"Graham Harrison" wrote in message
...

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

"Ernesto" wrote in message
...
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.

"Portsmouth Rider" wrote in message
...

"Graham Harrison" wrote in
message ...

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

"Ernesto" wrote in message
...
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.

"Graham Harrison" wrote in message
...

"Portsmouth Rider" wrote in message
...

"Graham Harrison" wrote in
message ...

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

"Ernesto" wrote in message
...
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.
Absolutely. Same sort of thing happens on Rail Replacement trips...
passengers want to be let off all over the place, when the contract is for
either actual railway station forecourts, or suitable SPECIFIED bus stops on
the main road nearby. I've actually had passengers forcing the emergency
door at traffic lights. And once you allow one passenger a unspecified stop,
they all want one - when you have to get the bus (and through passengers) on
to the station where the train set has been nailed together again, with the
minimum of delay.....

Portsmouth Rider wrote:
"Graham Harrison" wrote in message
...
"Portsmouth Rider" wrote in message
...
"Graham Harrison" wrote in
message ...
wrote in message
...
On 25/08/2012 14:20, Graham Harrison wrote:
"Ernesto" wrote in message
...
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.
Absolutely. Same sort of thing happens on Rail Replacement trips...
passengers want to be let off all over the place, when the contract is for
either actual railway station forecourts, or suitable SPECIFIED bus stops on
the main road nearby. I've actually had passengers forcing the emergency
door at traffic lights. And once you allow one passenger a unspecified stop,
they all want one - when you have to get the bus (and through passengers) on
to the station where the train set has been nailed together again, with the
minimum of delay.....


Yes, they seem to think that because it's a bus or coach, it can stop
anywhere it likes. On some rail replacement services, the passengers are
counted at both ends of the route by station staff. Luckily, most of the
passengers who ask are reasonable about it, and accept that they can
only be dropped off at the station, if you explain the reason why.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

On 22/11/2012 16:39, Portsmouth Rider wrote:

Absolutely. Same sort of thing happens on Rail Replacement trips...
passengers want to be let off all over the place, when the contract is for
either actual railway station forecourts, or suitable SPECIFIED bus stops on
the main road nearby. I've actually had passengers forcing the emergency
door at traffic lights. And once you allow one passenger a unspecified stop,
they all want one - when you have to get the bus (and through passengers) on
to the station where the train set has been nailed together again, with the
minimum of delay.....

Isn't that just the cultural split between passengers, who are doing the
journey as a means to an end, and the operator, who sees the journey as
an end in itself?

I've been on replacement buses where the driver has asked if anyone does
actually wants to go to a particular station itself, or can the bus drop
off on the main road/village centre/etc to save a slow trip along a
narrow dead-end lane to the station and back.
--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

"Arthur Figgis" wrote in message
o.uk...

I've been on replacement buses where the driver has asked if anyone does
actually wants to go to a particular station itself, or can the bus drop
off on the main road/village centre/etc to save a slow trip along a narrow
dead-end lane to the station and back.

Hopefully on a set down only service, or the driver knew by other means
no-one was waiting at the station?

Paul

In message , at 13:30:27 on
Fri, 23 Nov 2012, Paul Scott remarked:
I've been on replacement buses where the driver has asked if anyone
does actually wants to go to a particular station itself, or can the
bus drop off on the main road/village centre/etc to save a slow trip
along a narrow dead-end lane to the station and back.

Hopefully on a set down only service, or the driver knew by other means
no-one was waiting at the station?

I'm less sanguine about it. Bus replacement services rarely appear to
expect to pick passengers up at rural stations, merely deliver
passengers who embarked at a nearby big town. One way you can tell is
that the pick-up point is often some way from the rural station (eg at
the other end of the road to the station), and no-one bothers to say
exactly where it is.
--
Roland Perry

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 13:30:27 on Fri,
23 Nov 2012, Paul Scott remarked:
I've been on replacement buses where the driver has asked if anyone does
actually wants to go to a particular station itself, or can the bus drop
off on the main road/village centre/etc to save a slow trip along a
narrow dead-end lane to the station and back.

Hopefully on a set down only service, or the driver knew by other means
no-one was waiting at the station?

I'm less sanguine about it. Bus replacement services rarely appear to
expect to pick passengers up at rural stations, merely deliver passengers
who embarked at a nearby big town. One way you can tell is that the
pick-up point is often some way from the rural station (eg at the other
end of the road to the station), and no-one bothers to say exactly where
it is.
--
Roland Perry
There are usually signboards at such stations stating where the pickup /
drop down points are. This information (in the event of planned engineering
works) is often promulgated around the affected area. Local regular rail
passengers who have experienced rail replacement buses at their station in
thepast, will also know that the bus stops at the bottom of the road, not
the station. Taxi drivers will certainly know - they will point out to a
passenger wanting to go to the station, that the bus is replacing it, and
take them there instead, (especially if it is a bit further!). And most
peoplem use their common sense, however that is not infallible.

In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message , at 13:30:27 on
Fri, 23 Nov 2012, Paul Scott remarked:
I've been on replacement buses where the driver has asked if anyone
does actually wants to go to a particular station itself, or can the
bus drop off on the main road/village centre/etc to save a slow trip
along a narrow dead-end lane to the station and back.

Hopefully on a set down only service, or the driver knew by other means
no-one was waiting at the station?

I'm less sanguine about it. Bus replacement services rarely appear to
expect to pick passengers up at rural stations, merely deliver
passengers who embarked at a nearby big town. One way you can tell is
that the pick-up point is often some way from the rural station (eg
at the other end of the road to the station), and no-one bothers to
say exactly where it is.

The rail replacement bus picked me up on the main road near a station in the
Pennines one snowy December. There was one other passenger already on the
bus to the other small station the other side of the Standedge Pass we were
both going to.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On 23/11/2012 13:30, Paul Scott wrote:
"Arthur Figgis" wrote in message
o.uk...

I've been on replacement buses where the driver has asked if anyone
does actually wants to go to a particular station itself, or can the
bus drop off on the main road/village centre/etc to save a slow trip
along a narrow dead-end lane to the station and back.

Hopefully on a set down only service, or the driver knew by other means
no-one was waiting at the station?


It's one in the middle of the closed section so the only rail related
access is by the replacement bus.


--
Graeme Wall
This account not read, substitute trains for rail.
Railway Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail