[Tom Anderson]

On 10 Oct 2004, Robin May wrote:

(Nick Cooper) wrote the
following in:

On 10 Oct 2004 10:57:27 GMT, (Mait001) wrote:

London Transport used to have a by-law requirement that an orderly
queue was required for boarding a bus.

It seems that the vast majority of people in London are simply
incapable of queuing for buses.

I'd like it if there were still bus queues. The problem is that there
aren't, and you can't form a queue on your own.

Try harder.

tom

--
If it ain't Alberta, it ain't beef.

[Dr Ivan D. Reid]

On Sun, 10 Oct 2004 16:19:48 +0100, congokid
wrote in :
In message , Robin May
writes

I'd like it if there were still bus queues. The problem is that there
aren't, and you can't form a queue on your own. It's hard to see how to
solve this problem. I wonder why it is that bus queues used to form and
now don't?

At the bus stop at the west-most extremity of the Strand, outside South
Africa House, the morning queues appear to me, as I cycle past them, to
be very orderly. That said, I don't know if the people queuing revert to
scrum behaviour once a bus stops and opens its doors.

OTOH, I've had a few contretemps recently wiith people who have
noticed that they arrived at the bus stop after me, but ended up closer
to the doors when the bus stopped[1]. Look, ladies, I don't *care* about
priority, I'm more concerned about efficient and swift boarding of all
passengers.

[1] I must finally look my age; pharmacy assistants are now quite
solicitous that I sit in the waiting area while they fill my
blood-pressure prescriptions...

--
Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Room 40-1-B12, CERN
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

[Heliomass]

"Martin Underwood" wrote in message
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"Gaz" wrote in message
...
When a full bus arrives at a busy stop (Brixton in the rush hour for
example) the driver opens the back doors to let people off. If you're
not
right at the front of the queue is it better to stand square on to the
front doors two or three people deep or to sneak on from the sides from
further away?


This type of scenario was demonstrated a few years back on the Christmas
lectures. The outcome was that people queuing along the side of the bus
would get on faster than those square on to the door.

Let's add a new complication: suppose it's an underground train, or a bus
with no exit door - where people are getting off through the same door as
the one where they are trying to get on? Assuming that people are behaving
with their usual impatience and aren't waiting for people to finish
getting
off before trying to get on.

If there are only a few people getting off, I usually aim to be level with
the left-hand door (*), on the grounds that people getting off will tend
to
aim for the other door and maybe we'll achieve two single-file streams of
people: one stream getting off and the other getting on. Sometimes it
works,
sometimes it doesn't!


(*) Since we drive on the left, that seems a reasonable convention for
walking as well!

Well, people coming off the train tend to exit straight ahead, meaning that
the people entering from the sides of the doors have the best chance of
getting on, as those directly in front will be pushed aside by exiting
passengers.

Heliomass.

[Neil Williams]

On Sun, 10 Oct 2004 11:18:59 GMT,
(Nick Cooper) wrote:

It seems that the vast majority of people in London are simply
incapable of queuing for buses. The moment one turns up, everyone who
was standing scattered around within ten metres of the stop rushes for
it, blatently bypassing any poor innocents who had the temerity to
form anything like an orderly line next to the stop/under the shelter.

Queueing for buses only works when the stop is served by one route
with one possible destination (no short workings etc) only. Once
there are two or more journey possibilities, it becomes
counterproductive unless you have two clearly-signposted queues, as
everyone has to ask the person in front if they want that bus or not.

IMX, the "mob at all doors" approach as seen on the bendies and in
many European cities, while less civilised, makes for much faster
boarding.

(To that end, when I lived in Germany my strategic waiting position
was just behind where I thought the rear set of doors would end up,
thus putting me at or near the front of the "mob" for that door, so
I'd get first pick of the part to the rear of the rear doors, where
the facing seats and/or seats with more legroom were located.

Neil

--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
To e-mail use neil at the above domain

[Mait001]

I wonder why it is that bus queues used to form and
now don't?

Because human beings are not genetically civilised animals.

They need to be taught and follow example - school, home etc. Without these
(formerly omnipresent but now totally absent influences), it is hardly
surprising that people behave like a rabble.

It is also a curious feature of the British psyche that someone would rather
miss the bus rather than actually cause a "scene" about someone pushing in.

My Mother, who is European, had no such qualms, and was often applauded by her
silent British queue-makers when berating schoolkids etc. for not queueing -
but not a word from anyone else!

Marc.

[Mait001]

Queueing for buses only works when the stop is served by one route
with one possible destination (no short workings etc) only.

I beg to differ.

Once
there are two or more journey possibilities, it becomes
counterproductive

Why?

unless you have two clearly-signposted queues, as
everyone has to ask the person in front if they want that bus or not.

What's wrong with asking this question. Are we all mute of malice?

Marc.