Arthur Figgis wrote on 11 March 2011
07:00:58 ...
On 11/03/2011 00:00, Roy Badami wrote:

But as a result of being told off for signalling late in Cambridge a
few years ago by an Eastern European bus driver who'd clearly failed
to spot that I wanted to board until I stuck my arm out as a last
resort, I reevaluated this. I know the latter is the normal way of
hailing a bus in at least some parts of continental Europe so I can
understand why some drivers from elsewhere in the EU may expect it,
and it just seems simpler to go along with it since it's pretty
unambiguous.

Last year I had a bus driver in Germany get very rude in two languages
because I had put my arm out. But with a bus every 30 min, at night in
the rain, I didn't fancy the risk of it not stopping. admittedly she
then had a go at another passsenger for something else, so it might have
been just her!

When I was little in Hull, ringing the bell to get off was considered
what would now be called anti-social behaviour. You were supposed to go
and stand by the door waiting to get off (no middle exit).

So, what was the bell for?
--
Richard J.
(to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address)