A friend of mine got a phone call at daft o’clock one evening from his son who hadn’t turned up home.
“Dad, can you pick me up from the city centre please?”
Bear in mind that he lived in a smaller town 40 miles or so from the city; on a bus route that spanned two cities about 90 miles apart.
Turns out that he had been taught how to board a bus; ask for a ticket; pay; and take a seat… but never learned how to leave a bus.
His dad was understandably pissed off, having been kicked out of bed at midnight to do a near two-hour round trip drive to pick his lad up. He asking him why he hadn’t pushed the bell to signal the driver to stop.
“I thought they were just emergency stop buttons, and because I told the driver where I was going when I got the ticket, I thought he would stop for me… and when he didn’t, I just sat and waited until the end of the line”.
I thought buses just stop at a station, you have to signal to the driver to stop? I’ve never ridden a bus before, so at least that’s my main reason, but if I got on and didn’t see a button or anything, I’d probably make that mistake 💀
I think almost everywhere there are regular stops and request stops. How much each type is utilized, and how well they are differentiated, is what differs regionally.
Buses in Europe tend to be pretty good for this, there is an announcement that the next stop is a request stop and you have to press the stop button to disembark. (It is also explained on the information screen). Gets a bit annoying if you use the bus regularly, but makes it much better for new users.
There are some stops where the bus always stops, and others where you have to signal the driver to stop (known as request stops). You will typically find the first kind in high density areas like cities, and the other in suburbs or in the countryside (there are even “stop areas” in some very rural places, where the driver officially must stop anywhere along it when asked).
The same applies to trains too, although request stops are not as common as they are for buses (and I don’t know of any stop areas for trains)
It’s mostly now buttons next to the windows/on a pole connected to the seats. Rarely and mostly on older busses, there may be a cable running along the upper edge of the windows. When you trigger either one, it signals the driver to stop at the next bus stop on the route (rather than only stopping if picking someone up) to allow you to get out.
A friend of mine got a phone call at daft o’clock one evening from his son who hadn’t turned up home.
“Dad, can you pick me up from the city centre please?”
Bear in mind that he lived in a smaller town 40 miles or so from the city; on a bus route that spanned two cities about 90 miles apart.
Turns out that he had been taught how to board a bus; ask for a ticket; pay; and take a seat… but never learned how to leave a bus.
His dad was understandably pissed off, having been kicked out of bed at midnight to do a near two-hour round trip drive to pick his lad up. He asking him why he hadn’t pushed the bell to signal the driver to stop.
“I thought they were just emergency stop buttons, and because I told the driver where I was going when I got the ticket, I thought he would stop for me… and when he didn’t, I just sat and waited until the end of the line”.
Poor soul.
I thought buses just stop at a station, you have to signal to the driver to stop? I’ve never ridden a bus before, so at least that’s my main reason, but if I got on and didn’t see a button or anything, I’d probably make that mistake 💀
It differs regionally.
I think almost everywhere there are regular stops and request stops. How much each type is utilized, and how well they are differentiated, is what differs regionally.
Buses in Europe tend to be pretty good for this, there is an announcement that the next stop is a request stop and you have to press the stop button to disembark. (It is also explained on the information screen). Gets a bit annoying if you use the bus regularly, but makes it much better for new users.
There are some stops where the bus always stops, and others where you have to signal the driver to stop (known as request stops). You will typically find the first kind in high density areas like cities, and the other in suburbs or in the countryside (there are even “stop areas” in some very rural places, where the driver officially must stop anywhere along it when asked).
The same applies to trains too, although request stops are not as common as they are for buses (and I don’t know of any stop areas for trains)
It’s mostly now buttons next to the windows/on a pole connected to the seats. Rarely and mostly on older busses, there may be a cable running along the upper edge of the windows. When you trigger either one, it signals the driver to stop at the next bus stop on the route (rather than only stopping if picking someone up) to allow you to get out.
As someone who has grown up with social anxiety, this easily could’ve been something that happened to me…
I can’t say I’ve never done almost exactly that