Charles Ellson wrote:
On Sun, 24 Nov 2019 11:55:10 -0000 (UTC), Anna Noyd-Dryver
wrote:

wrote:


Driving a lorry is like driving a large car for me. Driving a bus is wierd
however because you're about a meter in front of the steering wheels so you
have to leave turning movements later than feels normal.


Unless you're driving a half-cab or an Optare Solo

Bin lorries and some other specialist vehicles share the 'cab well forward'
position of a bus.

Often built by the same company - Dennis. Another of their design
oddities is cabs very close to the ground, usually on airport vehicles
but also see on some refuse vehicles.


Other than airport vehicles which have to fit under things, it's all for
the same reason - quick and easy access of people (be they staff or
passengers) into the vehicle.


Anna Noyd-Dryver

On 24/11/2019 21:00, Anna Noyd-Dryver wrote:

Is there some approved timescale for omnibus campanology of which I'm
somehow unaware?

I always wait for the next stop to be announced on the PA system, which
means that, very often, I don't get the chance to ring the bell.

--
John Ray

John Ray wrote:
On 24/11/2019 21:00, Anna Noyd-Dryver wrote:

Is there some approved timescale for omnibus campanology of which I'm
somehow unaware?

I always wait for the next stop to be announced on the PA system, which
means that, very often, I don't get the chance to ring the bell.


Could spend all day riding backwards and forwards on some routes waiting
for a PA announcement!


Anna Noyd-Dryver

On Sun, 24 Nov 2019 22:29:09 -0000 (UTC), Anna Noyd-Dryver
wrote:

John Ray wrote:
On 24/11/2019 21:00, Anna Noyd-Dryver wrote:

Is there some approved timescale for omnibus campanology of which I'm
somehow unaware?

In the past you would have got the rough end of the conductor's tongue
if the bus wasn't a decent distance away from the previous stop as it
was effectively treated as equivalent to pulling the alarm on a train.

I always wait for the next stop to be announced on the PA system, which
means that, very often, I don't get the chance to ring the bell.


Could spend all day riding backwards and forwards on some routes waiting
for a PA announcement!


Anna Noyd-Dryver

On Sun, 24 Nov 2019 21:00:07 -0000 (UTC), Anna Noyd-Dryver
wrote:

Charles Ellson wrote:
On Sun, 24 Nov 2019 11:55:10 -0000 (UTC), Anna Noyd-Dryver
wrote:

wrote:


Driving a lorry is like driving a large car for me. Driving a bus is wierd
however because you're about a meter in front of the steering wheels so you
have to leave turning movements later than feels normal.


Unless you're driving a half-cab or an Optare Solo

Bin lorries and some other specialist vehicles share the 'cab well forward'
position of a bus.

Often built by the same company - Dennis. Another of their design
oddities is cabs very close to the ground, usually on airport vehicles
but also see on some refuse vehicles.


Other than airport vehicles which have to fit under things, it's all for
the same reason - quick and easy access of people (be they staff or
passengers) into the vehicle.

Many airport vehicles tend to have equipment/structures which overhang
the cab. The great majority of refuse vehicles have conventional
height cabs including ones built by Dennis. AFAIR entry/egress is not
necessarily easier as the design causes the wheel arch to intrude into
the rear of the cab doorway and thus reduces the available width at
the bottom in what in photographs seems to be the shorter of two cab
lengths. Photographs also show that the rear door pillar is often
forward of the rear of the driver's seat thus preventing exiting by
simply turning through 90deg and stepping out.

On 24/11/2019 23:11, Charles Ellson wrote:
On Sun, 24 Nov 2019 22:29:09 -0000 (UTC), Anna Noyd-Dryver
wrote:

John Ray wrote:
On 24/11/2019 21:00, Anna Noyd-Dryver wrote:

Is there some approved timescale for omnibus campanology of which I'm
somehow unaware?

In the past you would have got the rough end of the conductor's tongue
if the bus wasn't a decent distance away from the previous stop as it
was effectively treated as equivalent to pulling the alarm on a train.



In plenty of places outside London, you got shouted at by the conductor
if you dared to touch the bell - that was his / her job. It was a bit of
a shock when I started to work in London and found out that I was
expected to ring the bell myself.

Anna Noyd-Dryver wrote:
Charles Ellson wrote:
On 24 Nov 2019 13:51:40 GMT, Marland
wrote:


Boltar may be a natural at vehicle handling which not all people are so the
physical driving was ticked off on the first day, the rest were spent
learning what the ringing sound was as the bus approached a stop.

Not in London then where you get ****s ringing the bell 0.1sec after
the bus has left the previous stop.


Is there some approved timescale for omnibus campanology of which I'm
somehow unaware?



Although I haven’t used one for some years now Southampton passengers
seemed to be very reluctant to use the bell to the extent that visitors to
the City sometimes remarked about it.
The technique seemed to be that someone wishing to alight at the next stop
would get up from their seat
and just lurk a few feet behind the driver who took that as the signal they
wished to get off .
I rang the bell once and the effect wasn’t that much different to that
created by trying to start a conversation on the London Underground.

Any other places where the use of the Bell was similarly disdained.

GH

Bevan Price wrote:

On 24/11/2019 23:11, Charles Ellson wrote:

In the past you would have got the rough end of the conductor's tongue
if the bus wasn't a decent distance away from the previous stop as it
was effectively treated as equivalent to pulling the alarm on a train.

In plenty of places outside London, you got shouted at by the conductor
if you dared to touch the bell - that was his / her job. It was a bit of
a shock when I started to work in London and found out that I was
expected to ring the bell myself.

Back when all buses used to have conductors, where I come from in
Barnsley, passengers were never supposed to ring the bell
themselves. You were expected to notify the conductor. If they
were upstairs, you had to make your way to the open platform and
shout up the stairs to them.

However, when I was at college in Salford it was expected that
passengers would ring the bell themselves. Forgetting which rule
was in force could be problematic, though I suppose missing your
stop was generally worse than being told off.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK
@ChrisJDixon1

Plant amazing Acers.

On Sun, 24 Nov 2019 10:58:07 +0000
wrote:
On 24/11/2019 10:50, wrote:
The test for a commercial vehicle is a LOT harder than a car. You don't get
away with many mistakes and the test enviroment is a lot more varied. Kev and

Trace might scrape through driving their corsa a bit erratically on a car
test
but they'd be failed in minutes on an HGV or bus test.

My cousin did his HGV test using all that was available... A tank
transported loaded with a tank.

Apparently he mounted the kerb several times and bent a few bollards but
still passed.

I'm guessing that was a while back, he wouldn't get away with that today.

On Sun, 24 Nov 2019 11:55:09 -0000 (UTC)
Anna Noyd-Dryver wrote:
wrote:
On Sat, 23 Nov 2019 23:22:23 -0000 (UTC)
Recliner wrote:
NY wrote:
"Charles Ellson" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 23 Nov 2019 12:34:10 +0000 (UTC), wrote:
It took me 4 days to learn to drive a bus - test on the 5th. And that
involves
having to actually steer the vehicle through narrow streets and around
parked
vehicles, not something train drivers have to worry about. So I reckon 2

or 3
days to learn to push a lever backwards and forwards and get a feel for
braking under different loads (no different to an HGV) and a few more
weeks for
for learning signals, basic trouble shooting and some routes. A month
tops.

What sort of vehicles had you driven before then? Were you already used to

driving anything larger than a standard Ford Cortina size of car?


But that is nowhere near as extreme as driving a bus which is wider still
and a lot longer. If you only had prior experience of driving a car, then
I'm impressed that you passed a bus test on day 5.

Neil also has an HGV licence — maybe he got that before driving the bus?

I did.



So you already had (a) experience of driving road vehicles (b) experience
of driving large road vehicles. 5 days to learn that the front wheels are
further back and that you have to look out for passengers?

Admittedly once you can drive a lorry there isn't much extra to driving a
bus apart from stopping points and being smoother with the throttle and brake.
Turns out people don't like being flung about like a container full of carrots.
Pity someone doesn't tell TfLs bus drivers.