A friend of mine got a phone call at daft o’clock one evening from his son who hadn’t turned up home.
“Dad, can you pick me up from the city centre please?”
Bear in mind that he lived in a smaller town 40 miles or so from the city; on a bus route that spanned two cities about 90 miles apart.
Turns out that he had been taught how to board a bus; ask for a ticket; pay; and take a seat… but never learned how to leave a bus.
His dad was understandably pissed off, having been kicked out of bed at midnight to do a near two-hour round trip drive to pick his lad up. He asking him why he hadn’t pushed the bell to signal the driver to stop.
“I thought they were just emergency stop buttons, and because I told the driver where I was going when I got the ticket, I thought he would stop for me… and when he didn’t, I just sat and waited until the end of the line”.
I thought buses just stop at a station, you have to signal to the driver to stop? I’ve never ridden a bus before, so at least that’s my main reason, but if I got on and didn’t see a button or anything, I’d probably make that mistake 💀
Even in my tiny country. Small town bus makes stop if you stand up or someone’s waiting, capital city bus makes every stop, other city bus needs to be prompted by the light.
So I definitely missed my stop first time I took the bus in the other city lol
I’ve seen the stop request signals in a lot of city buses where there’s a stop every block or so. The bus will stop at bus stops where people are waiting, driving past empty bus stops, and if someone on the bus requests to stop it will stop at the next stop to let them off
It’s mostly now buttons next to the windows/on a pole connected to the seats. Rarely and mostly on older busses, there may be a cable running along the upper edge of the windows. When you trigger either one, it signals the driver to stop at the next bus stop on the route (rather than only stopping if picking someone up) to allow you to get out.
I’m American, but like I said, I’ve never had to ride a bus (besides HS school buses). My sister used to ride a bus to community college, only cause she was too afraid of driving originally.
A friend of mine got a phone call at daft o’clock one evening from his son who hadn’t turned up home.
“Dad, can you pick me up from the city centre please?”
Bear in mind that he lived in a smaller town 40 miles or so from the city; on a bus route that spanned two cities about 90 miles apart.
Turns out that he had been taught how to board a bus; ask for a ticket; pay; and take a seat… but never learned how to leave a bus.
His dad was understandably pissed off, having been kicked out of bed at midnight to do a near two-hour round trip drive to pick his lad up. He asking him why he hadn’t pushed the bell to signal the driver to stop.
“I thought they were just emergency stop buttons, and because I told the driver where I was going when I got the ticket, I thought he would stop for me… and when he didn’t, I just sat and waited until the end of the line”.
Poor soul.
I thought buses just stop at a station, you have to signal to the driver to stop? I’ve never ridden a bus before, so at least that’s my main reason, but if I got on and didn’t see a button or anything, I’d probably make that mistake 💀
It differs regionally.
Even in my tiny country. Small town bus makes stop if you stand up or someone’s waiting, capital city bus makes every stop, other city bus needs to be prompted by the light.
So I definitely missed my stop first time I took the bus in the other city lol
They by default stop at stops only if there is someone waiting there, otherwise you need to call the stop by pressing the button.
I’ve seen the stop request signals in a lot of city buses where there’s a stop every block or so. The bus will stop at bus stops where people are waiting, driving past empty bus stops, and if someone on the bus requests to stop it will stop at the next stop to let them off
It’s mostly now buttons next to the windows/on a pole connected to the seats. Rarely and mostly on older busses, there may be a cable running along the upper edge of the windows. When you trigger either one, it signals the driver to stop at the next bus stop on the route (rather than only stopping if picking someone up) to allow you to get out.
that’s so wild. is it too personal to ask what country you’re in?
I’m American, but like I said, I’ve never had to ride a bus (besides HS school buses). My sister used to ride a bus to community college, only cause she was too afraid of driving originally.
oh yeah i forgot america has special school buses. that makes more sense.
That’s something I pretty frequently hear from parents with autistic childs
You should tell your friend to watch out for other potential signs and maybe get his son checked out by a health professional
As someone who has grown up with social anxiety, this easily could’ve been something that happened to me…
How many of us haven’t actually done that but feel like we should have?
I can’t say I’ve never done almost exactly that