I just want to express my distaste at having been told today by a bus driver to “look more like you’re waiting for the bus.” I’ve lived in Halifax for eight years and standing at the bus stop and looking at the approaching bus has always been enough. Should I also wave my arms wildly? Use a flashlight to signal in Morse code that I would like to take the bus? I sometimes will shake my head at an approaching bus to signal that I’m waiting for a different one (when I’m the only person at the stop), as a courtesy to the driver, but I would hope that standing at a bus STOP would be enough to signal to the driver that he/she should STOP for me. The sass was unappreciated, especially after waiting twenty minutes for a bus that never appeared. —Perpetually unpunctual
This article appears in Sep 11-17, 2014.
Is that the kind of customer skills they teach at h^l^f^x transit Wheels? Were you the driver in this instance?
311?
I’ve seen people stranded when they haven’t stepped away from the building they were leaning against as the bus pulled up, which makes sense if nobody makes an intent to board. One time in front of the Discovery Center, 5 of us were standing up at the curb, except I may have been back a foot or two due to the way the mirrors reach into the sidewalk. Our bus passed us by as from what I can tell the driver was too busy paying attention to the two hot chicks coming out of Venus Envy. I gave him a pass that once.
Lol Klyde beat me to it!
WHEELS STRIKES AGAIN!
I step down into the street and wave my arms and make eye contact. This is a habit I picked up when I lived in England in the only town in the whole of the UK with shitty transit service. When I do this here, I get a 50/50 reaction from drivers: a thanks for being very straightforward, and snark “what, you didn’t think I was going to stop?” (no, actually, I don’t EVER presume they are going to stop).
You have to waive ’em down in Ottawa, too – especially on the transitway when they’re going like a bat outta hell.
Rules of the Road: always display/telegraph your intent. This is true for motorized vehicles, self-propelled vehicles, pedestrians … and even ships/boats.
Don’t assume that everyone around you knows what your intent is.
I would tend to agree with OB though that if I am standing at a bus stop in near proximity to the actual sign where the bus is supposed to pull over … this should be enough to tell the driver you are waiting to becoming his/her passenger.
You must have left one important fact out. Otherwise if you were as you say at the bus stop (not 3 or 4 feet away from it) and looking at the driver, then he/she would have stopped for you. It isn’t rocket science, but I hear complaints from people who tell me the last bus passed right by them. Like a woman who got on my bus the other day saying that as the bus she wanted was approaching she crouched down to pick up her backpack and the bus drove by her. Well my dear as your bus approched you decided to crouch down, stop making eye contact and look like you are not interested in the soon to pass bus. You would be surprised at how many idiots there are out there that think we can read minds and know what they are thinking. This city should start training the public on how to take a bus because it’s obvious you people are dumber than a bag of door knobs.
Yours truly.
LOOKING MORE LIKE YOU’RE WAITING FOR THE BUS
“I just want to express my distaste at having been told today by a bus driver to ‘look more like you’re waiting for the bus.'” Perpetually unpunctual
Perhaps you should leave the fishnets and spike heels at home.
A pleasure as always.
Cheerio!
This sounds like something I would say, but I haven’t said it this week yet.
When you see the bus coming, look at the bus and take a step forward. That’s the easiest way to look interested. No arm waving or morse code required. If you look more interested in your phone than my bus, I will act accordingly, but slowly to give you a chance to look up first.
Shelters are great, but exit them when I approach please. Especially true when there’s an ad in the way or at night when all I can see on them is glare.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXQhYLaQ3jw