Trivia: What things don't you see on buses these days?

[Busaholic]

Come to Morden tube station; every weekday a guy turns up and religiously unloads a van and puts stacks of papers on to each bus as they come into the bus station...


Generally harmless until one kid fell out of the upper deck of a DMS in London. the whole window went out with him and needless to say the kid didn't fare to well ending up in a coma for weeks and weeks.

Two more for consideration:

"Shop at Binn's" adverts on just about every bus in Newcastle and no doubt elsewhere
A seat cushion propped up against the rear of of a broken down bus to alert other bus drivers that they weren't going anywhere any time soon(!)

Am I right in thinking the London seat cushion tradition virtually ceased at the same time as both Routemasters and conductors?

 

[Stan Drews]

Am I right in thinking the London seat cushion tradition virtually ceased at the same time as both Routemasters and conductors?

Think it was more to do with the widespread adoption of hazard warning lights on buses!

 

[Busaholic]

Think it was more to do with the widespread adoption of hazard warning lights on buses!

Maybe a coincidence!

 

[busesrusuk]

Am I right in thinking the London seat cushion tradition virtually ceased at the same time as both Routemasters and conductors?

It certainly continued into Metrobus and Titan days. It might also have something to do with the widespread intro of individual seats on low floor buses

 

[Ken H]

Does that mean that in Leeds you had to shout "next stop please" or words to that effect if you wanted the next stop, and the conductor would then ring the bell, or did the conductor simply have to keep an eye out for passengers wanting to get off at the next stop? If the latter, it could surely have been difficult for them to keep an eye on both decks at once on double deckers, unless you were expected to start making your way towards the exit in good time before the bus got to your stop so the conductor could see you. These days many buses actually have signs asking you to stay seated until the bus stops. How times have changed!

'Next stop please' I have even seen people shout that up and down the stairs.

 

[johnnychips]

'Next stop please' I have even seen people shout that up and down the stairs.

In Greater Manchester, until 1982 at least, nobody ever used the bell, but did indeed shout ‘next stop please’. I was really surprised on moving to South Yorkshire, that the bell was a sort of cord running through eyelets on the ceiling, and everybody used it.

 

[M60lad]

Not to sure if its been mentioned but how about air operated windscreen wipers and also windscreen wipers that operated independently of each other.

 

[GusB]

Not to sure if its been mentioned but how about air operated windscreen wipers and also windscreen wipers that operated independently of each other.

Already covered earlier in the thread.

 

[Busaholic]

I can only cite this as happening in London, but based on lots of personal experience. It continued until a few years before the replacement of rear entrance Routemasters with conductors, but was most prevalent when vittually all routes were non-opo. It was mostly conductors on platforms that performed the action to the driver (and, probably, conductor on front nearside seat looking out of the window) of the bus behind, but was sometimes performed by a driver to another driver coming in the opposite direction. This consisted of miming the action of clutching a piece of string between thumb and forefinger, and swinging it from side to side : this indicated the belief that the other crew were 'swinging the lead' i.e. not doing their fair share of work by, for instance, running early and 'pushing' the previous bus on the route. It happened more when two or more garages shared the vehicle allocation to a route, and some garages established notoriety by refusing to ever overtake a moving bus on the same route if it came from an 'opposing' garage. Crews got to know the habitual offenders, and found ways of getting their own back!

 

[PG]

not doing their fair share of work by, for instance, running early and 'pushing' the previous bus on the route. It happened more when two or more garages shared the vehicle allocation to a route, and some garages established notoriety by refusing to ever overtake a moving bus on the same route if it came from an 'opposing' garage. Crews got to know the habitual offenders, and found ways of getting their own back!

Speaking from the OPO outside of London perspective, you soon knew the few drivers who would leave you to struggle while they had an easy time crawling around just far enough back to avoid catching you. Mainly though a late runner would be helped out by skip stopping or being allowed to transfer passengers to go direct to the terminus.
All seems to have stopped these days for fear of not being able to prove that the timetabled journeys were operated and so you end up with daft situations e.g. hourly route with two buses running 10 minutes apart (one on time, one 70 minutes late) or a bus running hours late on a country route when any intending passengers have long since given up waiting!

windscreen wipers that operated independently of each other.

I remember a few Y types that had air wipers operated by a single control converted to independent electric wipers each with their own switch - not the engineering departments finest hour as they invariably smashed themselves together and then to pieces due to the lack of any synchronisation
Mind you some air wipers did that anyway if they were poorly adjusted...

 

[Geordie driver]

I can only cite this as happening in London, but based on lots of personal experience. It continued until a few years before the replacement of rear entrance Routemasters with conductors, but was most prevalent when vittually all routes were non-opo. It was mostly conductors on platforms that performed the action to the driver (and, probably, conductor on front nearside seat looking out of the window) of the bus behind, but was sometimes performed by a driver to another driver coming in the opposite direction. This consisted of miming the action of clutching a piece of string between thumb and forefinger, and swinging it from side to side : this indicated the belief that the other crew were 'swinging the lead' i.e. not doing their fair share of work by, for instance, running early and 'pushing' the previous bus on the route. It happened more when two or more garages shared the vehicle allocation to a route, and some garages established notoriety by refusing to ever overtake a moving bus on the same route if it came from an 'opposing' garage. Crews got to know the habitual offenders, and found ways of getting their own back!

"Hanging the dog", that's what we called it. It was never my thing, couldn't see the point and there was always a chance you were missing out on a nice young lady ( or man if that was your thing).

I did once get out of my bus to confront a driver who was hanging the dog on me, he never did it again.

Regarding buses bunching up, I have seen all 4 vehicles on a 1 hour route bunched together, at one time the 3 running late would have gone light to pick up their correct time and the bus on time would take all the passengers, common sense.

We were told never to do this, just keep going,so much for passenger care?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

"Hanging the dog", that's what we called it. It was never my thing, couldn't see the point and there was always a chance you were missing out on a nice young lady ( or man if that was your thing).

I did once get out of my bus to confront a driver who was hanging the dog on me, he never did it again.

Regarding buses bunching up, I have seen all 4 vehicles on a 1 hour route bunched together, at one time the 3 running late would have gone light to pick up their correct time and the bus on time would take all the passengers, common sense.

We were told never to do this, just keep going,so much for passenger care?

Think the London term was "scratching"?

I guess one "thing" that is perhaps much reduced if not gone is the practice of subtle variations in spec between different companies of the same group (involving many of the fixtures and fittings already referred to. Unlike say Go Ahead (where each firm does very much its own thing), you had First, Stagecoach and Arriva with a standard specification in terms of moquette, seating arrangements etc and very much a standard technical spec across its OpCos.

In the days of NBC and SBG, the differences between neighbouring firms could be subtly or notably different. Even "standard" types could be noticeably different between operators; that seems less prevalent now (though First seem to be perhaps closest to that now).

 

[Eyersey468]

"Hanging the dog", that's what we called it. It was never my thing, couldn't see the point and there was always a chance you were missing out on a nice young lady ( or man if that was your thing).

I did once get out of my bus to confront a driver who was hanging the dog on me, he never did it again.

Regarding buses bunching up, I have seen all 4 vehicles on a 1 hour route bunched together, at one time the 3 running late would have gone light to pick up their correct time and the bus on time would take all the passengers, common sense.

We were told never to do this, just keep going,so much for passenger care?

We call it dogging, personally I can't see the point.

 

[Busaholic]

Think the London term was "scratching"?

It was indeed, but I don't remember drivers or conductors scratching themselves vigorously to indicate their suspicions, or maybe I did and assumed they were running with fleas.

 

[Deerfold]

Speaking from the OPO outside of London perspective, you soon knew the few drivers who would leave you to struggle while they had an easy time crawling around just far enough back to avoid catching you. Mainly though a late runner would be helped out by skip stopping or being allowed to transfer passengers to go direct to the terminus.
All seems to have stopped these days for fear of not being able to prove that the timetabled journeys were operated and so you end up with daft situations e.g. hourly route with two buses running 10 minutes apart (one on time, one 70 minutes late) or a bus running hours late on a country route when any intending passengers have long since given up waiting!

I remember a few Y types that had air wipers operated by a single control converted to independent electric wipers each with their own switch - not the engineering departments finest hour as they invariably smashed themselves together and then to pieces due to the lack of any synchronisation
Mind you some air wipers did that anyway if they were poorly adjusted...

Outside of London, buses are not supposed to run short unless it's impossible to complete a journey.
Inside London the emphasis is in not having long gaps between services (except on infrequent services where keeping to the timetable is key - you'd still expect if two buses were running together and one would be more use in the other direction that it would be turned or run light to the end of the route).

 

[PG]

Outside of London, buses are not supposed to run short unless it's impossible to complete a journey.
Inside London the emphasis is in not having long gaps between services (except on infrequent services where keeping to the timetable is key - you'd still expect if two buses were running together and one would be more use in the other direction that it would be turned or run light to the end of the route).

My use of these days was the clue - I was alluding to 30+ years ago when turning buses short/transferring passengers mid journey was viewed as sensible management practice in the context of the overall service.

 

[Deerfold]

My use of these days was the clue - I was alluding to 30+ years ago when turning buses short/transferring passengers mid journey was viewed as sensible management practice in the context of the overall service.

Indeed. It's curious that inside and outside London opposite rules apply. The village I grew up in and spent 20-odd years of my life in, I caught a bus running short a grand total of once. Was most odd to see a different destination on the front of the bus (and that was because of long delays in crossing the Pennines).

 

[Geordie driver]

My use of these days was the clue - I was alluding to 30+ years ago when turning buses short/transferring passengers mid journey was viewed as sensible management practice in the context of the overall service.

The company I worked for seemed to think drivers were some how avoiding work, the union asked them to change the policy and use common sense, bizarrely the management put up a notice telling us NOT to use common sense.

Post deregulation working for the good of the customers went out of the window. There is something you don't see much of on the buses now.

 

[PG]

Not that you'd actually see it (hopefully!) but the days of drivers wearing long-johns are I guess past us.
In the early nineties the operator I worked for had a sizeable number of Y-types, some of which seemed to have multiple air inlets, aka gaps, below the windscreen. The demister helped with keeping your face and hands from freezing but didn't help with the legs and feet in the slightest!

 

[quarella]

Not that you'd actually see it (hopefully!) but the days of drivers wearing long-johns are I guess past us.
In the early nineties the operator I worked for had a sizeable number of Y-types, some of which seemed to have multiple air inlets, aka gaps, below the windscreen. The demister helped with keeping your face and hands from freezing but didn't help with the legs and feet in the slightest!

Never wore long-johns but I well remember the draught up the trouser leg from the pedal holes in the floor in the 15 or so year old Bedford coaches I drove on some bus bus routes.
My grandfather was a bus driver in the 1940s and 50s. When I was a child I was allowed to try on his BTCC winter coat with the white cuff on right arm for hand signalling. It was so heavy I could barely stand up in it. There were summer 'ice cream salesman' jackets too and of course no driver or conductor was properly dressed without their hat.

 

[GusB]

Never wore long-johns but I well remember the draught up the trouser leg from the pedal holes in the floor in the 15 or so year old Bedford coaches I drove on some bus bus routes.
My grandfather was a bus driver in the 1940s and 50s. When I was a child I was allowed to try on his BTCC winter coat with the white cuff on right arm for hand signalling. It was so heavy I could barely stand up in it. There were summer 'ice cream salesman' jackets too and of course no driver or conductor was properly dressed without their hat.

I don't remember anyone mentioning drivers wearing hats so far in this thread, although it has been discussed previously. Hats weren't part of the "new" Stagecoach uniform when our lot was privatised, but those drivers who normally wore them were allowed to keep their existing ones for a time.

 

[blue87]

Double decker buses having a periscope so the driver could see what was going on upstairs, Metrobus / Fleetline buses always had them around Brum remember looking down one and seeing the driver below.

 

[Steddenm]

Wayfarer ticket machines

 

[Busaholic]

I don't remember anyone mentioning drivers wearing hats so far in this thread, although it has been discussed previously. Hats weren't part of the "new" Stagecoach uniform when our lot was privatised, but those drivers who normally wore them were allowed to keep their existing ones for a time.

All my youth and almost all of my young adulthood were spent living in London, and I honestly do not remember the headgear for drivers or conductors ever being described as hats. The terminology was always cap, a far cry from today's baseball style cap perhaps, though maybe an inspector with a rather more rigid, military style cap might want to differentiate his (it was always 'his' in those days) from the lower ranks.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I don't remember anyone mentioning drivers wearing hats so far in this thread, although it has been discussed previously. Hats weren't part of the "new" Stagecoach uniform when our lot was privatised, but those drivers who normally wore them were allowed to keep their existing ones for a time.

My grandfather was a bus driver in the 1940s and 50s. When I was a child I was allowed to try on his BTCC winter coat with the white cuff on right arm for hand signalling. It was so heavy I could barely stand up in it. There were summer 'ice cream salesman' jackets too and of course no driver or conductor was properly dressed without their hat.

My father was a driver and he, and virtually none of his colleagues, didn't bother with hats. These were NBC days so it was a winter uniform of formal jacket and heavy trousers (with a hat issued that was never worn) with the summer "dust jacket" and lighter trousers, though I can remember one of his colleagues with the light coloured, Tilling era "ice cream vendor" style jacket.


Another thing that you don't see nowadays are depot allocation and fleet number plates (now done with vinyls). I think Bristol Omnibus and Eastern National had them both (introduced to BOC by a former EN manager) whilst Western National and Crosville had fleet number plates, the latter dropping them before United eventually adopted them.

 

[Jordan Adam]

I don't remember anyone mentioning drivers wearing hats so far in this thread, although it has been discussed previously. Hats weren't part of the "new" Stagecoach uniform when our lot was privatised, but those drivers who normally wore them were allowed to keep their existing ones for a time.

There's two drivers at First Aberdeen who normally wear purple First branded caps.

There's also a Stagecoach Bluebird driver who normally wears a plain black cap so I can only assume company policy has been somewhat relaxed (or more likely not fully enforced).

 

[AY1975]

Smoking sections, plastic seats at the back of the top deck.

Until the 1990s smoking was allowed on the top decks of double decker buses (usually restricted to the rearmost seats by about the 1970s or '80s, but in practice this rule was often ignored) and at the back of single deckers.

Was it always restricted to the rearmost seats on single deckers, or was smoking allowed everywhere on single deckers at one time (probably until about the 1970s)?

I've started a separate thread on the first and last operators to ban smoking at https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/trivia-the-first-and-last-operators-to-ban-smoking.214131/

 

[PG]

The other thing that was altered in short order was fitting nylon brushes to the wheelarches. There was something about the aerodynamics of these buses that pulled road dirt onto them in a quite remarkable manner, often leaving all the lower deck windows covered and complaints from passengers being overcarried as they could not see where they were.

Replying in this thread as it's more generic than just applying to a specific type of bus.
Whatever happened to those hairy wheelarch brushes?
I can't remember when I last saw them on a bus...

 

[Eyersey468]

Replying in this thread as it's more generic than just applying to a specific type of bus.
Whatever happened to those hairy wheelarch brushes?
I can't remember when I last saw them on a bus...

Come to think of it it's ages since I have seen them

 

[telstarbox]

What were inspectors looking out for?