Bus Drivers’ Masonic wave

[MrPB]

Apparently it is no longer merely acceptable to stand at a bus stop and expect a bus to stop for you. You now have to devise some sort of secret wave to alert the bus driver to the fact that you expect him to stop at the bus stop you are standing at even though you are standing at a bus stop (presumably as you wish to board a bus).

Using public services used to be so simple before all these complex rules. I always presumed that they invented bus stops so that buses stopped for people who indicated that they wanted to get on a bus by standing at a bus stop.

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/please-signal-to-bus-drivers-says-iom-transport/

[gettafa]

A bit like waving to a pal across the auction room and finding you have just bought a knackered old settee, I was walking down the street and stopped for a yarn,  happened to be at a bus stop and the bus pulled up.

[MrPB]

Just now, gettafa said:

A bit like waving to a pal across the auction room and finding you have just bought a knackered old settee, I was walking down the street and stopped for a yarn with and happened to be at a bus stop when the bus pulled up.

But it does beg the question what bus stops are for if some secret code actually applies to it all. Life used to be so simple. You want a bus so you stand at a bus stop and then at some stage a bus stops for you. No doubt there’s a whole civil service code of practice around it all now that buses seem to operate for the people who drive them not for the people who actually use them. 

[trmpton]

Every single bus stop is a request stop, other than the main “station” in each town - have been for as long as I can remember.

it says so at the stops.  It says so on a recorded message through the bus when you are on it.

If every bus stopped at every stop there would be more pollution, more wear and tear on the vehicles, journeys would take longer and traffic would constantly be being held up for no reason.

[MrPB]

3 minutes ago, trmpton said:

If every bus stopped at every stop there would be more pollution, more wear and tear on the vehicles, journeys would take longer and traffic would constantly be being held up for no reason.

But people aren’t standing at every bus stop. Usually just the ones they want to catch buses from. Perhaps we should all be issued with flags and have some sort of semaphore code so that we can attract the bus in a prescribed way if the drivers are confused? 

[the stinking enigma]

We should be issued with our own personal stingers to avoid any confusion

 

[the stinking enigma]

When the tyres go flat theres somebody 30 yards behind that wishes to aboard.

[trmpton]

Just now, MrPB said:

But people aren’t standing at every bus stop. Usually just the ones they want to catch buses from. Perhaps we should all be issued with flags and have some sort of semaphore code so that we can attract the bus in a prescribed way if the drivers are confused? 

Take the Brown Bobby for example heading out of town.

a bus goes past every few minutes, some heading to peel, some to Port Erin, some time Foxdale, some to the business park etc.

They can’t all stop because the bloke sat there wants to go to Peel.  It’s up to you to let the relevant bus know you want to get on.

[Max Power]

17 minutes ago, trmpton said:

Take the Brown Bobby for example heading out of town.

a bus goes past every few minutes, some heading to peel, some to Port Erin, some time Foxdale, some to the business park etc.

They can’t all stop because the bloke sat there wants to go to Peel.  It’s up to you to let the relevant bus know you want to get on.

Well that's a thread killer!

[Roger Mexico]

To some extent this is how it has always been and I suppose it's basically making sure that people signal so a dozy bus driver doesn't miss them.  But I wonder if there is a slight change in policy here in that certain stops (usually the main one in a village or whatever) were always treated as compulsory halts - often because the bus needed to be held back for a minute or so to get back on timetable.  Recently I've noticed that they haven't always stopped there (say at the main stop in Ballasalla) in there was no one to get on/off.  So that may be a change in practice if not in theory.

[woolley]

You only have to stick your arm out ffs. It's not difficult and it's ALWAYS been the same. That's that sorted. Now for the climate catastrophe.

[Holte End]

It could be becasue the one they have placed in Onchan by the Isle of Man Bank is wrong handed.

So if you standing waiting for a bus your miles from the curb and the Bus Driver might not think your waiting just stand looking into the window of the cafe.

So you definitely need to wave at that stop. 

[thommo2010]

I thought it was just common sense that if you were at the bus stop you see the bus coming you step out and put your hand out. I've always done it and by coincidence the bus has always stopped 

[woolley]

7 minutes ago, thommo2010 said:

I thought it was just common sense that if you were at the bus stop you see the bus coming you step out and put your hand out. I've always done it and by coincidence the bus has always stopped 

It is common sense. It's the world that's gone mad.

[woody2]

it's hard work trying to keep a bus under control while texting and drunk and high......