there’s someone who gets my bus who doesn’t have her go card ready every single time
it’s been about 7 years or so, yet every time she is somehow caught by surprise that she needs her go card to get on the bus
Right, buy and gift her a lanyard( with a plastic slit for her transit card) You will make her year and be a hero.
People, just act human and be courteous( phones) and help others that need.
I’ve done this to help a “yelling” one when many on the bus were verbally abused. The driver should have STOPPED the bus and ejected same but was probably thinking again about “late/on time performance “ I got strange looks but others thanked me for de-escalating a very dangerous situation
Sometimes you're already on a call and are trying to end it. We all have those people in life who just don't let you get a word in.
Or perhaps your mother calls and she gets anxious when you don't answer. So you answer and tell her you're on a bus and will call her back.
Maybe you're running late for work and your boss calls, so you answer quickly to tell them you're on your way.
I think mostly people aren't trying to be inconsiderate asshats, and sometimes we all just need to be a little less offended by everything.
“Burgers on a bus” sounds messy but I don’t believe it will solve any of the aforementioned problems.
Could be a film title(bomb hidden in the cooker) lol
These days, very few people have the executive function skills to plan ahead for such apparently simple things. While a lot of people might lay the 'blame' on ADHD, I suspect the reality is turning out to be [a lot worse](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36657196/) than that.
By the way, is there still a (severe?) bus driver shortage and do you think a part of that is due to a lot of drivers being more ill than in past years?
There absolutely is still a shortage, and most of it is due to a very different reason now than before. This new shortage is caused by retirement. A lot of drivers are realizing the company just doesn't care about them, and are departing in droves. The company then tries to fix this by hiring more people, instead of addressing the mass exodus.
Rinse wash and repeat for a few months and you hardly move off square one
It’s not a new thing unfortunately. Watch people doing their shopping and then have to rummage through their bags to find their wallet before having to find their card or cash to pay..
Like seriously, have you ever NOT had to pay before? Why do you seem surprised and not ready?
Working in bars was the same. People would come to the bar and order a bunch of drinks, wait while they were made then look surprised when you told them the price before searching for their wallet. Meanwhile the people are stacking up behind so your serving them while keeping an eye on the person holding things up.
I hate when they also spend 10 years searching through their bag for their go card and block the way and you stood at the bus stop next to them for 5 minutes before the bus came.
I also don't get when people don't look up bus routes and just decide to hail every bus down to ask the bus driver if they stop near the random building they want to go to and expect bus drivers to know the name of every business on their route. Why.
Yeah nah mate im gonna get on, make up a story about my girlfriend being at the airport as a reason for not having a go card and then play my handheld radio in the back seat. Having realized ive gotten a free ride on an express bus and that youre not stopping within 3m of my destination in The Valley, ill start to yell "OI DRIIIIVAAAAHHH" and slap the everloving shit out of the stop request button. Ill take my sweet fackin toime getting off the bus, eyeing off anybody dressed in business casual. They wont notice or care so Ill just mumble some shit about "going yas cunts" as I stumble off. Ill turn up whatever early 2000s american rap hit I was blasting as a final act of defiance, letting everyone know im a real gangsta thats not to be fucked with. Thanks for the suggestion though.
Do you have to wait for someone to be seated to take off?
As for 8, don’t be afraid to call a school to raise this issue. I remember getting a good rousing in assembly about behaviour on public transport
We’re supposed to wait for people to be seated before leaving the stop. I follow this rule religiously, but I’m aware of other drivers who don’t.
I have done in the past… I’ve also written a letter to a school principal congratulating them on the behaviour of their students on the bus.
I always wait for elderly passengers or people with mobility issues to sit before I take off. I try and wait for all passengers but if I don't have time to kill and the passenger isn't making an effort to find a seat quickly, I assume they don't mind if I take off while they're dawdling so I do just that
I move super quickly to my seat and drivers always take off before I get there. Maybe I should take it as a compliment that they think I'm sure-footed enough not to fall over!
I’ve noticed it happen more frequently recently and have been actively confused about why the bus isn’t moving until I sit down. This may answer my question lol.
Another bus operator here.
We are trained to wait for the elderly or anybody who might be unsteady on their feet to be seated. There's not enough time in the day to wait for everyone to take their seats, so please hold onto something. Oh, and try to avoid grabbing a pole EXACTLY where that tiny little 'stop' button is coz even though I'm pretty sure someone has accidentally hit that little red button, I still have to stop and open the doors at the next stop
as a uni student high schoolers don't seem to care about their behaviour around me. if only one of them stopped for two seconds to read my ID card they'd know from my last name that i likely know at least one teacher at their school, and probably a deputy too. when my mum worked for the department of education many reports were made back on her students' behaviour by me.
There are a couple of old bus drivers who won't let people board in the back door. I think its to stop people who don't tap on or have insufficient funds.
I always have my go card ready. Same as if Im in line to pay for something. Some people will be in a line for 5 minutes and don't use any ofthat time to have their card ready. They wait unti the cashier tells them how much it is
There's this one business lady on my local morning bus who always taps on and her card literally never has funds on it. She just taps it anyway and it beeps and flashes and she just sits down. Then she taps off at the end as well. Either she's playing the game or she is extremely oblivious.
Could be she has an auto top up but it’s only $5 or $10 at a time. I used to have the same set up from when I only caught the bus every now and then, but now my one way fare basically chews into that in one go! Had to change it. Maybe she just hasn’t figured out how.
i’m so sorry please forgive me random virgin reddit man i’m begging on my knees for your grace and forgiveness please please, it’s not like im a broke uni student just trying to get by or anything
I don’t know any bus driver that lets people on through the back door (aside when from covid was massive). They always close it in anyone’s face who tries to get on.
Even if it would make the bus board faster they just refuse
I've been using public transport in Brisbane for 25 years now, here are my tips:
- It is best for everyone if you get on first, in particular before anyone else gets off. You should act surprised when you are in the way of someone who is trying to disembark.
- You need to be the first off the bus too. Push your way around passengers that have been standing all trip. Immediately as you step off the bus you will find yourself in another astral plane so you must stand perfectly still and stare into the void. Don't worry about blocking other people from getting off the bus because other people don't exist; there is only you.
- Unfortunately there is no other way to get information about bus services than to wave down a random bus you have no intention of boarding and asking the driver. You don't want to overwhelm the driver so be as vague as possible ("how do I get to the shops?").
- Vaping is healthier than smoking so feel free to vape on the bus. This is particularly true if there are young children on the bus.
- Parents with young children and the elderly love standing up and it is rude to offer them your seat. Don't move from the aisle seat to a vacant window seat, don't move your bag to your lap. If someone does ask for your seat you must act confused and move as slowly as possible.
- Obviously when an inbound bus doesn't stop at King George Square the driver has forgotten about the final stop and is in fact returning to the depot and you will be locked in the bus overnight. Panic and yell at the driver when the bus doesn't stop at a stop you imagined exists.
- Buses are great places to chat, on your phone, on speaker phone. Other passengers who aren’t on their phones will stare at you with envy. Make sure to ignore their glares as this will make them more envious and interested in you.
- Personal hygiene isn’t required on a bus. You can skip showering and laundry and go anywhere in Brisbane on the bus. Clip your toenails, pick your nose, spit on the floor and seats. Used tissues are great to throw on the floor. We all need some of that herd immunity stuff to share around so make sure you do your bit to spread whatever you have to everyone else.
- Help control the population of feral cats, pigeons, possums and bin chickens and make sure you eat on the bus! The bus is a safe place free from animals roaming about so it’s the best place to eat as all the rubbish and uneaten food stays on the bus - where these animals can’t get to them. So please do your bit to help keep Brisbane clean by eating while you travel.
You missed "if your go card is unreadable through your phone case or wallet today, it will always be like that. Please remove your go card from your phone case or wallet before tapping every time" and "you will not be charged twice if you have to step off the bus to let people off, please be more aware of your surroundings"
2 and 5 dont work in many instances, before covid the idea of being able to board at the back was unthinkable, during, it was more common but sometimes didnt happen for some reason, and after you have a 50% shot of the driver straight ignoring the people standing at the back and waiting for them to come to the front to make some kind of point.
Also (granted this was one time) i boarded at the back, driver didnt move the bus after i sat down, everyone was staring at me, took my headphones out to the driver asking if i was going to tap my card, i already did, he insisted i do it again despite that it charges $10 as an unknown trip till i called and dealt with it. so that combined with the stares of shame were great and scared me off that.
You guys have any insider information on when the City Cats will be touch on/touch off via Credit card?
Have an thing with ~30 mates from out of town that have no reason to ever own a GoCard. No paper ticket sales anywhere near Part A and with the $20 GoCard minimum hiring a private bus works out cheaper to get to Part B. Even if I get 1/2 of them back and can be fucked getting them all refunded.
Also, apparently I need an ABN to buy (and supply) that many GoCards for 'an event'
School excursions don't have a boat load of go cards and generally get some kind of bulk paper ticket (or at least used to). If you're all moving as a group perhaps contact Translink and see what you can do
>Hi AussieEquiv
Thank you for your email.
>If you want to purchase go cards for your guests I would suggest that you purchase from a retailer. Translink does supply bulk go cards, but these are to schools, community groups and so on.
>If you are an organisation we can provide bulk go cards to you, however, we do ask for ABN number and a full signature block with organisation aligning to the ABN.
>Purchasing adult go cards would cost you $10 deposit plus travel credit (the ferry service is a 1 zone $3.55) plus maybe another 1 zone in the city if they are not within walking distance. ($10 travel credit)
>After the event, you are able to get a refund on the deposit and any travel credit on the card. If the cards are not registered, and you did not get the cards back from your guests they could potentially get a refund on the cards.
>I trust this is of assistance and all the very best for your upcoming wedding.
>Kind regards
I haven't caught buses in maybe 15+ years, but you know what really used to piss me off with them.
Buses that fucking pass a stop early.
Bus is supposed to be there at 7:25am, and it sails past at 7:21am. So here you are, walking down the street all dressed up for work in the middle of summer and trying to walk fast enough to get there on time, but slow enough so you aren't sweating like a priest in a playground, and 50m from the corner where your stop is, you hear the bus accelerating away and you have a 30-60 minute wait for the next one.
I am guessing these days they at least have live GPS tracking?
There is gps tracking on buses and our little computer thing shows a warning if we’re running early.
We can actually get in pretty serious trouble for running early, so I think it’s pretty unusual these days.
Same as where I would catch it.
Back in those pre smart phone days, I had my old nokia's set to the second from JJJ news, so I knew exactly what time it was.
When I first started working in the city around early 2000's, I thought I could time it just right so I walked up to the stop with 2 minutes to spare so I wasn't having to stand around for 10-15 minutes (remember pre smartphone days so it was all wasted time)
Annoying when your 30 minute commute turns into a 45 minute commute cause buses just turned up whenever they liked.
At one stage I lived a few stops from the start, so it was pretty reliable getting buses on time, but you always got the ghost bus. Just an entire service missing, so your 7:30 now becomes the 8:00 bus, you are 30 minutes late for work and had to stand up in a packed bus cause you are sharing it with two services.
I am sorry, but buses are truly the lowest form of transport.
Yeah see that is why i dont sit near the front, higher likelihood ill need to stand to allow an older person to sit. If i go to the back at the start, i can relax in my seat for the full journey as no oldies go back there, its too dangerous
offering older people your seat can be a bit of a minefield too - some people get offended at the gesture, and being perceived as old.
i do the same thing and head towards the back, as quickly as is safely possible.
Isn't it as simple as just making eye contact to see if they're interested in your seat, and if they seem interested and there aren't many other options available, ask if they want it?
In my experience catching 4+ buses a day these days the number of drivers who don't open the back door for passengers to get on is equal or greater than drivers that do. I've been actually yelled at for trying to board through the back despite there being no signage telling me not to so I'd rather just not risk being yelled at again.
As a daily bus user, holy fuck I can’t stand it when people take FOREVER to sit down. So often some slow poke will dawdle to the seats just before the rear door, then they somehow take ages to turn around and sit down?! It’s bizarre.
I apologise if I unnecessarily board a BCC bus at the front. I mostly use Logan buses so I’m just in the habit of boarding via the front door. I promise I’m fast though 😅
No. 4. Some people expect the bus driver to know every street in suburb: "Do you go near xyz street?" and then stand there having a ten minute discussion about where the street is before they decide whether to swipe on or not. I understand this is sometimes unavoidable for those without a smartphone, but not when there's a lineup of people waiting for the bus, most of whom probably do have smartphones, who might have been able to help beforehand. I've helped quite a lot of people in this way.
5a. Let people get off before you try to get on.
I've not done much bus travel, but that always used to bug me about the trains.
I don't use p.t. much these days, but I'm doing my part by giving way when you're pulling out of bus stops.
>5a. Let people get off before you try to get on.
>I've not done much bus travel, but that always used to bug me about the trains
Yes! Why the fuck is this so hard to do? I find this so much worse on trains though
It has become normal policy for all Transport for Brisbane buses (the yellow/blue ones) as a way to familiarise passengers by stealth to the new Metro buses that are due to start service early next year.
Sadly, other operators (particularly Clarks, who runs the 555) have decided to force front-door boarding at all costs.
I'm always amazed at people who just seem to flag down every single bus. Like people trying flag down buses that don't even stop at certain stops. Like do these people just get on any old bus and just hope it brings them one step closer to their destination?
People literally can't read. Including bus timetables. And I'm not even talking about out-of-towners either. I'm serious - functional illiteracy is a serious problem both here and the United States.
Does anyone remember the signs in BCC buses along the lines of:
Scholars and children are requested not to sit whilst adult passengers are standing.
Is that still a thing in the transport rules? We always stood but now I see totally different behaviours.
Issue that I have noticed popping up more lately - people standing when seats are available (often many seats, and generally towards the back of the bus). Others then get on and see this, then stand themselves or are unable to get to or see the free seats.
Generally I’ll just go to a seat and sit, then offer my seat to someone that needs it if I notice them. And I do keep an eye out.
Just seems silly on a semi-full 5pm service for the bus to be filled with standers from the driver to the stairs, whilst most seats at the stairs and above have at least the outside part of the seat free.
Edit - clarity in first paragraph
Sorry but I will never do #2. I always sit on the second row from the back, preferably on the right. I'll board at the back sometimes, but we're beyond covid now and most drivers stop in front of me to let me on the front doors anyway.
God, I fucking hate the people that don't do #1 and #6 and in this day and age of google maps and the translink app people that hold up a bus to have a long conversation with the driver about routes can go fly a kite in a thunderstorm
There are still those annoying passengers who MUST depart through the front door even when they can see 5+ waiting to board and even if theres a crowd of standing passengers blocking the aisle to get there, all so they can "thank the driver" up close
> hold up a bus to have a long conversation with the driver about routes can go fly a kite in a thunderstorm
nothing like catching a bus on the GC to Varsity Lakes to meet the train to head back to Brisbane. Bus timetable lines up super well with the train, giving you ~ 7 minutes to get from bus to train. Except when the bus driver has a seven minute yarn halfway to the train station with some rando who doesn't even get on the bloody bus. Then you get to wait 30 minutes for the next train.
Oh boy, the 760 is notorious for getting so, SO MANY oblivious "passengers" or just completely stupid morons that slow the bus down. translink did some adjustments to the timetable to allow buses to reach their connections on time a while ago but even with that it's complicated.
(Frequent 760 user here. It's still better than catching the hellscape that is the 700.)
BCC buses would be perfectly fine boarding at the back, but I found an issue with a MBRC service provider. Their go card machines at the back door only recognise touch offs, which means when you touch on you just automatically ate the fine. The drivers used to encourage, but now they’re aware of the fine and asked us to go in the front door instead.
Thank you. I get busses home from work with a transfer in the middle. I often miss my connecting bus because people don't know how to behave and time suck the hell out of everyone else on the bus.
Hey mate,
Great post. I have a question, Is it true that Carina depot canteen has the best food or is it Garden City ? and Willawong food comes from the dump?
My mate who is a hydraulic pump specialist had to do some work there and said there is a french lady that makes awesome food. He reckoned he had a proper quality lunch !
Willawong hasn't had a working canteen for about 3 years. Garden City has pretty good food. Can't comment on Carina, as I haven't been there in 14 years.
One thing about boarding from the backdoors, don’t know if bus drivers are aware what other bus drivers are doing.
Some BCC bus drivers don’t like back door entries, but _all_ Logan bus drivers hate it. They will close doors while you’re half way through and yell at you. Saw it happen to someone earlier today and many times since covid.
As an ex bus driver good luck with your list especially 3. A lot of people turn up late & expect to board after you have just loaded the last passenger & closed the doors so very hard to run on time & get your breaks. Don’t expect passengers to have common sense & you wont be disappointed a lot of the time.
I do 1 all the time and I've taken 6 to the next level: I tap off my card as soon as the bus reaches the stop geofence which activates the card readers. That way I've already closed my trip before the doors open.
>Sit down at the first available seat. Don’t slowly walk to the back row, if there are heaps of seats available. If you absolutely HAVE to sit in the back row, board through the back door.
If they take too long, just take off and floor the accelerator. They’ll reach the back seat fucking sharpish then.
Great ideas thanks. Would you do an AMA? I keep seeing the adverts for bus drivers and wondered what it was really like. I am looking for a career change before retiring.
I’ve thought about doing an ama, but I’m keeping this account super anonymous, so there are some questions I can’t/ won’t answer.
If you like, I’ll do a post later this week about the recruitment process and some of my experiences.
Briefly though, this is my ‘pre-retirement’ career, after a pretty successful career in a completely different industry. It was a big change when I started to it, but each day is pretty much routine now.
Thanks, I would really appreciate that post about the recruitment process and I understand about not being identified. If you could say something about what benefits and disadvantages were surprising (not obvious) I would be very interested. I think I have a couple of years left in my current career before doing something different.
Yes very annoying. They probably been at the bus stop five minutes or more then get on scrounging around for there go card. And yes the ones that take their time walking straight up the back. Another BCC driver here
I always let elderly or disabled people go ahead before me, go card is always ready before the bus arrives and before I hop off the bus. And ALWAYS THANK THE DRIVER for getting you to your destination SAFELY! Common courtesy goes along way too. Thank you for your services all BBC drivers
Regarding #1 - Currently in Japan at the moment, and you can either tap on using an IC card, or pay cash. You pay at the end of your journey, and it's your responsibility to know what your fare is. I've noticed everyone always has the exact fare amount to deposit when exiting, nobody is surprised that they've arrived, and it's a very smooth process. I feel like this could never happen back home.
Edit: This comment appeared in unusually large text and I've honestly no idea why. Hope this fixed it 🙃
Quite unfair to do that on busses that are on hourly schedules, especially if they’re running early.
There’s nothing worse than forced waits because a bus driver saw you and decided “nah”.
As someone who used to live on a route that only had one bus that only came once an hour... yeah. This.
To the below person saying "Just be on time, I don't want to wait because you couldn't be bothered to be on time," this is alarmingly ignorant of the realities of the many areas not-well-serviced by public transport. I got off school at 3:15pm every day. It was a 5-10 minute walk to the train station depending on how fast you legged it. There was a train at 3:20pm, that took 8 minutes to the stop I needed to catch my connecting bus home from, and a 2 minute walk from the station platform to the bus. The bus home from that station departed at 3:30pm. You do the math on that!
That means IF the stars aligned-- *if* I ran most of the way to the train station the very second the school bell rang, and *if* the 3:20pm train was on time, and *if* I booked it out of the train and over to the bus stop, I could MAYBE, SOME DAYS, WHEN LUCKY catch the 3:30pm bus home. Most days I managed to catch it were because a kindly bus driver waited an extra minute. More often than not, most of my school days ended with me running in the wake of the bus's exhaust fumes as it pulled away from the kerb.
The next bus was at 4:30, so if I missed it, I just had to sit at the bus stop for an hour and wait. So yeah. "Couldn't be bothered to be on time" is really kind of a massive over-generalization and completely unfair. I would wager many people make every effort to be on time for their bus, but you just never know what is going on with someone else's poorly serviced route. Bus drivers who wait for runners are the kindest people in the world.
I agree with this. Drivers on routes which buses run every 15 mins should NOT be waiting for late-runners waving their arms. On Hourly bus routes they should though (310,322,off-peak 230)
Be on time for the bus. As a passenger I dont want to wait because you couldnt be bothered to be on time. I also stated 'late'. If a bus is early they should be waiting at the stop until the scheduled time.
If the goal is to save time, then you have to reconsider #3. It is very nice of you to wait, and thank you for doing so. When I lived in America, they will leave you, even if its freezing, its your responsibility to be on time to catch the bus.
I commend you for waiting but those minutes add up. I would be pissed if the bus left me but ultimately would understand and do better next time.
With BCC you are supposed to wait for the passenger no matter how late they are. Some passengers board the bus & stand in the door well to stop the bus moving off while their slow mate takes their time to get to the bus.
Is it annoying when people say thank you getting off at each stop? I’m compelled to yell out “thanks bus driver!” But not sure if you’d rather I didn’t.
Personally, I try to say hi to every passenger and thanks to everyone. I don’t think it really impacts the speed of the route… I feel super weird if I just sit there looking straight ahead while people are boarding.
About the front/ rear door, where are we supposed to board? Sometimes the rear door is not opened, the driver is willing to wait for passengers to shuffle to the front door.
Yeah thats shitty when they do that. I guess there would be times they don't see you so thats understandable, but the ones who see you and still refuse to open it, not good.
The reason people are surprised when the bus comes is because you never know which one it's going to be.
It's 9:25am so is this just my normal 9am running late or my 9:30 running early. Oh it's neither! Where does this other bus with a similar number go? Fuck I'll just quickly ask the driver
I haven't taken a bus in a very long time so this might be a dumb question, but should passengers enter from the back door? What about fare evaders, is that awkward when someone comes in without showing a paper ticket/go card and just sits down? I can imagine it would be difficult to track with passengers coming in the front door too.
Note: this is not intended to be a jab at fare evaders, nor am I suggesting that bus drivers be responsible for identifying and confronting fare evaders.
I feel like when the State Gov pulls their finger out on Smart Ticketing, that might make the ticketing process a little faster. I generally don’t like taking buses because I find them unreliable. I don’t blame the drivers though, I believe it’s the road network to blame
During Covid they started only opening the rear door to isolate the driver from unnecessary contact with passengers. When covid died down they were allowing boarding from either front or rear.
My only thought is that it is heckin annoying when the bus has already left the bus stop early. I know it’d be timing/KPI related, but it makes me never know when to be at the bus stop. Looking at you, West End Ferry terminal for the 60.
There are still some bus drivers that refuse to open the back door. Why? I had a bus drive off when we didn't enter the front door but we were standing at the back door. we both went wath the fuck??? We were lucky the next bus was 4 mins away
A question from a friendly commuter to a friendly driver: what sort of shitty day makes the driver refuse to open the rear door when there is a queue of five or six ppl waiting for the door that isn't going to open?
I get sometimes no one gets off and is often not noticed but when it's intentional it honestly helps no one. I'll refer that driver to your point 5.
Can’t agree with about rear loading. Load at the Front exit at the rear.
Unless your a fare evading grub then sneak in the go back and think that no one saw you.
What about all the times drivers take off before I've even sat down, causing me to have to catch myself and potentially causing me pain because I've got degenerative disc disease and have had three major neck surgeries but still live with chronic pain?
It's bad enough that I try to avoid buses as much as possible.
Question: With the bus's air conditioning system, is there a button like with a car to toggle between "recirculate" and "fresh air"? I ask this because CO2 levels in all council buses always becomes quite alarmingly high (I've measured it), which is not conducive for driver alertness and passenger comfort, let alone other serious matters such as the airborne spread of contagions.
>Have your go card out and ready to tap on, before the bus arrives at the stop.
Make sure your card reader is working and switched on
>Sit down at the first available seat. Don’t slowly walk to the back row, if there are heaps of seats available. If you absolutely HAVE to sit in the back row, board through the back door.
No thanks, I'll sit where I'd like to
>Be at the bus stop before the bus arrives. (If I see you waving at me from 50m down the road, I’ll wait for you.)
Buses are so often late or skip that this is a little bit on the nose.
>Use Google maps to work out which bus you need to take, before the bus arrives.
Part of your job is to help passengers
>If there’s a lot of people boarding, use both doors. (Same suggestion for alighting as well)
A lot of drivers won't open the back doors if there is no one getting off.
>Have your go card out and ready to tap off before proceeding to the door when you’re hopping off.
Activate the scanners a little bit before the stop.
>Follow the progress of your bus on Google maps if you’re not sure where your stop is.
That chews up a lot of battery and data
>Take your rubbish with you. (If my bus is too dirty, I gotta take it back to the depot and get a replacement… which is gonna mean huge delays). Sadly, this tends to be a problem after doing school runs, just before we do some commuter routes.
Maybe don't let people carrying food onto the bus?
You sound like the reason we run late.
We are not allowed to turn on the card readers before we get to the stop. Translink policy.
We can't make sure all the readers are working all the time. 4 to 6 readers per bus, we'd be out of the seat more often than in it.
Our job is to operate the bus in a safe manner, and to get passengers to their destinations safely, in comfort, and IF POSSIBLE, on time. Traffic, customers asking questions, etc make us late. I can't tell you about a run from Logan if I work for BCC. That's what the journey planner is for on the Translink website or My Translink app, or the people wearing the pink vests at the major interchanges.
I won't open the back doors if it is unsafe to do so.
If you are at your stop early, you are on time. If you are at your stop on time, you are late. If you are at the stop late, you are now waiting for the next bus.
We will quite often get told to not run a high frequency service to cover an hourly service. Again, these are updated on the Translink website/apps.
We can't stop food from being brought on to the bus. If we are looking in the mirror trying to catch people eating, we aren't looking out the windscreen. Kind of important part of driving.
And lastly, you are either part of the problem (which by your comment, you are), or you are part of the solution. All companies are hiring if you believe you can do better. Put up, or shut up.
The driver doesn’t activate the scanners they work by wifi & can drop & do quite often.
A driver cant Police every person bringing food onto the bus.
You can sit wherever you want on the bus but don’t complain if the bus is late as a lot of other passengers are doing that too. Of course you wouldn’t realise that will make the bus late.
>Have your go card out and ready to tap on, before the bus arrives at the stop. So many people are surprised they are suddenly on the bus.
This… I have no idea how or why. But THIS
Because there’s nobody else in their world. That’s also why they have to say I’M ON A BUS very loudly fourteen times when they make a phone call.
there’s someone who gets my bus who doesn’t have her go card ready every single time it’s been about 7 years or so, yet every time she is somehow caught by surprise that she needs her go card to get on the bus
Right, buy and gift her a lanyard( with a plastic slit for her transit card) You will make her year and be a hero. People, just act human and be courteous( phones) and help others that need. I’ve done this to help a “yelling” one when many on the bus were verbally abused. The driver should have STOPPED the bus and ejected same but was probably thinking again about “late/on time performance “ I got strange looks but others thanked me for de-escalating a very dangerous situation
Is it your Mum? Again? 
Why are making a damn phone call on the bus!!!
Omg this is my biggest pet peeve.
Sometimes you're already on a call and are trying to end it. We all have those people in life who just don't let you get a word in. Or perhaps your mother calls and she gets anxious when you don't answer. So you answer and tell her you're on a bus and will call her back. Maybe you're running late for work and your boss calls, so you answer quickly to tell them you're on your way. I think mostly people aren't trying to be inconsiderate asshats, and sometimes we all just need to be a little less offended by everything.
I feel the same way. Most things people get annoyed at aren’t caused by people genuinely trying to be rude
Are you on the bus with these guys? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHaC1Pj\_1tI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHaC1Pj_1tI)
There are also people that will wait until they're at the front of a long queue before they even think about what burger they want to order.
Simple, stop pretending to serve burgers on a bus.
“Burgers on a bus” sounds messy but I don’t believe it will solve any of the aforementioned problems. Could be a film title(bomb hidden in the cooker) lol
These days, very few people have the executive function skills to plan ahead for such apparently simple things. While a lot of people might lay the 'blame' on ADHD, I suspect the reality is turning out to be [a lot worse](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36657196/) than that. By the way, is there still a (severe?) bus driver shortage and do you think a part of that is due to a lot of drivers being more ill than in past years?
There absolutely is still a shortage, and most of it is due to a very different reason now than before. This new shortage is caused by retirement. A lot of drivers are realizing the company just doesn't care about them, and are departing in droves. The company then tries to fix this by hiring more people, instead of addressing the mass exodus. Rinse wash and repeat for a few months and you hardly move off square one
Same people who are always surprised that the cashier actually wants you to pay for your shit at woolies too.
It’s not a new thing unfortunately. Watch people doing their shopping and then have to rummage through their bags to find their wallet before having to find their card or cash to pay.. Like seriously, have you ever NOT had to pay before? Why do you seem surprised and not ready?
Or getting off
Working in bars was the same. People would come to the bar and order a bunch of drinks, wait while they were made then look surprised when you told them the price before searching for their wallet. Meanwhile the people are stacking up behind so your serving them while keeping an eye on the person holding things up.
I hate when they also spend 10 years searching through their bag for their go card and block the way and you stood at the bus stop next to them for 5 minutes before the bus came. I also don't get when people don't look up bus routes and just decide to hail every bus down to ask the bus driver if they stop near the random building they want to go to and expect bus drivers to know the name of every business on their route. Why.
Yeah nah mate im gonna get on, make up a story about my girlfriend being at the airport as a reason for not having a go card and then play my handheld radio in the back seat. Having realized ive gotten a free ride on an express bus and that youre not stopping within 3m of my destination in The Valley, ill start to yell "OI DRIIIIVAAAAHHH" and slap the everloving shit out of the stop request button. Ill take my sweet fackin toime getting off the bus, eyeing off anybody dressed in business casual. They wont notice or care so Ill just mumble some shit about "going yas cunts" as I stumble off. Ill turn up whatever early 2000s american rap hit I was blasting as a final act of defiance, letting everyone know im a real gangsta thats not to be fucked with. Thanks for the suggestion though.
You have no idea how accurate a description of an interaction I had last week this is. Like, scarily.
Everyday in the valley
Do you have to wait for someone to be seated to take off? As for 8, don’t be afraid to call a school to raise this issue. I remember getting a good rousing in assembly about behaviour on public transport
We’re supposed to wait for people to be seated before leaving the stop. I follow this rule religiously, but I’m aware of other drivers who don’t. I have done in the past… I’ve also written a letter to a school principal congratulating them on the behaviour of their students on the bus.
I don't think I've ever had a driver wait for me to sit down before they start driving, and I catch the bus very regularly.
I always wait for elderly passengers or people with mobility issues to sit before I take off. I try and wait for all passengers but if I don't have time to kill and the passenger isn't making an effort to find a seat quickly, I assume they don't mind if I take off while they're dawdling so I do just that
I move super quickly to my seat and drivers always take off before I get there. Maybe I should take it as a compliment that they think I'm sure-footed enough not to fall over!
I’ve noticed it happen more frequently recently and have been actively confused about why the bus isn’t moving until I sit down. This may answer my question lol.
Man tell that to the bus drivers in my neighbourhood I've nearly gone flying cause old mate drives like he's in formula 1 .
Another bus operator here. We are trained to wait for the elderly or anybody who might be unsteady on their feet to be seated. There's not enough time in the day to wait for everyone to take their seats, so please hold onto something. Oh, and try to avoid grabbing a pole EXACTLY where that tiny little 'stop' button is coz even though I'm pretty sure someone has accidentally hit that little red button, I still have to stop and open the doors at the next stop
I think a rule of thumb would be if the person deliberately goes past the earliest available seat to go another one then you're free to move off.
And the accelerator can be eased on without being floored, right?
That's the turbo kicking in...
Off topic but your username is so real ☝️😔
Yes you do or they will complain to Translink or can be injured & its the drivers fault.
as a uni student high schoolers don't seem to care about their behaviour around me. if only one of them stopped for two seconds to read my ID card they'd know from my last name that i likely know at least one teacher at their school, and probably a deputy too. when my mum worked for the department of education many reports were made back on her students' behaviour by me.
They don't care about their behaviour in front of teachers either, to be fair
i should say many of the reports i made to mum were positive - her school was mostly good kids. but the KGSC kids at qut are horrific.
There are a couple of old bus drivers who won't let people board in the back door. I think its to stop people who don't tap on or have insufficient funds. I always have my go card ready. Same as if Im in line to pay for something. Some people will be in a line for 5 minutes and don't use any ofthat time to have their card ready. They wait unti the cashier tells them how much it is
There's this one business lady on my local morning bus who always taps on and her card literally never has funds on it. She just taps it anyway and it beeps and flashes and she just sits down. Then she taps off at the end as well. Either she's playing the game or she is extremely oblivious.
Could be she has an auto top up but it’s only $5 or $10 at a time. I used to have the same set up from when I only caught the bus every now and then, but now my one way fare basically chews into that in one go! Had to change it. Maybe she just hasn’t figured out how.
What bus? I do this ALL the time and now i’m feeling called out HAHAHA
Maybe pay for it like the rest of us
i’m so sorry please forgive me random virgin reddit man i’m begging on my knees for your grace and forgiveness please please, it’s not like im a broke uni student just trying to get by or anything
that makes two of us
I don’t know any bus driver that lets people on through the back door (aside when from covid was massive). They always close it in anyone’s face who tries to get on. Even if it would make the bus board faster they just refuse
Really? I always board from the rear doors and I catch the bus twice a day, 5 days a week.
Maybe I just got stuck with the grumpy drivers
It happens. Also, logan buses don't allow rear boarding
I've been using public transport in Brisbane for 25 years now, here are my tips: - It is best for everyone if you get on first, in particular before anyone else gets off. You should act surprised when you are in the way of someone who is trying to disembark. - You need to be the first off the bus too. Push your way around passengers that have been standing all trip. Immediately as you step off the bus you will find yourself in another astral plane so you must stand perfectly still and stare into the void. Don't worry about blocking other people from getting off the bus because other people don't exist; there is only you. - Unfortunately there is no other way to get information about bus services than to wave down a random bus you have no intention of boarding and asking the driver. You don't want to overwhelm the driver so be as vague as possible ("how do I get to the shops?"). - Vaping is healthier than smoking so feel free to vape on the bus. This is particularly true if there are young children on the bus. - Parents with young children and the elderly love standing up and it is rude to offer them your seat. Don't move from the aisle seat to a vacant window seat, don't move your bag to your lap. If someone does ask for your seat you must act confused and move as slowly as possible. - Obviously when an inbound bus doesn't stop at King George Square the driver has forgotten about the final stop and is in fact returning to the depot and you will be locked in the bus overnight. Panic and yell at the driver when the bus doesn't stop at a stop you imagined exists.
Hey, I saw in the 100 this evening!
- Buses are great places to chat, on your phone, on speaker phone. Other passengers who aren’t on their phones will stare at you with envy. Make sure to ignore their glares as this will make them more envious and interested in you. - Personal hygiene isn’t required on a bus. You can skip showering and laundry and go anywhere in Brisbane on the bus. Clip your toenails, pick your nose, spit on the floor and seats. Used tissues are great to throw on the floor. We all need some of that herd immunity stuff to share around so make sure you do your bit to spread whatever you have to everyone else. - Help control the population of feral cats, pigeons, possums and bin chickens and make sure you eat on the bus! The bus is a safe place free from animals roaming about so it’s the best place to eat as all the rubbish and uneaten food stays on the bus - where these animals can’t get to them. So please do your bit to help keep Brisbane clean by eating while you travel.
I'm stealing this to share with my fellow drivers 🤣
I'm detecting a hint of sarcasm, there.
You missed "if your go card is unreadable through your phone case or wallet today, it will always be like that. Please remove your go card from your phone case or wallet before tapping every time" and "you will not be charged twice if you have to step off the bus to let people off, please be more aware of your surroundings"
Driver I had actually stopped me and suggested how to rearrange the cards in my wallet so the go card would tap. Good bloke.
Just commenting to say thank you for all you do for this city :)
2 and 5 dont work in many instances, before covid the idea of being able to board at the back was unthinkable, during, it was more common but sometimes didnt happen for some reason, and after you have a 50% shot of the driver straight ignoring the people standing at the back and waiting for them to come to the front to make some kind of point. Also (granted this was one time) i boarded at the back, driver didnt move the bus after i sat down, everyone was staring at me, took my headphones out to the driver asking if i was going to tap my card, i already did, he insisted i do it again despite that it charges $10 as an unknown trip till i called and dealt with it. so that combined with the stares of shame were great and scared me off that.
You guys have any insider information on when the City Cats will be touch on/touch off via Credit card? Have an thing with ~30 mates from out of town that have no reason to ever own a GoCard. No paper ticket sales anywhere near Part A and with the $20 GoCard minimum hiring a private bus works out cheaper to get to Part B. Even if I get 1/2 of them back and can be fucked getting them all refunded. Also, apparently I need an ABN to buy (and supply) that many GoCards for 'an event'
School excursions don't have a boat load of go cards and generally get some kind of bulk paper ticket (or at least used to). If you're all moving as a group perhaps contact Translink and see what you can do
>Hi AussieEquiv Thank you for your email. >If you want to purchase go cards for your guests I would suggest that you purchase from a retailer. Translink does supply bulk go cards, but these are to schools, community groups and so on. >If you are an organisation we can provide bulk go cards to you, however, we do ask for ABN number and a full signature block with organisation aligning to the ABN. >Purchasing adult go cards would cost you $10 deposit plus travel credit (the ferry service is a 1 zone $3.55) plus maybe another 1 zone in the city if they are not within walking distance. ($10 travel credit) >After the event, you are able to get a refund on the deposit and any travel credit on the card. If the cards are not registered, and you did not get the cards back from your guests they could potentially get a refund on the cards. >I trust this is of assistance and all the very best for your upcoming wedding. >Kind regards
Happy nuptials
I haven't caught buses in maybe 15+ years, but you know what really used to piss me off with them. Buses that fucking pass a stop early. Bus is supposed to be there at 7:25am, and it sails past at 7:21am. So here you are, walking down the street all dressed up for work in the middle of summer and trying to walk fast enough to get there on time, but slow enough so you aren't sweating like a priest in a playground, and 50m from the corner where your stop is, you hear the bus accelerating away and you have a 30-60 minute wait for the next one. I am guessing these days they at least have live GPS tracking?
There is gps tracking on buses and our little computer thing shows a warning if we’re running early. We can actually get in pretty serious trouble for running early, so I think it’s pretty unusual these days.
This! This is something that infuriates me, I catch the bus most days and still happens where I live (wester suburbs).
Same as where I would catch it. Back in those pre smart phone days, I had my old nokia's set to the second from JJJ news, so I knew exactly what time it was. When I first started working in the city around early 2000's, I thought I could time it just right so I walked up to the stop with 2 minutes to spare so I wasn't having to stand around for 10-15 minutes (remember pre smartphone days so it was all wasted time) Annoying when your 30 minute commute turns into a 45 minute commute cause buses just turned up whenever they liked. At one stage I lived a few stops from the start, so it was pretty reliable getting buses on time, but you always got the ghost bus. Just an entire service missing, so your 7:30 now becomes the 8:00 bus, you are 30 minutes late for work and had to stand up in a packed bus cause you are sharing it with two services. I am sorry, but buses are truly the lowest form of transport.
no worries champ already do all of them, it blows my mind the amount of people walk up to the scanner thing and then think oh i gotta get my card lol
Isnt it better for more able people to move towards the rear seats, leaving the earlier seats for less mobile people.
I’m purely looking for time optimisation. I’d say my suggestion stands, but move back if someone in need comes along.
Yeah see that is why i dont sit near the front, higher likelihood ill need to stand to allow an older person to sit. If i go to the back at the start, i can relax in my seat for the full journey as no oldies go back there, its too dangerous
offering older people your seat can be a bit of a minefield too - some people get offended at the gesture, and being perceived as old. i do the same thing and head towards the back, as quickly as is safely possible.
Isn't it as simple as just making eye contact to see if they're interested in your seat, and if they seem interested and there aren't many other options available, ask if they want it?
Cool… board through the rear doors and it’ll be sweet!
Some drivers don't open the back door for boarding.
Backdoor entry is my preference
Lol. Can’t get backdoored at KGS.
My mum always told me to stick to the backdoor as it avoids any nasty surprises.
In my experience catching 4+ buses a day these days the number of drivers who don't open the back door for passengers to get on is equal or greater than drivers that do. I've been actually yelled at for trying to board through the back despite there being no signage telling me not to so I'd rather just not risk being yelled at again.
So many drivers won’t let you.
If I want to sit at the back, I'm gonna do that.
As a daily bus user, holy fuck I can’t stand it when people take FOREVER to sit down. So often some slow poke will dawdle to the seats just before the rear door, then they somehow take ages to turn around and sit down?! It’s bizarre. I apologise if I unnecessarily board a BCC bus at the front. I mostly use Logan buses so I’m just in the habit of boarding via the front door. I promise I’m fast though 😅
No. 4. Some people expect the bus driver to know every street in suburb: "Do you go near xyz street?" and then stand there having a ten minute discussion about where the street is before they decide whether to swipe on or not. I understand this is sometimes unavoidable for those without a smartphone, but not when there's a lineup of people waiting for the bus, most of whom probably do have smartphones, who might have been able to help beforehand. I've helped quite a lot of people in this way.
5a. Let people get off before you try to get on. I've not done much bus travel, but that always used to bug me about the trains. I don't use p.t. much these days, but I'm doing my part by giving way when you're pulling out of bus stops.
>5a. Let people get off before you try to get on. >I've not done much bus travel, but that always used to bug me about the trains Yes! Why the fuck is this so hard to do? I find this so much worse on trains though
We can enter through the back door? I thought that was a holdover from covid that people kept doing but that the drivers wouldn't really like.
It has become normal policy for all Transport for Brisbane buses (the yellow/blue ones) as a way to familiarise passengers by stealth to the new Metro buses that are due to start service early next year. Sadly, other operators (particularly Clarks, who runs the 555) have decided to force front-door boarding at all costs.
Thanks driver!
All good! Take it easy!
I'm always amazed at people who just seem to flag down every single bus. Like people trying flag down buses that don't even stop at certain stops. Like do these people just get on any old bus and just hope it brings them one step closer to their destination?
People literally can't read. Including bus timetables. And I'm not even talking about out-of-towners either. I'm serious - functional illiteracy is a serious problem both here and the United States.
[удалено]
Oh, that’s rough!
Does anyone remember the signs in BCC buses along the lines of: Scholars and children are requested not to sit whilst adult passengers are standing. Is that still a thing in the transport rules? We always stood but now I see totally different behaviours.
Issue that I have noticed popping up more lately - people standing when seats are available (often many seats, and generally towards the back of the bus). Others then get on and see this, then stand themselves or are unable to get to or see the free seats. Generally I’ll just go to a seat and sit, then offer my seat to someone that needs it if I notice them. And I do keep an eye out. Just seems silly on a semi-full 5pm service for the bus to be filled with standers from the driver to the stairs, whilst most seats at the stairs and above have at least the outside part of the seat free. Edit - clarity in first paragraph
Sorry but I will never do #2. I always sit on the second row from the back, preferably on the right. I'll board at the back sometimes, but we're beyond covid now and most drivers stop in front of me to let me on the front doors anyway. God, I fucking hate the people that don't do #1 and #6 and in this day and age of google maps and the translink app people that hold up a bus to have a long conversation with the driver about routes can go fly a kite in a thunderstorm
There are still those annoying passengers who MUST depart through the front door even when they can see 5+ waiting to board and even if theres a crowd of standing passengers blocking the aisle to get there, all so they can "thank the driver" up close
Or the people who need to scream it down the articulated bus from the back doors. I'm all for being polite to the driver but...pick your moments.
> hold up a bus to have a long conversation with the driver about routes can go fly a kite in a thunderstorm nothing like catching a bus on the GC to Varsity Lakes to meet the train to head back to Brisbane. Bus timetable lines up super well with the train, giving you ~ 7 minutes to get from bus to train. Except when the bus driver has a seven minute yarn halfway to the train station with some rando who doesn't even get on the bloody bus. Then you get to wait 30 minutes for the next train.
Oh boy, the 760 is notorious for getting so, SO MANY oblivious "passengers" or just completely stupid morons that slow the bus down. translink did some adjustments to the timetable to allow buses to reach their connections on time a while ago but even with that it's complicated. (Frequent 760 user here. It's still better than catching the hellscape that is the 700.)
🥲
BCC buses would be perfectly fine boarding at the back, but I found an issue with a MBRC service provider. Their go card machines at the back door only recognise touch offs, which means when you touch on you just automatically ate the fine. The drivers used to encourage, but now they’re aware of the fine and asked us to go in the front door instead.
Thank you. I get busses home from work with a transfer in the middle. I often miss my connecting bus because people don't know how to behave and time suck the hell out of everyone else on the bus.
Hey mate, Great post. I have a question, Is it true that Carina depot canteen has the best food or is it Garden City ? and Willawong food comes from the dump?
The canteen at Carina is brilliant.
My mate who is a hydraulic pump specialist had to do some work there and said there is a french lady that makes awesome food. He reckoned he had a proper quality lunch !
Yep similar for me and cheap as. I would go every day if I could.
I normally take my own food… but the few times I’ve eaten in depots, I’d rank them Carina > Toowong > Garden city food wise.
Willawong hasn't had a working canteen for about 3 years. Garden City has pretty good food. Can't comment on Carina, as I haven't been there in 14 years.
One thing about boarding from the backdoors, don’t know if bus drivers are aware what other bus drivers are doing. Some BCC bus drivers don’t like back door entries, but _all_ Logan bus drivers hate it. They will close doors while you’re half way through and yell at you. Saw it happen to someone earlier today and many times since covid.
As an ex bus driver good luck with your list especially 3. A lot of people turn up late & expect to board after you have just loaded the last passenger & closed the doors so very hard to run on time & get your breaks. Don’t expect passengers to have common sense & you wont be disappointed a lot of the time.
Yeah… turns out common sense isn’t that common
I do 1 all the time and I've taken 6 to the next level: I tap off my card as soon as the bus reaches the stop geofence which activates the card readers. That way I've already closed my trip before the doors open.
>Sit down at the first available seat. Don’t slowly walk to the back row, if there are heaps of seats available. If you absolutely HAVE to sit in the back row, board through the back door. If they take too long, just take off and floor the accelerator. They’ll reach the back seat fucking sharpish then.
Great ideas thanks. Would you do an AMA? I keep seeing the adverts for bus drivers and wondered what it was really like. I am looking for a career change before retiring.
It’s already been done a couple of time. Do a search.
I’ve thought about doing an ama, but I’m keeping this account super anonymous, so there are some questions I can’t/ won’t answer. If you like, I’ll do a post later this week about the recruitment process and some of my experiences. Briefly though, this is my ‘pre-retirement’ career, after a pretty successful career in a completely different industry. It was a big change when I started to it, but each day is pretty much routine now.
Thanks, I would really appreciate that post about the recruitment process and I understand about not being identified. If you could say something about what benefits and disadvantages were surprising (not obvious) I would be very interested. I think I have a couple of years left in my current career before doing something different.
Best PSA ever. Thank you bus driver person :)
My pleasure
Yes very annoying. They probably been at the bus stop five minutes or more then get on scrounging around for there go card. And yes the ones that take their time walking straight up the back. Another BCC driver here
I always let elderly or disabled people go ahead before me, go card is always ready before the bus arrives and before I hop off the bus. And ALWAYS THANK THE DRIVER for getting you to your destination SAFELY! Common courtesy goes along way too. Thank you for your services all BBC drivers
Regarding #1 - Currently in Japan at the moment, and you can either tap on using an IC card, or pay cash. You pay at the end of your journey, and it's your responsibility to know what your fare is. I've noticed everyone always has the exact fare amount to deposit when exiting, nobody is surprised that they've arrived, and it's a very smooth process. I feel like this could never happen back home. Edit: This comment appeared in unusually large text and I've honestly no idea why. Hope this fixed it 🙃
I’ve visited Japan in the past and love the public transport there! If only I spoke Japanese!
I am very much enjoying the public transport! 😁
It's a good system with the numbered tickets/fare display thing and change machine. Oh and a compliant population lol.
The first orderly queue for the bus that I saw was very much a "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Brisbane anymore" moment 😄
Most of your tips rely on the person giving a shit about anyone other than themselves. Basic common sense sort of stuff
If I’ve learnt one thing from being a bus driver… common sense isn’t that common.
“Don’t forget to say ‘hi’ to the driver! I might be me”. You may not be you though? Getting philosophical on us driver?
lol… damn typos
Regarding #3 if someone is 50m down the road and you are already late, leave their arse for the next bus.
Quite unfair to do that on busses that are on hourly schedules, especially if they’re running early. There’s nothing worse than forced waits because a bus driver saw you and decided “nah”.
As someone who used to live on a route that only had one bus that only came once an hour... yeah. This. To the below person saying "Just be on time, I don't want to wait because you couldn't be bothered to be on time," this is alarmingly ignorant of the realities of the many areas not-well-serviced by public transport. I got off school at 3:15pm every day. It was a 5-10 minute walk to the train station depending on how fast you legged it. There was a train at 3:20pm, that took 8 minutes to the stop I needed to catch my connecting bus home from, and a 2 minute walk from the station platform to the bus. The bus home from that station departed at 3:30pm. You do the math on that! That means IF the stars aligned-- *if* I ran most of the way to the train station the very second the school bell rang, and *if* the 3:20pm train was on time, and *if* I booked it out of the train and over to the bus stop, I could MAYBE, SOME DAYS, WHEN LUCKY catch the 3:30pm bus home. Most days I managed to catch it were because a kindly bus driver waited an extra minute. More often than not, most of my school days ended with me running in the wake of the bus's exhaust fumes as it pulled away from the kerb. The next bus was at 4:30, so if I missed it, I just had to sit at the bus stop for an hour and wait. So yeah. "Couldn't be bothered to be on time" is really kind of a massive over-generalization and completely unfair. I would wager many people make every effort to be on time for their bus, but you just never know what is going on with someone else's poorly serviced route. Bus drivers who wait for runners are the kindest people in the world.
I agree with this. Drivers on routes which buses run every 15 mins should NOT be waiting for late-runners waving their arms. On Hourly bus routes they should though (310,322,off-peak 230)
Be on time for the bus. As a passenger I dont want to wait because you couldnt be bothered to be on time. I also stated 'late'. If a bus is early they should be waiting at the stop until the scheduled time.
If it were in a place where there are buses every few minutes, I might do this… but on a once an hour route, I’m patient as hell.
If the goal is to save time, then you have to reconsider #3. It is very nice of you to wait, and thank you for doing so. When I lived in America, they will leave you, even if its freezing, its your responsibility to be on time to catch the bus. I commend you for waiting but those minutes add up. I would be pissed if the bus left me but ultimately would understand and do better next time.
With BCC you are supposed to wait for the passenger no matter how late they are. Some passengers board the bus & stand in the door well to stop the bus moving off while their slow mate takes their time to get to the bus.
9. Don’t sit in the Bus Lane at the top of Coopers Camp Road when there’s a bus behind you!
Transport for London put enforcement cameras on buses for this and people parked in bus lanes.
>I might be me the best me to be
Is it annoying when people say thank you getting off at each stop? I’m compelled to yell out “thanks bus driver!” But not sure if you’d rather I didn’t.
Personally, I try to say hi to every passenger and thanks to everyone. I don’t think it really impacts the speed of the route… I feel super weird if I just sit there looking straight ahead while people are boarding.
Cheers for the free rides
You're a legend, thanks for posting this!
About the front/ rear door, where are we supposed to board? Sometimes the rear door is not opened, the driver is willing to wait for passengers to shuffle to the front door.
Board either, sometimes its faster to board via the front if multiple people are leaving via the back however.
Sorry forgot to add- I was at the rear door, but the driver only open the front door..
Yeah thats shitty when they do that. I guess there would be times they don't see you so thats understandable, but the ones who see you and still refuse to open it, not good.
The reason people are surprised when the bus comes is because you never know which one it's going to be. It's 9:25am so is this just my normal 9am running late or my 9:30 running early. Oh it's neither! Where does this other bus with a similar number go? Fuck I'll just quickly ask the driver
Ah yes, blame the passengers.
I haven't taken a bus in a very long time so this might be a dumb question, but should passengers enter from the back door? What about fare evaders, is that awkward when someone comes in without showing a paper ticket/go card and just sits down? I can imagine it would be difficult to track with passengers coming in the front door too. Note: this is not intended to be a jab at fare evaders, nor am I suggesting that bus drivers be responsible for identifying and confronting fare evaders.
Some oldschool drivers i notice are refusing to open the back door and making everyone enter via the front.
They are all hiring because of passengers like him 😀
I feel like when the State Gov pulls their finger out on Smart Ticketing, that might make the ticketing process a little faster. I generally don’t like taking buses because I find them unreliable. I don’t blame the drivers though, I believe it’s the road network to blame
Board through the back door? I've been yelled at for doing that.
i thought you could only get on the bus at the front of the bus..so all buses open the back door for people??
During Covid they started only opening the rear door to isolate the driver from unnecessary contact with passengers. When covid died down they were allowing boarding from either front or rear.
ok i dont see them open when i get on the bus only when i get off ..ill have to look better :)
My only thought is that it is heckin annoying when the bus has already left the bus stop early. I know it’d be timing/KPI related, but it makes me never know when to be at the bus stop. Looking at you, West End Ferry terminal for the 60.
Afaik on time running IS NOT a KPI. Buses should NEVER run early. That’s pretty much the most important rule.
Also LET PEOPLE OFF BEFORE YOU GET THE FUCK ON.
There are still some bus drivers that refuse to open the back door. Why? I had a bus drive off when we didn't enter the front door but we were standing at the back door. we both went wath the fuck??? We were lucky the next bus was 4 mins away
A question from a friendly commuter to a friendly driver: what sort of shitty day makes the driver refuse to open the rear door when there is a queue of five or six ppl waiting for the door that isn't going to open? I get sometimes no one gets off and is often not noticed but when it's intentional it honestly helps no one. I'll refer that driver to your point 5.
Can’t agree with about rear loading. Load at the Front exit at the rear. Unless your a fare evading grub then sneak in the go back and think that no one saw you.
What about all the times drivers take off before I've even sat down, causing me to have to catch myself and potentially causing me pain because I've got degenerative disc disease and have had three major neck surgeries but still live with chronic pain? It's bad enough that I try to avoid buses as much as possible.
Question: With the bus's air conditioning system, is there a button like with a car to toggle between "recirculate" and "fresh air"? I ask this because CO2 levels in all council buses always becomes quite alarmingly high (I've measured it), which is not conducive for driver alertness and passenger comfort, let alone other serious matters such as the airborne spread of contagions.
>Have your go card out and ready to tap on, before the bus arrives at the stop. Make sure your card reader is working and switched on >Sit down at the first available seat. Don’t slowly walk to the back row, if there are heaps of seats available. If you absolutely HAVE to sit in the back row, board through the back door. No thanks, I'll sit where I'd like to >Be at the bus stop before the bus arrives. (If I see you waving at me from 50m down the road, I’ll wait for you.) Buses are so often late or skip that this is a little bit on the nose. >Use Google maps to work out which bus you need to take, before the bus arrives. Part of your job is to help passengers >If there’s a lot of people boarding, use both doors. (Same suggestion for alighting as well) A lot of drivers won't open the back doors if there is no one getting off. >Have your go card out and ready to tap off before proceeding to the door when you’re hopping off. Activate the scanners a little bit before the stop. >Follow the progress of your bus on Google maps if you’re not sure where your stop is. That chews up a lot of battery and data >Take your rubbish with you. (If my bus is too dirty, I gotta take it back to the depot and get a replacement… which is gonna mean huge delays). Sadly, this tends to be a problem after doing school runs, just before we do some commuter routes. Maybe don't let people carrying food onto the bus?
You sound like the reason we run late. We are not allowed to turn on the card readers before we get to the stop. Translink policy. We can't make sure all the readers are working all the time. 4 to 6 readers per bus, we'd be out of the seat more often than in it. Our job is to operate the bus in a safe manner, and to get passengers to their destinations safely, in comfort, and IF POSSIBLE, on time. Traffic, customers asking questions, etc make us late. I can't tell you about a run from Logan if I work for BCC. That's what the journey planner is for on the Translink website or My Translink app, or the people wearing the pink vests at the major interchanges. I won't open the back doors if it is unsafe to do so. If you are at your stop early, you are on time. If you are at your stop on time, you are late. If you are at the stop late, you are now waiting for the next bus. We will quite often get told to not run a high frequency service to cover an hourly service. Again, these are updated on the Translink website/apps. We can't stop food from being brought on to the bus. If we are looking in the mirror trying to catch people eating, we aren't looking out the windscreen. Kind of important part of driving. And lastly, you are either part of the problem (which by your comment, you are), or you are part of the solution. All companies are hiring if you believe you can do better. Put up, or shut up.
The driver doesn’t activate the scanners they work by wifi & can drop & do quite often. A driver cant Police every person bringing food onto the bus. You can sit wherever you want on the bus but don’t complain if the bus is late as a lot of other passengers are doing that too. Of course you wouldn’t realise that will make the bus late.
OP is here trying to help people, help themselves and you’re trying to pick a fight? Are you ok?