The Surreptitious Wavers

Some people have no idea about travelling on buses. That's not to say we drivers should lambaste them at all times for this ignorance, as this won't assist modal change at all. But there are some occasions when people are beyond help. One such incident took place today.

I, due to the rota I'm on, have a nice rural Saturday shift every 10 weeks. It is a wonderful shift that goes between Town A and Town B. I do a number of runs in the morning and have 1 run covered by another driver, before doing a couple more in the afternoon. The driver who did my missing run had brought a couple of OAPs from Town A to a country house which is on the way into Town B. I know this as I asked him. As they alighted, they asked him where they should wait for the bus back to Town A. He told them to stand opposite and hail the driver 'so he doesn't think you're just waiting to cross the road'. All well and good.

At the time, I didn't know about this exchange and I was passing the country house heading towards Town A. I saw some people stood on the opposite side of the carriageway (a single carriageway but there's a barrier in the middle to stop people turning right from the country estate). I thought it odd that two people should be stood where they were as I was the next bus in that direction in a little under 2 hours.

As I was passing at 50mph (legal limit for my road) I saw the female of the couple stick her hand out from her waist. Not her arm outstretched, just her hand. It was both pitiful and laughable. And of course futile as I was headed in the opposite direction at 50mph and there was a barrier separating the carriageways so it would have taken literally 5 minutes for them to walk around. Five minutes I didn't have and five minutes my existing passengers wouldn't have wanted to be needlessly delayed while I waited for them.

I can't fathom why they thought the return to Town A, from whence they'd came, would be in the direction of the adjacent Town B - and after the driver who brought them here told me what he'd told them, how can you convey people like this when they can't even understand a very straightforward instruction.

Yes, yes, I'll be old one day, but when I'd told to stand opposite and outstretch my arm, I'll, er, stand opposite and outstretch my arm.

Common Sense Solution: Precisely what happened. Sometimes it is simply unsafe to stop. Passengers do not research their journey by bus in the same manner that they would by train and certainly by plane. Buses benefit from being the ultimate in turn-up-and-go public transport, but then suffer from the associated arrogance and ignorance when people become blahzay.