On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 15:02:29 GMT, Neil Williams wrote:

Because then you wouldn't be able to board just anywhere.

People tend to congregate in places anyway, so why not just indicate
the nearest safe[1] place to stop near those points with, umm, a bus
stop flag?

[1] People waiting on hail and ride routes have a habit of waiting at
road junctions, which are about as unsafe a place as you can get for
stopping a bus, and leaves the driver the choice between leaving them
behind or stopping dangerously.

IMX (again) hail and ride sections in London are in residential areas
with very low traffic volumes. I don't think there'd be much of a
problem with blocking a junction for a few seconds.