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Service bus myths...

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starrymarkb

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Having operated limited stop services in the past, I would have been a rich man if I'd got £10 every time a passenger wanted to get off where we did not stop, and said "well, all the other drivers stop here".....

Have even seen that on National Express during a driver change at Taunton Deane Services. The drivers refused to let them off and they ended up having to continue to Exeter and make their own way back.
 
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Liam

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Having operated limited stop services in the past, I would have been a rich man if I'd got £10 every time a passenger wanted to get off where we did not stop, and said "well, all the other drivers stop here".....

Sometimes the bus companies don't help themselves though. For example, Stagecoach's X24 and X59 follow the same route from St Andrews to Glenrothes, but only the X59 is limited stop. X24 is only limited stop from Glenrothes to Glasgow. But of course, it's always the drivers fault when passengers don't read the timetables correctly.
 

Mojo

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Alas that one is true... Been the passenger on that one expecting the driver to pull in the terminus but instead he goes straight to the lights (at which point he'd pick up the main road the get back to the depot) - fortunately where he let me off (the next stop on the longer route - most buses now go pass the terminus, back then only a few peak time ones did) was nearer to home than I expected
I have pressed the bell at terminus stops for two reasons:
1) Not knowing that it is the last stop - even in London with screens/announcements it is not always clear what the last stop is, and
2) To avoid being carried past the terminus - one bus route near me is set to lay over just before the first bus stop on the outbound service and I don't want to be carried on beyond the last bus stop
 

34D

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Myth: A ticket that says System One Any Bus is accepted on any bus company that makes a journey between two points in Greater Manchester.
(This myth does not apply to the clearly advertised exceptions that apply to the Transdev buses from Manchester to Nelson and Blackburn)

Do Transdev not partake in the multi operator ticket? What a crappy operator
 

martinsh

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Myth: A ticket that says System One Any Bus is accepted on any bus company that makes a journey between two points in Greater Manchester.
(This myth does not apply to the clearly advertised exceptions that apply to the Transdev buses from Manchester to Nelson and Blackburn)

What clearly advertised exceptions ? They must have changed the eligibility since I last travelled on those routes, as I never had any problems in the past.
 

starrymarkb

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Do Transdev not partake in the multi operator ticket? What a crappy operator

I believe the Transdev services are limited stop interurban routes and if they don't accept PTE passes it would suggest they aren't really interested in clogging the bus with local traffic within the PTE area. They've probably weighed up the pros and cons (Income from the PTE vs Slowing the service for their core market of Passengers from outside the PTE)
 
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pompeyfan

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Greenroad is the best invention to be created and introduced in to the industry and is well calibrated on every vehicle with absolutely no flaws in the set up or system.
 

deltic1989

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If you are an elderly lady it is perfectly acceptable to board a bus that has 2 buggies on board and complain loudly to anyone who will listen about kids having kids and order the chilrens parents to alight and walk so that you can occupy the whole buggy/ wheelchair bay with your ridiculously large shopping trolly. It is also acceptable to smack one of the childrens fathers with your hand bag when they refuse but offer to lift said 10 ton trolly into the luggage rack.
 

90019

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It's perfectly acceptable to turf a frail person out of the priority seat next to the buggy space on a busy bus, because dropping a sprog automatically entitles you to a seat.



The Wayfarer 200 is a fantastic piece of kit that never breaks and always works flawlessly.
 

alexf380

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Sitting in the seat behind the driver's cabin entitles you to a kickboxing match with said cabin, which in no way will impair the driver's concentration or driving

Hybrids are good for hilly routes

It is an absolute disgrace if the driver stops to relieve himself en route if he has been driving for hours, and all passengers delayed by this deserve a full refund
 

alexf380

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I've only really been on the enviros on the 10, but I've heard stories of the ones on the 1 being quite sluggish and slowing to an almost stop up at clermiston
 

90019

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I've only really been on the enviros on the 10, but I've heard stories of the ones on the 1 being quite sluggish and slowing to an almost stop up at clermiston

Only when pulling in at stops. :P
The old Pointers that used to go out on the 1 (but thankfully are all gone, but one) were horrendous - the new buses are a million times better.


Personally, I find them to be pretty decent on the hills on the 1 and to be totally honest, I think a few of the drivers just don't know how to drive them properly. ;)


I had one on the 24 this evening, and it was fairly good on the hills. It didn't accelerate quite as fast, but because of the 12 speed I-Shift 'box, it just keeps on accelerating where some of the older buses would bottom out, performance wise.
 
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swj99

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If the bus driver lets you get off the bus at temporary traffic lights for roadworks, even when the the lights are on red and the bus isn't moving anyway, he'll get pinched by the peelers and it's more than his job's worth.
A bus driver on the Isle of Wight told me this in 1987. He looked like Selwyn Froggitt as well.

92010_Oh_No_Its_Selwyn_Froggitt.jpg
 

90019

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If the bus driver lets you get off the bus at temporary traffic lights for roadworks, even when the the lights are on red and the bus isn't moving anyway, he'll get pinched by the peelers and it's more than his job's worth.

These days, with the bus covered in cameras, all it takes is a single person to call up the company, and you're going to get hauled into the office for a bollocking and potentially a P45. :|
 
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34D

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These days, with the bus covered in cameras, all it takes is a single person to call up the company, and you're going to get hauled into the office for a bollocking and potentially a P45. :|

Really :o come down to Yorkshire and enjoy the relaxed experience. I'll start you next week. Seem like a decent lad.
 

90019

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Really :o come down to Yorkshire and enjoy the relaxed experience. I'll start you next week. Seem like a decent lad.

Nah, I like driving for Lothian.
Up until recently, you'd likely be fine, maybe a 'don't do that again', but there's a new woman who is rather unforgiving, and there have been quite a few peope sacked in the past few weeks. :|
 

High Dyke

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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
A lady once complained to me that she "could travel across London for 50p!" And there was i asking her for £1.10 to travel about 7 miles between two provincial villages.

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.
I used to stare blankly at them before asking "And?"

It is entirely acceptable for busses not to give change.

(Seriously, that is a thing I truly despise in bus operators)
During my days it was up to the drivers to provide a float for change and not the bus company; yet my good lady now works for a TOC and has a float provided by the ticket office.

Other include:

If Cyril's shopping bag is resting on his garden gate he expects you to know to stop and pick him up.

A lady once phoned to complain her bus hadn't turned up. The depot manager upon enquiring further where the lady lived pointed out that her village hadn't had a bus service for 14 years. The lady then admitted she had been living abroad for most of that time, but unrepentant blamed the bus company "for not actually notifying her they had withdrawn the service."
 
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David Barrett

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During my days it was up to the drivers to provide a float for change and not the bus company

Indeed, and a pain at half past six in the morning when the first passenger presented a fiver (or worse) for a forty pence fare (1984/5). After a while I reached an agreement with the company over a float, it was an agreement about which they may not have been aware!

You're not a former Road Car victim are you?
 

atlasduff47

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Scottish Citylink are obliged by law to make the bus leave ten minutes before any ferry arrives, after which it is also forbidden by law to allow another bus to travel along that route for at least three hours!
 

61653 HTAFC

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Bus Myth no. 301A: Deregulation in the provinces in the 1980s led to massively improved service provision and better value for the travelling public, with no exceptions.
 

47245

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The first bus after the concession bus pass becomes valid is the only one that day and so every pass holder must catch that bus.

Myth Stagecoach SW 315: A full bottom deck of a double decker means the upstairs is full too so everyone must stand.
 

quarella

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All bus drivers carry a full bus exterior and interior cleaning kit for use in the 3 minutes at the terminus but they are too lazy to use it.

I can't be the only driver to have tried (and failed) to explain to an old lady that my bus was filthy at 0915 because 3 hours of driving on a mixture of motorway and country lanes in foul weather has that effect.
 

tbtc

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Myth number 86: Any driver is well within their rights to say "the bell is a signal for me, not for you". Or is that school teachers?
 

Eagle

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Myth: First's new "cityscape" bus livery is well thought-out, and works equally well on some of their more rural operations (such as Dorset and South Somerset, which now bear the unnecessarily vague "WESSEX", filled as usual with a load of random building silhouettes).
 

SWTH

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Bus operators will take care to ensure that up-to-date and accurate and generally correct timetables are provided at bus stops en route, and will inform, by means of posters at bus stops and on buses, of forthcoming service changes in good time.

(THAMES TRAVEL - I'm looking at you. You never do any of these things.)

Not just Thames Travel....
 
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