Trivia: Common bus and coach related fallacies

[PTR 444]

With the success of the Railway related fallacies thread, I thought it would be worth branching out and having one for buses too. This could cover anything from the physical appearance of buses to interiors, ownership and operation of routes or network and route branding.

Some examples:

• “Buses are better for the environment than a small number of cars, and hence emission charges should exclude them”
• “Double deckers aren’t low floor”
• “ENCTS passes can only be used in the home local authority of the resident”
• “Two different companies are not allowed to operate the exact same route”
• “Morebus only operate routes in Bournemouth and Poole”

 

[iantherev]

There is an unlimited supply of vehicles available for emergency rail replacement at the drop of a hat.

 

[Gloster]

You can use that door on the offside at the back if someone you want to avoid gets on through the door at the front.

If your pass doesn’t have a name on it, you can drop it out of the window so that your mate can use it to get on as well.

 

[Megafuss]

If your bus hasnt turned up, the driver of the next one can definitely tell you what happened to the previous departure as not only do they drive a bus, but are also controller for the day.

 

[Ianno87]

If your bus hasnt turned up, the driver of the next one can definitely tell you what happened to the previous departure as not only do they drive a bus, but are also controller for the day.

Or the bus driver is directly at fault for your fare going up.

 

[Gloster]

The bus driver knows which of several stops is most convenient for your gran’s house, which is somewhere down one of a dozen indistinguishable side streets. “You must know it! It’s got a blue front door.”

 

[PeterC]

If your bus hasnt turned up, the driver of the next one can definitely tell you what happened to the previous departure as not only do they drive a bus, but are also controller for the day.

Plus they can do the same for any other operator in the area

Another one
All buses serving Met line stations beyond zone 6 accept Oyster

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Buses are better for the environment than a small number of cars, and hence emission charges should exclude them

Is that a fallacy?

 

[PTR 444]

Is that a fallacy?

If the bus is diesel and 9/10 cars are electric or hybrid, then yes.

 

[Roilshead]

If the bus is diesel and 9/10 cars are electric or hybrid, then yes.

Have you taken into account the energy used to build the vehicles, or the lifespan of the vehicles? . . .

 

[mjc]

If the bus is diesel and 9/10 cars are electric or hybrid, then yes.

Well that’s a fair competition isn’t it?!
Plenty of new non-fully diesel buses entering service (although admittedly a long way to go) so diesel isn’t the only option for buses, and we’re a long way from 9/10 cars being electric or hybrid!

 

[carlberry]

• “Buses are better for the environment than a small number of cars, and hence emission charges should exclude them”

I'm not aware of any emission charge that doesn't apply to buses, whereas very few apply to cars.

 

[Strathclyder]

If it's a red half-cab double-decker bus, it has to be a Routemaster/RT.

 

[GusB]

If it's a red half-cab double-decker bus, it has to be a Routemaster/RT.

Ah, but if it's bought by an overseas tour company and is a half-cab double decker and painted red, it's still an authentic London Bus. Nobody will know the difference

 

[Strathclyder]

Ah, but if it's bought by an overseas tour company and is a half-cab double decker and painted red, it's still an authentic London Bus. Nobody will know the difference

Touché, good sir.

 

[GusB]

If the bus is diesel and 9/10 cars are electric or hybrid, then yes.

You're making a fair few assumptions here. You only have to read the industry news to find out the lengths that the various bus groups are going in order to make their vehicles more environmentally friendly.

I suggest you post a link to, and a relevant quote from, any sources you feel that may back up your claim. (As required by forum rules )

 

[Dai Corner]

DRT is the answer to all perceived problems.

 

[LUYMun]

If it's a red half-cab double-decker bus, it has to be a Routemaster/RT.

And if it's a post-halfcab preserved bus, say, an MCW Metrobus, then it's got to be an old school bus!

Or the bus driver is directly at fault for your fare going up.

If a single-deck bus arrives on a double-deck route, the driver's at fault because they've chosen that bus.

 

[Geordie driver]

That the driver has a bottomless pit of change and is deliberately being awkward when he can't change your 20 at 5am in the morning.

That the driver has chosen to put the saloon heaters on in the summer.

That the driver has turned the saloon heaters off in the winter.

That you life is crap and it's ok to take it out on the driver.

Actually, the last one isn't a fallacy.

 

[DelphDonkey]

Buses in your town are still run by the Corporation.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

That bus drivers can ignore traffic law, and can direct other drivers. Just saw one waving someone out of a side road because she could not be bothered to turn the steering wheel a bit more. Hair-raising!

 

[duncombec]

That the driver has a bottomless pit of change and is deliberately being awkward when he can't change your 20 at 5am in the morning.

To which could nicely be added "The driver has a float big enough and mixed enough to cover all needs at all times of the day." Suggestions of exactly how much money the company would need to keep in circulation to give all of their drivers even £20 are just "being difficult"!

That the driver has chosen to put the saloon heaters on in the summer.

That the driver has turned the saloon heaters off in the winter.

Nicely sum-uppable in "the driver has control over the temperature in the bus!"

Buses in your town are still run by the Corporation.

Partially covered by the one I was going to suggest, which is "When they provide poor service, the company should just have it's contract/franchise/right to run the service taken away". It's worrying how many local politicians seem to fall into this trap!

As many have been passenger-to-driver/company, let's also give honourable mention to Arriva's stock answer to anything they don't wish to answer, "this is the Council's responsibility" (Double yellow lines? Yes. Printing timetable leaflets? hm... not so much), or when faced with another app's tracking service using data uploaded to Traveline/Open Data by Arriva and labelled as such: "we are not responsible for the quality of another provider's data". Umm...

Perhaps also "A ticket bearing another company's logo is automatically invalid on my bus, even when it's a multi-operator ticket and certainly is valid."

 

[mainframe444]

That it’s ok to set a passenger down at a stop that a limited stop service does not serve “because all the other drivers do it”

No they don’t….!

 

[Gloster]

That a driver who doesn’t stop to let a passenger off outside their house, which is on a blind bend on a steep hill on a narrow road, and only fifty yards from a stop is being deliberately awkward.

Also being awkward are the drivers who won’t stop at a stop which has ‘Stop Temporarily Closed‘ on it because there is single file working with traffic lights all the way past it.

 

[Geordie driver]

That everyone in the UK gets their bus pass at 60, the BBC is terrible for this.

 

[Simon75]

Buses are subsidised by the council


A Council can 'kick out ' a bus company

Comparing London to the rest of the country

 

[LUYMun]

The local council is responsible for the operations of your bus services.

 

[GusB]

The local council is responsible for the operations of your bus services.

In my part of the world this is actually true with some services.

 

[Galvanize]

The Driver has access to lost property that you cannot remember which bus you left it on.

 

[Gloster]

The Driver has access to lost property that you cannot remember which bus you left it on.

And that if you leave something on a bus the company will use a bus to deliver it back to your house. They will do this even if there is nothing on the item to identify its owner.