To be fucked off with this bus situation?

[SharkiraSharkira]

Disclaimer: I am on my period so possibly a teeny tiny bit more emotional and unreasonable than usual.

Finished work and due to no transport and dp being unable to give me a lift, I had to get the bus home. I haven't taken the bus for about 2yrs but I went and stood on the side of the road it was last time I got the bus.

45minutes later the bus turns up finally (only 1 bus per hour) only to tell me I'm on the wrong side and need to wait even longer for the one going the other way. Because for some idiotic reason they have now reversed the bus schedule so you have to head away from X town (my destination) to get to it.

Now I accept it's my fault for not realising that I would now have to head in the opposite direction to get to my town but aibu to be SO fucked off because I was standing in the cold for over an hour, largely due to the fact that there is NO signage (or seating) whatsoever to tell anyone which destinations are in which direction or any timetables as to when the bus actually comes. So basically I was just supposed to stand there until one turns up and ask or just guess? Aibu to think this is fucking stupid and to be incredibly annoyed?

[SharkiraSharkira]

Ps: I would have looked the times etc up on my phone but no bloody signal in that area!

[Shoxfordian]

Sounds really annoying for you. I suppose you could have checked it online before you went but still. I'd be annoyed too

Still at least you know for next time!

Hope you're on a bus now

[DJBaggySmalls]

Thats batshit. Rhe lack of signage is ridiculous given how counter intuitive the route is, contact the bus company and ask them to add a map and timetable.

[Fruitcocktail6]

Sounds like you live in the middle of nowhere!

[Astoria7974]

I live in a major town and we still get bus stops like this with no signage. I have taken to publically humilating the bus company on Twitter - it works!

[bigbluebus]

I never know how bus companies expect people who don't regularly use a service to understand how they operate. We also live on a 1 bus an hour route between 2 major towns. But the 8.15 am bus through our village goes down a completely different road in the village and stops at a different bus stop to those the rest of the day. There is nothing in the village (or on the internet) which would give you a clue about this. The same bus then goes on to the next town where it stops outside the secondary school. The bus travelling back the other way throughout the day stops opposite the school - except for the 3.30pm bus which goes the opposite way around the town so that it can stop on the same side of the school and save the children having to cross a busy road. All makes perfect sense except it in not clear on the timetables (when they are displayed at the bus stops at all) and causes no end of confusion as you could easily be on the wrong side of the road for the bus in the town centre having no clue about the altered arrangements for the school.

It is like some sort of secret society that you only know about if you are a regular bus user. How hard can it be to just give accurate information.

[LurkingHusband]

You'll be telling us they would only take the exact change next !!!

[IamFriedSpam]

YANBU why on earth is there no bus stop or timetable to let people know where they should be waiting?

[melj1213]

It's like in my town - there's a straight section of a long road with 3 bus stops, each about 100m from the next ... each stop is for a specific bus , but unless you use that stop regularly, you wouldn't know which is which as they are all identical - bus stop sign but no seating/shelter or timetable to denote which bus stops at which stop.

I once waited at the 1st stop for 25 minutes, only for the bus I wanted to get sail past me, the driver shaking his head and wagging his finger to say "no" when I signalled for him to stop. He then pulled up at the 3rd stop 200m down the road, so I ran after him and he waited until I was almost at the stop before pulling away again and ignored me shouting.

I caught the bus registration and sent an email to the bus company with the registration, time/route and explained that there was no way to tell that each stop was for a specific bus or which stop was which and to complain about what happened with the driver. They eventually replied and while they were very apologetic about the driver's attitude they said there were no plans to change any signage on the stops! All it would take would be a small sign or even a sticker on the bus stop signs to say "Bus Stop 1 - Number 43" "Bus Stop 2 - Number 31" "Bus Stop 3 - Number 241" and clear up any confusion!

[Megatherium]

What signage do they have on the stops? Round us they tend to have at least a small sign giving rough timings and saying what the final destination of the various buses is. Surely that's the minimum that it's reasonable to expect?

[SharkiraSharkira]

You would think so Meg but no, there is nothing! Just a sign with the company name on the let you know that it is in fact a bus stop. That's it!

Maddening, but I did get home eventually

[TheProblemOfSusan]

That's batshit. I'd be really pissed off.

This is making me really appreciate London buses.

[DreamingofItaly]

I'd be pissed off too. Many years ago, I got on the "wrong" number 78 in Edinburgh when I was staying there. We got to the end of the line and the driver asked if I was getting off. I advised my destination and he went "ah, you want the other 78". Turns out there's two bus routes, with the same bus number, one of them turns! I got back eventually but it was a bit scary as a 19 year old alone in another country!

Write to the bus company and ask them to add signage. They prob won't as they didn't for mel but worth a go.

[CheshireChat]

My DP is a bus driver and has to check the specific route the bus takes. Apparently, it makes perfect sense for the 7 to have a slightly different route because you get on at X place .

[Megatherium]

I assume bus companies must have some sort of licence to run bus services? It might be worth finding out who awards the licence and getting them to apply pressure on the company to sort out the signs. The cost would be pretty minimal.

[CheshireChat]

Apparently it's the council that maintain the signs and decide where the bus stops actually are.

[Itisnoteasybeingdifferent]

There has been a deliberate process of reducing the number of "stops" over recent years inrsponse to the twrget setting of the previous government.,

"Stops" were measured for timekeeping with penalties applied for running late. The easiest way to reduce panalties is to reduce the number of stops. So the bus company has probably done away with the signposts to avoid getting fined.