Bus drivers waiting at stops

[Annoni_mouse 10]

Reason # 43 as to why bus drivers just cannot win.

 

We run early, so have to wait until we've met our timepoint, passengers moan, but then if we run late passengers moan.

 

I'm genuinly intrigued by this attitude. If you are a regular bus traveler, you expect the bus to be at the bus stop when it says on the timetable, yes? So how do you expect us to regulate this if we don't stop and wait our time at those times when there arent many passengers and/or much traffic?

 

And then passengers complain that bus drivers are miserable! With passangers like you lot, who can blame us?

[Mr Prime 10]

And then there are the holier-than-thou passengers whose heads are swelled up with their own sense of superiority.

 

Some people are superior to others obviously, an athlete with a Cambridge first is superior to an obese oaf with a GCSE.

[Stumpy_ 10]

Has anyone experienced getting on a bus, and having to wait 5mins at every bus stop as he has got there too early?!?

 

If they all do that then why do i keep seeing 3 or 4 51's and 76's bunched together?!?!

 

What i dont get about buses is the moronic placemen of most of the bus stops in sheffield.

Either on a bend, a junction or both. It drives me mad escpecially when the bus driver cant be bothred to pull into the stop correctly and so blocks even more of the road.

[MagnetMan 10]

us bus drivers are damned if we do, damned if we don't. i had an old lady complain at me for going too slow once, even though it meant i didn't wait at any stops and got there bang on time

 

I don't want any of this to be towards bus drivers ... you guys do a good job and aren't to blame at all, its your job to wait as that is what you are told!!

 

I completely understand that buses can be late due to traffic, but when every day you seem to wait, can't someone somewhere just take off the extra 3/5 mins on the route so that you can go faster!?!

 

Also having extra buses at mid-term and having to wait for non existant school kids to show up was a bit of a joke!

[HeadingNorth 11]

 

I completely understand that buses can be late due to traffic, but when every day you seem to wait, can't someone somewhere just take off the extra 3/5 mins on the route so that you can go faster!?!

 

The routes are usually timed so that they can be kept during rush hour traffic - which invariably means that outside of the rush hour, they allow far more time than is necessary.

[Annoni_mouse 10]

I don't want any of this to be towards bus drivers ... you guys do a good job and aren't to blame at all, its your job to wait as that is what you are told!!

 

I completely understand that buses can be late due to traffic, but when every day you seem to wait, can't someone somewhere just take off the extra 3/5 mins on the route so that you can go faster!?!

 

Also having extra buses at mid-term and having to wait for non existant school kids to show up was a bit of a joke!

 

The problem as far as I'm aware is that when the bus company (be it first/stagecoach/tm or whoever) submits the timetable to the PTE, it has to adhere to these times regardless. Thats why timetable changes are done at certain times of the year with the approval of the PTE. For obvious reasons, issuing timetable changes for certain times (school holidays etc) is a bit of a non-starter.

 

If you only catch the bus at certain times, you may not be aware that the times do change (all be it slightly) at different times of the day. In the evening and at the weekends, the times at timing points do change to reflect the lighter traffic/passanger numbers.

 

For what it's worth, I think I can talk on behalf of all bus drivers when I say that we hait waiting excessive times at time points as much as passangers do, but we have to stick to the rules or risk disciplinary procedure if we leave early.

[strikerPaul 10]

Try getting 120 to Halfway in the early morning on weekdays:

 

stops 5 minutes at Royal Hallamshire Hospital

stops 3 minutes at Leopold Street

stops 3 minutes outside TJ Hughes

stops 3 minutes at Sheffield Interchange

 

Do people have a problem with this or is it just an observation? Not that I ever use buses but if I did, I'd be pretty mad if I got the the stop on time but had missed it because it was ahead of scheule?

[BananaSplit 10]

I use First every week to get to and from work without any problems. (though I was once told I had to get off the bus and wait for the next bus because the driver didn't have a wallet thingy to put my weekly ticket in - he said they weren't allowed to issue weekly tickets without a wallet, which I found bizarre!)

 

My pet hate on the buses - and it's nothing to do with drivers or companies - are the blooming students who get on and simply stand stock still by the doors when there are umpteen empty seats for them to sit on, thus making it difficult for people who want to get on or off. I've only ever heard one driver tell them to move down the bus and sit down.

 

But on the whole I'm pretty happy with the service I use every week.

[Cyclone 10]

Not only have i seen this, i witnessed a bus driver block traffic by doing so and refuse to move. (Double parking)

He soon moved when a couple of the drivers threatened to chin him, not that i condone violence or threatening behaviour of course.

 

Presumably the fault was with the illegally parked vehicles either at or opposite a bus stop, not with the bus itself.

[Cyclone 10]

If he left early (because he got there early) and you had been expecting to board the bus at that stop and had arrived on time and you had to wait half an hour for the next bus, would you be happy with that?

 

You lucky, lucky people! Sheffield (Shirecliffe road - where my son lives) has more buses per hour than many people who live in rural locations see in a week month. Half of them are empty, so they're polluting the atmosphere for no reason and sucking up subsidies.

 

Take the unnecessary buses off the roads, save money, reduce pollution and reduce congestion!

 

Two buses on each route each way each day should be enough for anybody. - It's more than many rural residents get (and they pay taxes at the same rate as do townies.)

What's tax got to do with it, they're run on a commercial basis, not subsidised with the exception of those unprofitable rural routes you've mentioned.

[Gazza58 10]

Reason # 43 as to why bus drivers just cannot win.

 

We run early, so have to wait until we've met our timepoint, passengers moan, but then if we run late passengers moan.

 

I'm genuinly intrigued by this attitude. If you are a regular bus traveler, you expect the bus to be at the bus stop when it says on the timetable, yes? So how do you expect us to regulate this if we don't stop and wait our time at those times when there arent many passengers and/or much traffic?

 

And then passengers complain that bus drivers are miserable! With passangers like you lot, who can blame us?

I always thought bus drivers were the most miserable <REMOVED> ive ever seen,until i became one,and now fully understand why. Edited June 18, 2011 by esme
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