"Portsmouth Rider" wrote in message
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"Graham Harrison" wrote in
message ...

wrote in message
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On 25/08/2012 14:20, Graham Harrison wrote:

"Ernesto" wrote in message
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Hi all,

I've seen this increase over the past few months - drivers unwilling
to open their doors between stops, but instead telling passengers they
can press the emergency door control button themselves to alight from
the bus.

Anyone else seen this? Thoughts???

E.
--
"It's better to have and not need, than to need and not have..."

In different circumstances I've had exactly the opposite. Maybe 2/3
years ago a vintage double decker with open platform right next to the
pavement stuck in a traffic jam and the conductor point blank refused
to
allow me to get off.

Why didn't you just push past him? Were customers not allowed to alight
from a Routemaster if the bus had come to a full stop in traffic?

He was standing with his hands on the stanchions either side of the
platform with his back to the centre pole. I used the word Vintage
deliberately; it was not a PSV operation but a private operation from
city centre to what I'll call an attraction on the outskirts. Had I
pushed by there was a significant risk one, or both, of us might have
been hurt in the resulting tumble from the bus.
The contract - and the TC's licence - was therefore likely to have been
between two specific points. If you wanted a journey that was not covered
by the contract and/or operating licence, you should have used a different
service. Or a taxi. Or walked.


The ride was one part of a whole. On the way back we got stuck in a jam
near my destination. The bus destination was further on and I would have
had to walk back (which I subsequently did). I'm old enough to have used
open platform buses and I therefore went into what I might call a "mode"
associated with such buses and just assumed that, as I had in the past, I
could disembark while the bus was stopped. I will admit I was irritated by
the actions of the conductor (who perhaps was more accurately the platform
manager since he wasn't collecting fares) but he wasn't going to back down
and I had no desire to push him out of the way so I accepted the inevitable.
I've no doubt he was correct; my guess is that their insurance requires them
to act in this way.