Why does it take so long for bus drivers to swap over and why is it
done half way through a route?

In practise this shouldn't take too long, as the driver is approaching
the
stop where the changeover takes place he can sign-off his module and
print
off a waybill, then as the bus stops just grab his cash bag and leave
the
bus, the new driver gets in, signs on his module and drives off.

Are you seriously suggesting that a bus driver should do his paperwork
(even
if it on a machine not actually on paper) while driving the bus along the
road?

As a response to the question above, *and* to answer the
question in the subject line.....

Many years ago, I caught an overnight coach from London to
Edinburgh. The drivers changed over without stopping -
the outgoing driver standing up, the incoming one slipping
in behind him, with a co-ordinated hand- (and foot-) over of
wheel and accelerator.

A friend who worked on the buses in Edinburgh told me that
one day there appeared on the bus station noticeboard a
totally serious letter from an American tourist, congratulating
the company's drivers on having perfected this tricky and
impressive manoeuvre. It was, of course, accompanied with
a note from management saying that anyone caught doing
this would have their employment terminated immediately.
--
Garry Smith

In message , Garry Smith
writes
Many years ago, I caught an overnight coach from London to
Edinburgh. The drivers changed over without stopping -
the outgoing driver standing up, the incoming one slipping
in behind him, with a co-ordinated hand- (and foot-) over of
wheel and accelerator.
I've seen that done, too. Only once and - obviously - it *terrified*
me. The coach company concerned (from County Durham) is no longer
trading.

A friend who worked on the buses in Edinburgh told me that
one day there appeared on the bus station noticeboard a
totally serious letter from an American tourist, congratulating
the company's drivers on having perfected this tricky and
impressive manoeuvre. It was, of course, accompanied with
a note from management saying that anyone caught doing
this would have their employment terminated immediately.
I heard of something vaguely similar once where someone wrote a letter
of commendation to a tour coach driver, saying how good it was of the
firm to let him bring his pet dog along with him on the tours for
company.......
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

"foxy 1" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
oups.com...
Why does it take so long for bus drivers to swap over and why is it
done half way through a route?


It makes sense to change drivers partway through a route as it is more
than likely closer to the depot than either ends of the route.
In practise this shouldn't take too long, as the driver is approaching the
stop where the changeover takes place he can sign-off his module and print
off a waybill, then as the bus stops just grab his cash bag and leave the
bus, the new driver gets in, signs on his module and drives off.

I have seen this take just over 2 minutes, although no doubt can be done
much quicker.

Some drivers take longer because they like to have a chit chat as they
probably havent seen each other for days.

anyway just my 2p's worth.

Paul

It depends, sometimes if the previous driver is a midget then it takes
longer for me to squeeze into the seat and adjust everything, seat, mirrors,
clear out rubbish from the cab, hang up coat, 'login' etc. Ideally the bus
has arrived a couple of minutes early so I have a two minute window.
However if the next driver turns up 'on time' then that two minute delay can
be frustrating to the passengers I suppose.

Gaz

On Mon, 7 Feb 2005 10:38:50 -0000, "David B"
wrote:

Nowadays I work a National Express coach into London and I'm frequently late
due to traffic and sometimes due to people having lots of luggage and a
tight timetable. But unlike with buses, first use check of the vehicle can
take up to 15 minutes. Once I started a journey almost 15 minutes down
because of a toilet problem which needed fixing. I didn't get a murmour of
complaint from my passengers, some of whom had been waiting at the stop for
30 mins. They were just glad I had come at all!

Not in any way justifying those who treat staff in an inappropriate
manner, but most of those who travel by express coach (except, I
suppose, those heading for airports) do not have a time-sensitive
journey, as if they had they'd probably use another, faster mode.

A London city bus, OTOH, may well have people on their way to work or
to an important appointment. Not only that, but if your journey is
only 10 minutes long, you're not going to put 20 minutes' slack into
it, while those travelling for 6 hours probably won't think twice
about leaving an hour spare.

Neil

--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
When replying please use neil at the above domain
'wensleydale' is a spam trap and is not read.

On Mon, 07 Feb 2005 12:10:20 +0100, Guy Perry
wrote:

Passengers on citytraffic are somewhat spoiled. They seem to tke it as
granted that there's a bus coming up every 5 to 10 minutes

Not wishing to state the obvious, but if the timetable says every 5 to
10 minutes, they have a right to expect it. They are not "spoiled", it
is part of the "product" on offer.

ITYF that if all London bus routes operated hourly, there'd be a lot
more cars on the road, congestion charge or no. IOW, the two are not
comparable in that way.

Neil

--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
When replying please use neil at the above domain
'wensleydale' is a spam trap and is not read.

"Neil Williams" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 7 Feb 2005 10:38:50 -0000, "David B"
wrote:

A London city bus, OTOH, may well have people on their way to work or
to an important appointment. Not only that, but if your journey is
only 10 minutes long, you're not going to put 20 minutes' slack into
it, while those travelling for 6 hours probably won't think twice
about leaving an hour spare.


IMHO if you need to be somewhere at a certain time, moreso if you have an
appointment or interview, you simply have to add extra slack to guarantee
arriving on time. I think this applies whether you use public transport or
your own car, the difference being that if you use your own vehicle, you
can't blame someone else for not providing a service if there is a traffic
jam due to an accident or breakdown. If people generally left earlier, their
journeys would be less stressed and they would be more relaxed and lets face
it, in the example I spoke about we are talking about waiting 5 - 10 minutes
longer than they would have otherwise been, time which could be lost in a
traffic jam anyway. In fact if I recall, because there were buses behind me,
which thankfully overtook to help me out, I made up all of the lost time
anyway - didn't get any thanks of course. I could understand people being
angry at a 20 minute+ delay, but 5 - 10 minutes is IMHO pathetic.

Whilst a lot of my coach passengers use it because of its low cost compared
with the train and are only going as far as London, a lot are going to
airports or have connections for coaches going further west and north from
London and so in a sense their journeys are time sensitive. It is true the
train is faster but there is no guarantee of a seat and no real sense of
security particularly late at night although it is true most coach
passengers probably don't have a car.

On Mon, 7 Feb 2005 23:00:21 -0000, "David B"
wrote:

IMHO if you need to be somewhere at a certain time, moreso if you have an
appointment or interview, you simply have to add extra slack to guarantee
arriving on time. I think this applies whether you use public transport or
your own car, the difference being that if you use your own vehicle, you
can't blame someone else for not providing a service if there is a traffic
jam due to an accident or breakdown. If people generally left earlier, their
journeys would be less stressed

Oh, indeed, and I tend to do most long distance journeys in that
manner, and similarly any short-distance ones that are time-critical.

It's just that, regardless of the practicality of the situation, if a
10-minute journey takes 20 minutes, that's rather more annoying than
if a 6 hour journey takes 6.5 hours!

Neil

--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
When replying please use neil at the above domain
'wensleydale' is a spam trap and is not read.

David B wrote:

Most bus passengers are a miserable bunch. They whine and moan about
everything and anything, particularly if there is a delay of any sort. Coach
passengers on the other hand tend to be different and don't seem to mind
late running. As a for instance, I used to drive route 24 which had a 5
minute headway in the daytime. One particular morning the bus in front was
'missing' (either broken down in the garage or no driver available for it)
so the gap was increased to 10 minutes. It was around 8am, the morning peak
and I filled rapidly and the bus behind caught me up. The whining and
bitching and complaining at each stop as I picked up was unreal. "we've been
waiting 15 minutes for a bus and then 2 come at once etc" - I knew it had
been 10 mins since the last one went, I watched it leave. I also knew a bus
was missing and wasnt allowed to leave early. And I also knew I'd lose time
because of it.

So the buses were scheduled to run every five minutes, but you didn't
leave until ten minutes after the previous one??? Even though it would
delay you and at least one bus after you, causing huge inconvenience for
the passengers, and possibly preventing you from reaching the end of the
route in time to start the return journey on time? No wonder the
passengers were angry! I sincerely hope you made an official complaint
against the controller who had disallowed your early departure.

Buses on frequent routes should ALWAYS depart at as near to even
intervals as possible.

"Aidan Stanger" wrote in message
...
David B wrote:

Most bus passengers are a miserable bunch. They whine and moan about
everything and anything, particularly if there is a delay of any sort.
Coach
passengers on the other hand tend to be different and don't seem to mind
late running. As a for instance, I used to drive route 24 which had a 5
minute headway in the daytime. One particular morning the bus in front
was
'missing' (either broken down in the garage or no driver available for
it)
so the gap was increased to 10 minutes. It was around 8am, the morning
peak
and I filled rapidly and the bus behind caught me up. The whining and
bitching and complaining at each stop as I picked up was unreal. "we've
been
waiting 15 minutes for a bus and then 2 come at once etc" - I knew it had
been 10 mins since the last one went, I watched it leave. I also knew a
bus
was missing and wasnt allowed to leave early. And I also knew I'd lose
time
because of it.

So the buses were scheduled to run every five minutes, but you didn't
leave until ten minutes after the previous one??? Even though it would
delay you and at least one bus after you, causing huge inconvenience for
the passengers, and possibly preventing you from reaching the end of the
route in time to start the return journey on time? No wonder the
passengers were angry! I sincerely hope you made an official complaint
against the controller who had disallowed your early departure.

Buses on frequent routes should ALWAYS depart at as near to even
intervals as possible.

Well the thing is, the bus after me left on time, caught up and took my
passengers. The bus behind him wasn't that far away either (we became a
convoy of 3 at one point) ... and here's the best part. That missing bus
started in service from Camden (I started at Hampstead) and overtook me
somewhere near Warren Street. If I had left early I would definitely be
running early as there wasnt anyone to pick up! Thats a situation I'd rather
not try to explain to a revenue inspector who would see 3 buses in convoy
with me being last and slightly early. Whats my excuse?!

David B wrote in uk.transport.london on Mon, 7 Feb 2005 10:38:50 -0000
:

Most bus passengers are a miserable bunch. They whine and moan about
everything and anything, particularly if there is a delay of any sort.
[...]
The whining and
bitching and complaining at each stop as I picked up was unreal. "we've been
waiting 15 minutes for a bus and then 2 come at once etc"

Agreed. I've really never seen the point of grumbling at the driver of
the next bus, even less when (as I saw last week) it was a prolonged
rant at a driver on a different route/company, which only served to
propagate the delay further.


--
'charity begins at home'
- usually an excuse for not allowing it to get abroad
(Chambers 20th Century Dictionary)