And, yes, I do want a seat, preferably near a window, and preferably
upstairs, and preferably not on the sunny side of the bus.

Ideally yes, but on a busy service you can surely not expect such luxury?

I do not regard, for example, being the 10th person in a queue equating with
being the 10th person to get on the bus as a "luxury". I expect it as a matter
of course, and am, frankly, surprised that any civilised person would expect to
get an advantage in such a situation just because he happened to have pre-paid
his ticket.

Till I started reading some of the replies on this forum, I had assumed that
those who did not observe proper queuing were ill-mannered or simply ignorant.
Not for a moment did I think that such people regarded themselves as performing
a public service!

I now stand corrected (whilst still diagreeing fundamentally with such
behaviour).

If you were driving a car towards red traffic lights, and there were two
available lanes, are you saying you would choose the same lane as the car in
front of you for the sake of good manners, or do the sensible thing and
choose the lane with fewest vehicles in it (thus maximising the flow through
the lights when they change as well as your own progress)?

If I were in a queue in the inside lane and spaces were free on the outside
lane, I would use the outside lane but only if I felt able to travel at least
as fast as the cars I was technically overtaking.

If I were driving a bus or van, generally slower-moving, as a matter of
courtesy, I would stay in lane so as not to inconvenience faster moving traffic
that would be held up by me if I were to change lanes.

Marc.