Why do bus drivers demand you ripp that pointless bit of paper off the machine at the front which is also known as ticket which you will never get asked for!

funny you say that, about a week ago i was on the bus and i heard "tickets please". i was like whos this nutter ?

turns out it was a ticket inspector... What a pointless job, looks like he just gets on and off buses all day by the look of em.

You might need it for your return journey

It does seem a bit pointless with buses where you pay the driver, but I suppose the premise is that someone could technically buy a ticket for somewhere and travel further than they have paid for, so they probably have ticket inspectors for that reason.

years ago I had a great bus driver, I was working in the city but in the retail park which oddly enough buses didn't directly go to on sundays. Anyway he was my usual driver and knew I usually went to the retail park instead of town center so he just asked the rest of the passengers if it was ok to take a detour through the retail park before going to town. Most of the time everyone was fine with it and that was great for me. I doubt bus drivers are allowed to use their initiative like this anymore.

Because their ahead of schedule and have to give people a chance who want to catch the bus at the time it should be their? Afterall they probablt required to wait a minute or 2 after the official time as well aren't they?

Hehehe, the bus stop I got off at when I went home in the evening is 1 stop past the timing stop.

It was very annoying and I didn't get why they can't make my stop (the last on the route) the timing stop instead. But I brought a car so its not my concern anymore

As already pointed out, it is of course so they stick to the schedule. Nothing worse than missing a bus because you were on time but it was early. Someone I know used to work for one of the London bus companies and said that individual bus drivers would have their pay docked for getting to the bus station early (it was his job to time when they got there) - not 100% of the truth behind this though or if it still applies, was about 5 years ago.

The bus I used to get to college a few years ago stopped every time, at the same bus stop for about 10 minutes because he was ahead of schedule. I always wondered why they don't just change the schedule to 10 minutes later.

An early bus is just as bad as a late one. If a bus is advertised as leaving your stop at 8am and it leaves your stop at 7.50am it's a major inconvenience to people that are on time and a massive convenience for late people. We shouldn't reward bad timekeepers.

It happened to me last night, went sailing past me just as I came out from an alleyway next to the bus stop I wanted, 2 minutes earlier than advertised on the bus stop timetable, and the timetable at the bus stop has only recently been updated. And there was a special time for the bus route for when it was bank holiday days, the time it should have been there was 23:12 according to the bus stop timetable, and it went past at 23:10 instead.

I'm assuming that bus drivers are issued with a copy of The Sun for this very purpose. Strange that it's never the Telegraph or Guardian. Or National Geographic. Or The Lancet.

Drivers only have to keep to the timetable at selected bus stops not all bus stops so inbetween they can be early or late

I was on a bus in Holland in the summer - they are very very strict over there, inspectors galore! Mind you, people hop on and off the back (all bendy buses) and it's a trust system that they scan their passes, so they tend to be very on the ball about inspections.

Yep.

All other bus stops are 'Request Stops', where the driver only has to stop if someone wants to get on or off.

I have the misfortune to live by one of these stops, and we are frequently woken early in the morning by the bus engine running. The bus shelter also doubles as a youth club for bored adolescents in the evenings

Wow, this bus is really late !

I think they recommend you get there at least 5 minutes before your bus is due.

And how many people in this thread still actually post here?

How quaint, life's losers still travel on the bus ?

Me

I had to read it to find out what i said

Sometimes there might be people who actually do want to get off but forget to press the button...

Sure we've all seen it...

All bus routes have 'timing points' along the route. This is so a bus doesn't leave the start point, say 60 mins away, then go straight through to the terminus & arrive early. This is more important on the quieter early mornings (like this time of year especially) & Saturday mornings or when the schools are off. That way they can keep a constant 'headway' of buses on the route. A ten minute service has a bus every ten mins rather than 2 mins then 18. It's much harder for drivers to run early nowadays as most buses are fitted with GPS and are monitored by a central control room. An early bus lights up as red on the screen & the driver is radioed & questioned. That's why he sat at the stop. It's called 'waiting for time' in the trade.

Yes, the first 9 replies were posted within 6 minutes (so the answer was REALLY obvious) and posts 2 to 35 within a day, then you wait nearly 6 years for this particular bus and another 12 appear all at once. Nice one Tobias!

And you bumped a six-year-old thread to tell us this because......?

Answered

Lifes losers do not have a free bus pass for anywhere in the country.