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Optimum Position When Waiting To Board A Bus
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? The shape of the bus 'queue', a huge flattened semi-circle of people seems to suggest that people board from the sides faster than from the front but whatever position I take I'm always one of the last people on the bus unless I'm right at the front to begin with. Gaz. |
Optimum Position When Waiting To Board A Bus
"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? The shape of the bus 'queue', a huge flattened semi-circle of people seems to suggest that people board from the sides faster than from the front but whatever position I take I'm always one of the last people on the bus unless I'm right at the front to begin with. Gaz. I'm sure you must have better things to worry about, but haven't you anwered your own question? The flattened semi-circle is a age-old pattern adopted by Londoners to access narrow doors, and - as you say - wherever you tack on its perimiter you will get to the door last. |
Optimum Position When Waiting To Board A Bus
"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. Steve TBM |
Optimum Position When Waiting To Board A Bus
"SteveTBM" wrote in message
... "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! |
Optimum Position When Waiting To Board A Bus
London Transport used to have a by-l;aw requirement that an orderly queue was
required for boarding a bus. I know it might be irrelevant for all intents and purposes, but I can't help feeling that abolishing the by-law was a retrograde step and sent out all the wrong messages about what is, and what is not, civilised behaviour, at a time when many people haven't the foggiest idea of how to behave. Marc. |
Optimum Position When Waiting To Board A Bus
Nick Cooper wrote:
On 10 Oct 2004 10:57:27 GMT, (Mait001) wrote: London Transport used to have a by-l;aw requirement that an orderly queue was required for boarding a bus. I know it might be irrelevant for all intents and purposes, but I can't help feeling that abolishing the by-law was a retrograde step and sent out all the wrong messages about what is, and what is not, civilised behaviour, at a time when many people haven't the foggiest idea of how to behave. 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. Why should it be any different to a tube station? My local bus stop is served by 7 routes, has a shelter with maps, and timetables on the stop itself. It's not an environment that lends itself to an orderly queue. -- Richard J. (to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address) |
Optimum Position When Waiting To Board A Bus
(Nick Cooper) wrote the
following in: On 10 Oct 2004 10:57:27 GMT, (Mait001) wrote: London Transport used to have a by-l;aw requirement that an orderly queue was required for boarding a bus. I know it might be irrelevant for all intents and purposes, but I can't help feeling that abolishing the by-law was a retrograde step and sent out all the wrong messages about what is, and what is not, civilised behaviour, at a time when many people haven't the foggiest idea of how to behave. 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. 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? -- message by the incredible Robin May. "The British don't like successful people" - said by British failures Who is Abi Titmuss? What is she? Why is she famous? http://robinmay.fotopic.net |
Optimum Position When Waiting To Board A Bus
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. -- Nick Cooper I couldn't agree more. I spent a year of my youth (in 1974-5) in a Caribbean country (a former colonial territory) where we compared unfavourably the inability of people to queue for buses, despite everything else that was "British" about their behaviour. I suspect that their behaviour there now is far more orderly than it now is in London, such as been the degeneration of behaviour in the Mother Country. Incidentally, I suspect the standard of their spoken and written English is, nowadays, far superior too! Marc. |
Optimum Position When Waiting To Board A Bus
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. -- congokid Good restaurants in London? Number one on Google http://congokid.com |
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