in service was only to be done at authorised locations (Manchester Airport and the Trafford Centre being the only two permitted locations) and was generally to be avoided at other times. Of course it was done on occasion; but were anything to happen the onus would be on the driver.

Pretty much every single Bus-Station in West Yorkshire is/will be reverse out soon.
 

1e10

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Buses go around in one big circle all day long so I should be able to catch the bus from either side of the road.

The back facing seats towards the rear of the lower deck are solely for other passengers to put their feet up on and it's absurd if another passenger asks you to remove your feet so that they are able to sit.

If the bus driver takes the wrong route then it's acceptable for them to carry on, with no attempt to turn around and no attempt to inform passengers of what has happened.

If the bus company has a condition advertised for a certain fare on their website then it is still acceptable for the driver to refuse it's existence even after being shown the website on a mobile phone.

I've lost my ticket but I won't need to buy another because I normally buy one.

It's acceptable to regularly run a service 20 minutes late.

A three stop hop ticket is valid for travel from a city suburb to the town centre, despite passing around 20-30 stops.

It's okay for the bus company to ignore email correspondence.

It's okay for a driver to refuse travel on a ticket sent to a passenger by the customer service team because he has never seen it before.

It's okay for a driver to use the phone whilst driving.

It's okay for drivers to drive past passengers waiting on a perfectly valid bus stop.

It's okay for passengers to empty the entire contents of the back pack onto the back seat of the bus and then leave.

It's unreasonable of the driver to refuse to wait at a stop whilst a passenger just nips across the street to buy some more beers.

It's okay for drunken football fans travelling on the bus to use the bell as a musical instrument whilst shouting various football chants.

It's acceptable to throw black rubbish bins at a bus as it drives down the street.

It's okay to get the drivers cab before starting to dig through your bag to find your purse/wallet/ticket despite seeing the bus approaching a while beforehand.
 

1e10

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It is if they make no attempt to stop the bus. ;)

I made every reasonable attempt to signal :)

This was a regular thing I experienced with First Bus about 18 months ago, same driver every time. I complained and they said they would see to it but it still happened. On the occasions he did stop for me he would then proceed to driver past other passengers whilst I was on the bus, so I wasn't the only one in that situation.

Bit of a strange driver mind, I still see him around every now and then still working for First. He normally wears gloves no-matter the weather but the last time I saw him he had no gloves so was using two paper towels to shuffle the wheel.
 

90019

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Bit of a strange driver mind, I still see him around every now and then still working for First. He normally wears gloves no-matter the weather but the last time I saw him he had no gloves so was using two paper towels to shuffle the wheel.

Considering how disgusting the steering wheels are on some buses and how manky some of the other drivers are, I don't blame him.
 

edwin_m

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If you smoke in the shelter when it's raining, the others in the queue will be delighted to have the choice of being gassed or being soaked.
 

rownd

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Myth TGX-150: All ENCTS passes must be placed face down on the card reader, as the machine scans the photo and compares it to the passenger's face to determine validity.
 

90019

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Myth TGX-150: All ENCTS passes must be placed face down on the card reader, as the machine scans the photo and compares it to the passenger's face to determine validity.
You also have to thump it onto the reader with as much force as possible to make sure it knows it's there, and then rub it vigorously around it to make sure it can read it.

Oh, and you don't have to wait for the beep, just swiping it across the reader and walking away is fine. :roll:
 

Andrew Nelson

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You also have to thump it onto the reader with as much force as possible to make sure it knows it's there, and then rub it vigorously around it to make sure it can read it.

Oh, and you don't have to wait for the beep, just swiping it across the reader and walking away is fine. :roll:

If the Oyster readers took as long, TFL would grind to a halt.
 

34D

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Myth TGX-150: All ENCTS passes must be placed face down on the card reader, as the machine scans the photo and compares it to the passenger's face to determine validity.

So true!!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Considering how disgusting the steering wheels are on some buses and how manky some of the other drivers are, I don't blame him.

So that's other companies too? I always carry antibacterial spray (and use it every time I change over).

I did once try a morning wearing latex gloves but didn't really like it.
 
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