In message , Walter Briscoe
writes

sent a response on 31 March 2009 to
me saying "It is true that there used to be separate designations for
'compulsory' and 'request' stops. This is no longer the case. Following
a review of the matter last year, drivers have been advised to treat all
designated bus stops in the same manner. If there are customers waiting
at the stop they must stop, and if a passenger presses the stop request
button on board the bus they must stop at the next bus stop. There is no
documentation of this change."

It's difficult to see the logic behind this change, unless it is just a
general dumbing-down for the benefit of those poor souls who can't
remember the difference between a compulsory stop and a request stop
when waiting for a bus.

Almost all of the stops on the route that I use most frequently are
served by a variety of different routes (with totally different
destinations), and it is a great irritation for passengers and other
road traffic when the bus keeps stopping at places where nobody wishes
to alight and where none of the waiting people want to board the bus
concerned.

Worse than that, drivers are often confused by this notion of people
"wanting to board" - some stop, even if nobody boards; some slow down
and look quizzically for some unspecified intention to board; some sail
past, oblivious to the shaking fists visible in their rear-view mirrors.

Worse still: when TfL (or their agents) refurbish bus stops - as they do
several times a year in these parts (*) - or when they supply temporary
bus signs for road works - they still use a mix of request and
compulsory stop signs. Why? To confuse the public?

(*) This is really a subject for a different thread, but I'm appalled at
the money wasted by TfL on street furniture. It was good to see most bus
stops in the area supplied with seats, shelters and information a few
years ago. However, most of those shelters have been moved several times
since their installation - some further back from the kerb, some nearer,
two have been moved sideways because their supports blocked the bus exit
doors, one was moved further because the bus exit was blocked by a BT
street cabinet, and then moved back again because the new position was
too close to a road junction, another had to be removed because it was
built on a pavement so narrow that it blocked push chairs and wheel
chairs. And most of them are dug up at frequent intervals because the
supply cable to the Countdown system or the electric adverts failed.

I've no idea who is responsible for all of this chaos, but I'm sure TfL
could save a significant sum if they appointed a team with the ability
to analyse what is required and then get things right from the outset,
instead of wasting funds on correcting earlier, and often multiple,
mistakes.

--
Paul Terry