I've said before how sections of route without bus stops being registered as Hail & Ride causes untold problems. The problem is that passengers firstly do not know what Hail & Ride actually means. They just stand there, impersonating someone waiting to cross the road and then phone in to complain when the bus drives past them. There are some who, while having grasped the concept of HAILING a bus in order for it to stop, do so almost in secret, with ridiculously puny hand gestures or stand in dangerous places: in between parked cars, at road junctions or on the brow of a hill.
Today saw me have an issue with someone who wanted to get off a bus in a tiny village. It has a bus stop in the centre, but at either end of the village we will stop for passengers. She boarded in a large town with someone else who wanted this village. This other person wanted the first unofficial stop, not the main, fixed bus stop in the village centre.
As we entered the village the bell sounded. This was not the woman whom I knew wanted the first, unofficial stop, but the first lady. I entered the village and as I pulled over for the unofficial first stop, the woman said, "They normally stop for me a lot sooner than this!" and got out without a bye-your-leave. The second woman, who travels regularly, said she'd never seen her in her life before so she didn't know which drivers dropped her off earlier, as she said.
Common Sense Solution: I just shrugged it off and got on with my journey. It did annoy me though that a woman who clearly doesn't travel very often thinks that all she has to do is ring the bell and the bus will stop precisely where she wants it to. We are all psychotic (or is that psychic?) Had the village had three fixed bus stop, one at the start/end as well as the central one, there would be no argument. Sadly, as I've said before, some councils and bus companies don't want to shell out on bus stop signs and poles. It all boils down to money.
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