Weirdest things you have seen on a bus route

[peterblue]

I've just been on a bus that decided to pull in to a service station en route. I think I've seen everything now!

The driver left us for a few mins to fill up the bus with diesel and then continued on the journey as if nothing unusual happened.

76 route by Coastal Coaches (Warton, Lancashire) at 1720 today.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Smaller operators without their own fuel pumps are more likely to do that. I have had it on a rail replacement bus.

Also had the tyres be changed en route in Albania, but there anything goes.

 

[Ken H]

I am sure there are examples of buses going through a garage in service. The one I remember is Grassington where many went through the garage.
Also between Skipton and Grassington, the road used to go through the middle of Swinden quarry. The bus went under the conveyors going to the crushers.
My favourite bus route as a kid

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Vehicles entering service stations is not common but not unknown.

I was travelling on a service from Malmesbury to Yate near Badminton Village, and we passed a lady on a mobility scooter walking a Shetland Pony as if it were a dog! Now that was strange.

 

[Brooke]

I mentioned in the past that a certain Yorkshire Traction service went through Waterloo repot to wash and fuel en route!

Another striking thing (more than “weird” per se): when I did some projects in Egypt, the long haul buses would sometimes run alongside each other for miles on end. Dead straight roads across the desert, nothing coming, so just drive alongside your mate and have the craic, basically. One on the correct side, one on the white line or the wrong side.

 

[High Dyke]

Seeing two cows, getting down to action (nudge, nudge); a mother trying to explain to her young child that one cow was giving the other cow a ride because it was tired.

 

[richw]

Some Companies who use filling stations here in the southwest where there have been diesel supply issues for a week or so now have advised their drivers to fuel on route if they see a petrol station with diesel available with no queue .

 

[RustySpoons]

I was on the top deck of a bus that stopped at a bus stop right outside a row of terraced houses. It was somewhat unfortunate that where I was sat lined up perfectly with an upstairs bedroom window, and at that moment a chap was 'enjoying' himself whilst watching some rather specialist online videos.

 

[Statto]

Vehicles entering service stations is not common but not unknown.

I was travelling on a service from Malmesbury to Yate near Badminton Village, and we passed a lady on a mobility scooter walking a Shetland Pony as if it were a dog! Now that was strange.

Back in the day Stagecoach Ribble, as it was called in those days, had a route X61 Manchester to Fleetwood, that called in & had a timetable point at Bolton West Services on the M61, think the rules were, a route has to stop within every 15 miles, which an operator could claim grants or something for being a bus route, sneaky way of doing things.

 

[Busaholic]

The fiction author Marcus Mills, also a London bus driver, related a story, said to be based on experience, of a bus driver about to get the sack who drove his in-service bus replete with passengers into Brixton garage and through the bus wash. As it was a Routemaster with an open rear platform that must have been both a scary and potentially wettening experience!

 

[arbeia]

Best one I ever saw was at my depot the radio supervisor took a call about a bus which had left and quickly developed a fault 2 minutes down the road after boarding half a bus loss of passengers. He authorised a return to the depot for attention. Next thing, the bus arrives with the passengers and amazingly he ordered it, under protest from the Fitter, straight onto the pits! The look on the passengers face was a picture. Amazing, and management, needless to say, were less than impressed.

 

[Dai Corner]

Last summer I was on a Newport Transport bus when a Deliveroo (might have been Just Eat or UberEats) rider asked if he could bring his bike on. After some discussion with the driver including explaining that it folded in half he was allowed and it just about fitted in the wheelchair space. I don't know if he was charged for the bike.

 

[Deerfold]

Seeing two cows, getting down to action (nudge, nudge); a mother trying to explain to her young child that one cow was giving the other cow a ride because it was tired.

Two cows? Or was one a bull?

 

[Busaholic]

Two cows? Or was one a bull?

We shall never know

 

[High Dyke]

Two cows? Or was one a bull?

We shall never know

Well, I can't say as I stopped to check...

 

[telstarbox]

Going back a bit in Kent:

My stop was next to a Co-op, driver pulled up and went in with the farebox to grab his bread and milk.

Another evening - male passenger desperate for the toilet. I think I was the only other passenger After some discussion the driver pulled up by a suitable hedge and said "you've got 2 minutes"!

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

Not overly strange, but a few weeks ago on the White Bus route 446 between Staines and Woking - as soon as the clock struck 8 pm, the driver pulled over at Asda, announced that it was time to break his Ramadan fast, and returned a few minutes later with a cup of coffee.

 

[MotCO]

Many years ago, TfL route 285 (New Malden to Heathrow) used to access the central bus station at Heathrow via the cargo tunnel rather than the usual spur road from the A4. It also used to go across the airport apron, past hangers etc, and could get stopped to wait for passing planes.

 

[markymark2000]

I've just been on a bus that decided to pull in to a service station en route. I think I've seen everything now!

The driver left us for a few mins to fill up the bus with diesel and then continued on the journey as if nothing unusual happened.

76 route by Coastal Coaches (Warton, Lancashire) at 1720 today.

That's a regular thing in some areas. Lloyds Coaches do this on some of their T2 and T3 trips. Depending on where the bus is stored, they fill up with fuel in Dollgellau depot in what should be 'connection time' between buses, they return to the depot fill up and then head back to the square.

 

[philthetube]

when driving I once had a pizza delivery bloke ride into the side of the bus with his moped, totally his fault. He was very apologetic and requested that I did not report it as he was already in trouble for an accident.

I agreed as there was no damage, next trip an hour later he was standing, waiting for me with a pizza, best accident I ever had.

 

[richw]

My stop was next to a Co-op, driver pulled up and went in with the farebox to grab his bread and milk.

The thread is strangest things you have seen on a bus. Nothing strange about this and probably commonly done.
Round rural routes where there’s farm stalls at road sides I’ve heard of drivers doing their weekly shop as they go round their routes. I know of routes where you pass a veg stall, a eggs stall, a fruit stall, a potato stall and a farmer in a tractor and trailer selling all sorts of produce so I can fully believe it.

 

[Eyersey468]

Seeing two cows, getting down to action (nudge, nudge); a mother trying to explain to her young child that one cow was giving the other cow a ride because it was tired.

I once saw that on Beverley Westwood as I was driving a bus and remember thinking at the time good job there's no small children on board

 

[Djb1]

Tbh If this was a book, i think i could fill a chapter titled UK North in the 1990s. Buses going round with the spare fuel in a barrel under the stairs; drivers stopping off to pick up vodka mid route; drivers abandoning route to take people home for an extra £1 (to their door on tight residential roads); drivers stopping on the other side of the road asking where you were going, then doing a u-turn; buses with half the seats missing on the top deck.

Like bletchleyite, I've also travelled in Albania, and amongst other things have seen a sofa, tractor wheels, and some sheep transported on a regular bus.

 

[kijeta]

Three or so years ago, on a newport-bound bus in Usk, we were stuck in a traffic jam: of horses. I can't help but think that the back-then noisy engine would have startled them.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Weirdest thing I've ever seen in the UK is someone casually carrying on a sailing boat mast, placing it down the aisle, buying a ticket and sitting down. As if that were the most normal thing in the world.

It was at Bangor going to Caernarfon.

Tbh If this was a book, i think i could fill a chapter titled UK North in the 1990s. Buses going round with the spare fuel in a barrel under the stairs; drivers stopping off to pick up vodka mid route; drivers abandoning route to take people home for an extra £1 (to their door on tight residential roads); drivers stopping on the other side of the road asking where you were going, then doing a u-turn; buses with half the seats missing on the top deck.

I've seen a UK North driver smoking a spliff while driving. It really was the lowest of the low, and amazing they got away with it for so long (and sad that someone had to die before they were shut down and banned).

Like bletchleyite, I've also travelled in Albania, and amongst other things have seen a sofa, tractor wheels, and some sheep transported on a regular bus.

You see more "odd" things in London like small pieces of furniture because car ownership is lower than elsewhere in the UK - that'll be the same in Albania.

Back in the day Stagecoach Ribble, as it was called in those days, had a route X61 Manchester to Fleetwood, that called in & had a timetable point at Bolton West Services on the M61, think the rules were, a route has to stop within every 15 miles, which an operator could claim grants or something for being a bus route, sneaky way of doing things.

The stops at Kingston and Luton Travelodge on the Stagecoach Milton Keynes-Luton Airport 99 exist for that purpose. Curiously they have become the busiest stops at certain times of day, as people use them as "kiss and ride" for dropping off and picking up family members who live in Luton and work at the warehouses around the Kingston stop. Users to the airport are in a tiny minority. Sometimes things don't quite work like you intended.

 

[PeterC]

Tbh If this was a book, i think i could fill a chapter titled UK North in the 1990s. Buses going round with the spare fuel in a barrel under the stairs; drivers stopping off to pick up vodka mid route; drivers abandoning route to take people home for an extra £1 (to their door on tight residential roads); drivers stopping on the other side of the road asking where you were going, then doing a u-turn; buses with half the seats missing on the top deck.

Like bletchleyite, I've also travelled in Albania, and amongst other things have seen a sofa, tractor wheels, and some sheep transported on a regular bus.

On our local routes, when an outbound service is running late, the driver will pick up anybody at the inbound stops rather than leave them standing until he returns.

 

[MotCO]

On our local routes, when an outbound service is running late, the driver will pick up anybody at the inbound stops rather than leave them standing until he returns.

That's not a bad idea - it helps the passengers, and probably means fewer calls at the inbound bus stops.

 

[Bletchleyite]

On our local routes, when an outbound service is running late, the driver will pick up anybody at the inbound stops rather than leave them standing until he returns.

As opposed to one of my old former routes, where some* drivers would knowingly drive past people waiting at those stops knowing full well they had the intention of "cutting" the route back and missing those stops out to get back on time.

* One particular one would do what you say and wave you over.

 

[Ken H]

That's not a bad idea - it helps the passengers, and probably means fewer calls at the inbound bus stops.

when Donny Waites ran the Settle - Horton bus in the 1980's, the morning market day bus would get very full. He would get a bus load, then run back empty to where he started leaving people behind and pick up the rest of the passengers to go to market.

 

[rg177]

I was on a bus from Worksop to Doncaster last Saturday evening.

We reached Costhorpe where we were faced with the road partially blocked by an ambulance attending to a *very* intoxicated man passed out partially in a bush.

Meanwhile, some balaclava-clad guy was doing donuts on his quad bike, surrounded by seemingly the entire local populace coming out to watch the entire spectacle.

Suffice to say I was glad when we managed to thread our way through and leave the area