Things that annoy you on bus and coach journeys

[Martin2012]

The other one that really gets on my nerves is drivers who speak rudely/abruptly to passengers for no reason.

A few days ago I ended up having to ask a driver what time a service was scheduled to arrive somewhere and was told "When I get there". A better response could have been something like "well we're scheduled to arrive at xxxx but it might be later depending on the traffic"

The other one that I rather disapproved of was during the Balloon Fiesta last year. The bus I had been traveling home from work on had been delayed in traffic and when we finally reached Bristol Bus Station I heard the driver to order passengers to "Hurry up and get off as I'm running late"

Similarly, when the Harbourside Festival was on last year I experienced delays when trying to catch the bus home from Brislington. The bus was in the region of 20-30 minutes late, the first one that came past was too full to get on and when one with space finally did arrive, the driver did not seem the least bit apologetic for the delay. He just looked at me as though I was stupid.

If I ever work in this industry I will make sure that I speak courteously to passengers whether I'm under pressure or not.

 

[Deerfold]

Similarly, when the Harbourside Festival was on last year I experienced delays when trying to catch the bus home from Brislington. The bus was in the region of 20-30 minutes late, the first one that came past was too full to get on and when one with space finally did arrive, the driver did not seem the least bit apologetic for the delay. He just looked at me as though I was stupid.

Did the driver know you'd not been able to get on an earlier one?

 

[pompeyfan]

Agreed with the poster above me, the driver could have been unaware of any issues... Every time I'm late and I say sorry, I always get a reply of 'oh I only just got here' which bugs me slightly! So now if someone politely inquires regarding the delay I'll give a brief explanation and apology, sadly a cristal ball isn't part of the company issue equipment!

 

[Martin2012]

You've made a good point there. I appreciate that drivers are not mind readers. I think on that particular evening all the buses heading towards Bristol were running late and they were much busier than normal. I'd not had the best of shifts at work that day and was feeling rather stressed out by the time I left so experiencing delays on the way home accompanied with a driver who didn't seem to care wasn't the best end.

I'm guessing that when bus services are delayed, drivers are aware that passengers will be inconvenienced but as its out of their control they just have to handle the situation the best they can. Would this maybe be why some drivers don't apologise for delays?

A few weeks prior to that I had to do the same journey on a crowded streetlite(it was full and standing when I got on). I asked the driver why there wasn't a bigger vehicle and got no response from him. On another occasion shortly after that I ended up on a busy X46 journey which had to be worked by a single decker rather than a double decker. The driver stated "this is the vehicle I was given". At the time I remember thinking the drivers were uncaring but now I do wonder whether if in both instances that as there was nothing that the drivers could do about the vehicles their responses were the best ones?

 

[pompeyfan]

In terms of poor vehicle allocation, the best you will ever get Is a 'sorry, but this is the vehicle I was given' there's not really much more the driver can do, but a complete blanking of the passenger is poor.

 

[VTPreston_Tez]

Preston "We've got 60 passengers that get on this service, let's chuck a Solo on instead of one of the double deckers we've got at the depot" Bus

Well we got a double decker today. I now see why we don't get them. The old ones aren't suited to our bus route and throw you everywhere. Of course the solution is to swap with the hybrids on the 23 and 35, which is basically one straight road after you leave the city unlike ours which goes down bumpy roads and round lots of sharp bends, but I can't see it happening. It's Rotala after all.

 

[quarella]

Back on things you find annoying, one of mine is people who take a seat and then spend the entire journey with their arm extended horizontally, gripping the handrail or the back of the seat in front. Fine to grab the handrail for a bit of stability when the bus is turning, but no need to do it when moving ahead in a straight line in normal traffic.

You may know the route, the road and have good balance but a poor road surface, deceleration and changing course can easily pitch the unwary into the aisle particularly those with less strength to brace themselves.

 

[johntea]

Caught the bus to Wakefield today. Caught from my house at 17:59, ended up in Wakefield at 18:50 - At the bus station there was a staff change over but something happened so we had to swap onto a different bus, this took 20-30 minutes alone!

I regret not walking to the town (10 minute walk) and catching a train to Wakefield which takes 10 minutes!

 

[Martin2012]

In terms of poor vehicle allocation, the best you will ever get Is a 'sorry, but this is the vehicle I was given' there's not really much more the driver can do, but a complete blanking of the passenger is poor.

Last year before I dropped out of Huddersfield University, I used to have to travel on the 358 Ashenhurst Circular which is operated by First in Yorkshire. Although it was only a 10-15 minute journey it used to annoy me the way they'd always run the busiest journey in the evening(departing the bus station around 1700) with a single decker. At this time of the day usage was far greater amongst students and other members of the public traveling home from work and on a number of occasions the bus seemed to become overcrowded.

I remember one instance where after traveling back to my accommodation on this service and being forced to stand the whole way, I ended up going back into the town centre after dinner and ended up on the last service of the night back. I was the only passenger out of Huddersfield Bus Station. What was on this journey? A double decker

I also had to use another service(I think it was 306 which serves Taylor Hill) around school finishing time and the single decker got completely packed to the rafters. I even got asked by a police community support officer to give up my seat when a pregnant lady got on(I would have done this anyway). I never got why that journey didn't have a decker allocated to it.