On Jan 29, 10:42*am, Paul Terry wrote:

In message ,
MatSav writes:

In practice, however, people don't realise the difference - and
flag down the bus anyway.

TfL effectively removed the difference several years ago. The current
policy is that drivers must stop at any bus stop whe

1. There are people waiting
2. There is a possibility that people are waiting
3. The driver's view of the bus stop is impaired
4. Someone has rung the bell

There was a proposal that they would remove the distinction between
"request stop" and "compulsory stop" signs in order to reflect this
change of policy, but I don't think this has yet started (presumably for
cost reasons).

New signs that are installed are of the compulsory design (and all
stops in central London are now of that design):
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/reques..._at_compulsory


Nonetheless, people do still flag down buses at stops (even compulsory
ones) served by more than one route, as there is otherwise a danger that
the bus required will simply sail straight past.

It's good when buses don't stop when there's no need to, and silly
when they do. I think it'd be preferable if 'the rules' were a bit
clearer (i.e. 'you must hail the bus' was adopted), but in day-to-day
practice things seem to work ok.