kytelly wrote:
Ok last saturday my friend and I hopped on a bendy bus outside
Selfridges to go a few stops down Oxford Street to Poland street (She
had a bad leg we're not just lazy!)

However when we got to Oxford circus the rest of the street was blocked
off and the bus was sent on a diversion down Regent street. Fine we
thought we'll get off at the next stop. However three stops later and
no sign of the bus stopping my friend started getting very anxious
(This is when I found out she was a bit claustrophobic) Anyway she
asked the driver if we could get off at the next stop but he refused
saying he wasnt allowed to stop at any stop on the diversion. She was
then joined by heavily pregnant woman who also needed to get off but
still the driver said he couldnt let anyone off and he said he had
disabled the emergancy door releases.

After a lot more harranging he eventually opened the doors on
Shaftsbury Avenue about twenty minutes after the diversion had started.

Now I know drivers cant let people off anywhere other than the official
stops but surely thats not applicable where a bus is on diversion?
Basically we were forced to stay on the bus againest our will for
twenty minutes as it had got caught up in the regent st traffic.

I got off the bus feeling very self rightous but what are peoples
thoughts on this?

Each diversion seems to have its own rules. I've also got stuck on a bus
using that diversion, which is frustrating when you're sitting in
traffic and realise that you could have walked past the diversion more
quickly.

Other times, drivers *are* allowed to serve stops on diversion; this
happened with the Battersea Bridge closure when some 49s were diverted
via Wandsworth Bridge, and when Broad Sanctuary in Westminster was
closed for roadworks and buses were diverted along Artillery Road.

My guess at the reasoning behind this is that on central London streets
with a lot of bus services and multiple stops per location, the
confusion in dropping off and picking up passengers can compound traffic
congestion and cause further delays to undiverted buses.

The driver was right to say he couldn't let you off because those were
the direction he had been given by TfL via his bus company. However, I'm
not sure about disabling the emergency door releases - that sounds a bit
drastic (because what if there were an emergency...?).

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London