don’t just stand there!
<rant>
why do so many people stand on a double decker bus when there are seats upstairs?
i’m not talking about people who prefer to stand casually around the wider areas where pushchairs can go. i’m talking about the people who get on and pay and then move about 2 feet down the bus and just stop there. or those who start to climb the stairway to the heaven that is the upper saloon, only to stop about halfway up and after the quickest of glances decide that there are no seats when in fact there are several.
this leads the people who get on the bus at the next stop to mistakenly assume all seats must be taken, leaving them to move a little less again down the bus and park. and so it continues, until you have a bus approaching a stop looking like it’s heaving when it ain’t. or even worse, the driver can also be conned into thinking the bus has reached capacity and not stop at all!
as an all too frequent traveller on the infamous 39 bus route, i realise that a bus with empty seats on it is a rare enough occurrence as it is. although they may be used to having to stand all the way home, i wish they would please just check for a seat first!
</rant>
January 27th, 2005 at 12:13 am
I hope you feel better for that chicken ;o)
January 27th, 2005 at 7:55 am
ah not really but sure these things are better out than in! i’ll just try and take a few deep breaths the next time it happens instead and spare the web
January 27th, 2005 at 12:32 pm
not at all, what better place!
January 27th, 2005 at 12:48 pm
I know the 39 can fill up very quickly and if your upstairs its a battle attempting to get by people to reach that exit door. But yes your point about people standing downstairs when there’s empty seats upstairs is true.
January 29th, 2005 at 9:31 pm
do the drivers not have those little periscope like windows anymore that they can check what upstairs looks like through the reflection from the mirror near the front seat of the upstairs saloon??
i remember those. and the holler over the pa, “please go upstairs, there are plenty of seats.”
not being a bus frequenter (luckily i can take the sardine can luas) i’m not too familiar anymore.
January 30th, 2005 at 1:15 am
I’m six foot three and I tend to stop half way up the stairs ‘cos I hit my head.
January 30th, 2005 at 1:25 am
I don’t know about the 39, but the 213 here in London has a full CCTV getup these days. It is sad, but it seems to be needed.
January 30th, 2005 at 12:53 pm
i hate upstairs in dublin busses. it’s not just the smoking (which is crazy on the 39 route) but the difficulty of getting down the stairs when the bus is moving. the way most dublin bus drivers drive, you’re likely to be knocked off the stairs before you get to their bottom.
what’s funniest about the 39 isn’t the empty seats upstairs, but the empty seats down the back.
January 30th, 2005 at 7:58 pm
yep the bus driver has a mini tv view of the “upper saloon” on the newer buses here. i’m sure the luas is lots of fun too laura - it looks pretty squashed when i see it but i had an enjoyable trip to ranelagh when it first started - the plastic purple and yellow colour scheme made me feel like i was in a dyson though
martin, bus travel is bad enough, but i can’t imagine being tall helps so you have my sympathies! with the stopping halfway thing, i was really getting at the first person in a group who only goes halfway up, does not have a good look and then comes down announcing to the rest of the poor souls that all seats are taken!
and in the case of the 39 bus, most seats are normally taken, along with most standing spots. i’m writing about exceptional cases here - the route is ridiculously overcrowded!
you should give upstairs a try - it would make for an interesting photo gallery for you! smoking is only the start of it.. there is glue sniffing too! and how could i forget the time a guy decided to take a piss down the back!!!
take your point about sitting upstairs fmk but needs must! i have not encountered lots of free seats down the back?? sometimes there is an odd one right at the back but normally some thug has his bag or feet on it along with a look that says don’t come close! i usually do though :p
falling downstairs could be a problem at first alright! i am extremely clumsy but sadly a lifetime of bus travel means that even i am an expert in navigating down the winding stair
January 30th, 2005 at 10:19 pm
“i have not encountered lots of free seats down the back?? sometimes there is an odd one right at the back but normally some thug has his bag or feet on it along with a look that says don’t come close! i usually do though”
I don’t appreciate being called a thug
And I usually have very valuable things in that bag. Like my copy of The Da Vinci Code.
The upstairs thing … dunno, I think my attitude against is in ingrained, from growing up in Dolphin’s Barn and getting the 77 into town. And I wouldn’t even *think* of my pointing my cameraphone at those people. They’d feckin kill me!
Oh, and on the Luas thing. The Sunday Times today reliably (not) informs us that the latest “in craze” in Dublin is racing the Luas. Four of you get on, then one of you gets off at the next stop and has to race the Luas to the subsequent stop, where another gets off and the process is repeated. Presumably until one of you falls under the Luas and gets your legs chopped off.
January 30th, 2005 at 11:01 pm
if i ever spot you near me with your camera phone i’ll make the 39 posse look like teddy bears
fascinating stuff about the luas, given my level of fitness, i shall have to start training in order to stand a chance of competing while this is still “hip and happenin”… i’ll start out trying to beat the 39 bus down prussia street in the morning traffic - should not be too tricky even for me
February 4th, 2005 at 8:34 pm
I normally stand downstairs, even when there are seats around. But that is because I only really get it for a few stops when I am feeling lazy and by the time I struggled upstairs I’d be ready to get off.
But I agree, people should check upstairs. Got the 46 one day and the downstairs was smushed. Twice the driver (a mad russian fella who seemed to be trying to crash) told people to go upstairs, but when I finally escaped I noticed that upstairs was virtually empty.
March 15th, 2005 at 11:29 am
why is it that you get people standing for ages at a bus stop and when then bus eventually turns up, only then do they go searching for change???……. do they enjoy the delay?….WEIRDOS!
March 15th, 2005 at 11:32 am
people on the 40 bus routes are nothing but scumbags from finglas!!! why not leave the bus in the state of vandalism that they put it in along with the litter and ciggarette buts and let them travell in their own squallar!!!
March 27th, 2005 at 8:51 pm
When people who found guilty for smoking on trains, Luas & buses. All men & boys will face expel from Ireland & England for smoking in public transports. All women & girls will face one-year imprisonment for smoking in public transports. All smokers must be asked for cigarettes to be CONFISCATED.