Peter Frimberley wrote:

(OP snipped)

I'd be dropping a strongly worded email to TfL with the bus route
number and journey plate number. The *very least* the driver should
have done is made an announcement at the last stop that was on the
normal route, that the bus was about to divert and passengers would
not be able to get off on the diversion. All the bendy buses have the
facility for the driver to make an amplified announcement.

If I had been abducted in the way you describe with no warning
announcement, the emergency exit button would definitely have been
tested at the next traffic lights. I don't believe it can be disabled
but if it was just pull the door anyway or get some bloke to do it,
they're not that strongly closed that you cannot force them open.

Bear in mind that the bus driver is responsible in part for your safety
whilst you're on their bus - they are not purposefully acting in a
malicious manner. But yes I quite agree that an announcement before the
diversion should be the standard modus operandi.

Emerency exit buttons cannot be disabled, but as a poster has pointed
out elsewhere they can be counter-acted by the driver pressing and
holding the close button. I've seen shady characters use them on
multiple occasions to get off the bus. One should bear in mind that
using the emergency exit button will be against the rules so you could
conceivably end up in trouble for using it in a non-emergency.

In addidition there is a potential safety issue of whether you, or more
importantly anyone else (who're either following you out or are just in
the vicinity of the door and fall out) suffers an injury, either
because the bus is moving, or nearby traffic is moving. In a situation
where someone is feeling angry and self-righteous they might not
necessarily take proper account of the whole situation. I have visions
of fellow passengers following a seemingly respectable gentleman or
lady (the respectability seemingly adding legitimacy to the use of the
emergency exit button) and ending up getting run over by a motorbike.

Adrian wrote:
Ah, if only there was such a thing as a bus with an open platform you could
just hop on and off as required...

Perhaps a bus with a smaller turning circle than the current buses,
enabling them to move quickly arround the narrow London streets without
causing major blockages to multiple lanes, and in the case of bendy
buses, and even the normal ones.

Perhaps you could somehow segregate the driver from passangers, as in
trains, allowing the driver to concentrate fully on the road instead of
checking tickets? Maybe a guard could be employed, as on trains, to
check and sell tickets, and assist passangers (which the driver can't
do)?

If you can't afford a guard on every bus, have a "buy before boarding"
policy, and enforce with RPIs like on the trains and bendy buses that
we have.

does anyone know of a bus that would fill those requirements?

John Rowland wrote:
kytelly wrote:

the driver said he had disabled the emergancy door releases.

That has to be illegal! If he'd had a heart attack, how would anyone have
got off?

Well this is what he said; maybe he had overridden it by imediately
pressing the close button.

Neil Williams wrote:
Joe Patrick wrote:

Is it actually possible - not only does such a button actually exist,

No, but (assuming it wasn't a bendy, where I believe the releases
aren't just another door button but actually unlock something) the
driver could sit there and keep pressing the close button.

It was a bendy. Does anyone know if they can be turned off then or if
the driver was talking through his hat?

I immediately rang London Buses, once I was released from my mobile
prison, to complain. The LB representative called Arriva Buses and had a
radio instruction issued to remind drivers of the ruling. On planned
diversions - as yours was because it was advertised on the TfL website
in advance - then drivers MUST stop at all stops. The driver in your
case was wrong. When an unplanned diversion arises - e.g. police close
the road - then drivers do not have to stop at all stops on the
diversion but most will be sensible if people wish to alight to continue
their journeys on foot.

Thanks for this Paul; I had assumed this was the case.

Paul Corfield wrote:

I immediately rang London Buses, once I was released from my mobile
prison, to complain. The LB representative called Arriva Buses and
had a radio instruction issued to remind drivers of the ruling. On
planned diversions - as yours was because it was advertised on the
TfL website in advance - then drivers MUST stop at all stops. The
driver in your case was wrong.

Interesting. Is that a Central London thing? Slightly OT but still relevant
in that it affects Arriva Buses: the X15 service between Milton Keynes and
Aylesbury went over to double-deck buses a few months ago. However, on
leaving Leighton Buzzard there is a low bridge under the West Coast Main
Line railway which is physically high enough for double-deck buses but
requires some paperwork alterations to alter the current height limit to
legally allow them (according to Arriva, anyway, and I've seen empty buses
go through - so, logically, a loaded bus which sits lower ought to be able
to get through). Buses are currently diverted as they leave Leighton
Buzzard, skipping three stops on the Wing Road, including the one serving
Leighton Buzzard railway station, which is actually in Linslade - but that's
another story. They pass the end of the station approach road (even closer
than the official stop), then negotiate the housing estates of Linslade
village on existing bus routes (passing even closer to the opposite side of
the station, where there is a public footbridge) and all the stops, before
picking up their original route. This is a planned diversion that has been
advertised and is effective for the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, the
buses are (officially!) *not* permitted to stop at any of the stops on the
diversion - with the result that if you arrive at Leighton Buzzard railway
station with luggage (or not) you now have a half-mile walk in either
direction to reach a point at which you can actually board a bus. This seems
to be the standing instruction to Arriva Buses drivers on this service - but
it contradicts the advice which you quote for London.

In message .com,
Mizter T writes

It'd be great if drivers could give an announcement over the PA system
- if available - before a diversion occurs. I've found myself on number
12's going south the two past weekends which have had a short diversion
over Lambeth Bridge instead of Waterloo Bridge (closed for roadworks
southbound only). A wave of confusion sweeps across the bus when this
happens (it's interesting to watch people's faces!) and I find myself
explaining to nearby fellow passengers that it's just a diversion. I
guess the fact they might be mildly intoxicated doesn't necessarily help!

I was on an N50 a few weeks ago when Prince Regent Lane was closed. The
driver did this very thing, even coming upstairs to ensure that
everybody knew he wasn't going down PRL.

And then he dropped us at the stop at the end of the road - very nice
man!
--
Steve Fitzgerald has now left the building.
You will find him in London's Docklands, E16, UK
(please use the reply to address for email)

Paul Weaver ) gurgled happily, sounding much like
they were saying :

Ah, if only there was such a thing as a bus with an open platform you
could just hop on and off as required...

Perhaps a bus with a smaller turning circle than the current buses,
enabling them to move quickly arround the narrow London streets
without causing major blockages to multiple lanes, and in the case of
bendy buses, and even the normal ones.

Perhaps you could somehow segregate the driver from passangers, as in
trains, allowing the driver to concentrate fully on the road instead
of checking tickets? Maybe a guard could be employed, as on trains, to
check and sell tickets, and assist passangers (which the driver can't
do)?

If you can't afford a guard on every bus, have a "buy before boarding"
policy, and enforce with RPIs like on the trains and bendy buses that
we have.

Heck, you could even make it twice the height and half the length. If
you're *really* clever, you could even build it using aircraft technology
to make it very lightweight and fuel efficient.

does anyone know of a bus that would fill those requirements?

If such a thing existed, it'd quickly become an icon of the city, I reckon.

On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 14:20:26 GMT, "Jack Taylor"
wrote:

Paul Corfield wrote:

I immediately rang London Buses, once I was released from my mobile
prison, to complain. The LB representative called Arriva Buses and
had a radio instruction issued to remind drivers of the ruling. On
planned diversions - as yours was because it was advertised on the
TfL website in advance - then drivers MUST stop at all stops. The
driver in your case was wrong.

Interesting. Is that a Central London thing?

It's a rule applicable to TfL services - this is the only context that
my comments should be applied to. The explanation came from another bus
based discussion group.

I have no idea what policy exists for other companies. I would have
naively assumed that being profit seeking companies they would adopt the
most customer friendly option but your example suggests otherwise.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 14:20:25 +0100, "John Rowland"
wrote:

kytelly wrote:

the driver said he had disabled the emergancy door releases.

That has to be illegal! If he'd had a heart attack, how would anyone have
got off?

I don't actually believe that what he said he had done, he had actually
done. I have never heard of a bus having such functionality - safety
being the main reason why.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!