Bus stop etiquette... WIBU?

[GimbleInTheWabe]

I just got shouted at by a man for 'standing in front of him' at the bus stop.

Now it was your bog standard London bus stop. Frequenting this urine-tinged vestibule was Shouty Man (SM), a lady with one of those double decker buggies and me. Buggy lady and SM were under the shelter and there was no space for me so I stood beneath the actual bus stop post itself. It's a very narrow pavement and where I stood took up the least amount of passable pavement space (plus it was out of the way of the soggy leaf pile too).

Anyway there I was happily listening to my music and SM comes over and bollocks "why did you just purposely stand right in front of me knowing I won't be able to see the bus coming? I know what kind of person you are!" And some other utter crap that I can't remember. He barely took a a breath so I didn't have a chance to say anything back. Tbh I was totally  (in that order) and he had a totally crazed look in his eye so I didn't want to poke the bear. I kinda of just laughed and the bus appeared literally straight away so I flagged it. He then said as the bus approached 'I'm getting on the bus first because I was here before you! I know what kind of person you are!' Good for you mate, mind the step.

Anyway, on reflection I guess I was standing right in his line of sight for the approaching buses but there wasn't really anywhere else to stand. Did I go against bus stop etiquette? Should I have stood in the soggy leaves and in the way of anyone using the pavement? Or maybe at the other end of the bus stop?

My first AIBU! So go on vipers, WIBU?

👆🏽What Edwinbear said. Bus queuing in London is a polite free for all.

I agree the fact it’s a London bus is significant.

In London yanbu for standing there and he is VBU for talking to a stranger on/near public transport.

Outside of London and you were rude and should have stood where everyone else is saying. Possibly said good morning politely to the two people waiting when you arrived depending on area.

Context is king!

Definitely NBU.

Just about every bus stop in a London is serviced by at least three busses. There is no queue and you did nothing wrong.

@AppleKatie 😂😂😂

I was at the bus stop last week. 19 or 20 people, stood shoulder to shoulder, along the pavement, in a line from the bus stop down towards the shelter. An older lady, pulling a shopping trolley, walked ⅔ of the way up the line, looked at me and said "is there a queue?...." I leaned forward out of the queue, looking the remaining ⅔ of the way down the queue to the end and said "yes... It starts there...." She looked fairly disgruntled and made her way to the end.

@Iputthescrewinthetuna oooh where abouts are you from?? The 24 runs near me!

I'm always excited when I find someone on MN who is local to me... I often think of posters as mythical beings who could never get on the same bus as me because they only exist in cyberspace.

I don't catch the bus anyway.

Maybe it's a 'London Vs the real world issue' then. I also never really felt like a queue system was in place when waiting for a bus either. God forbid someone actually conversing with me why do you think I wear noise cancelling headphones?

Tbh I stood where I did because it seemed to make sense to me (not in the way of the pavement and no room under the shelter), but I was blocking his view and maybe I should have hung at the back end of the bus shelter.

And obviously in the future I will immediately assume that any person shouting in my face and being aggressive has MH problems (and isn't just a twit) and therefore I cannot hold an opinion on the matter for fear of mocking them. Gotta love MN logic!

There USED TO BE QUEUES for London buses

Damn shame nobody gives a fuck no more . Ignorance.

Well @IAmGrootGrootGroot it was in fact the 249, so - almost! Though I never ever ever get the bus ever either and only ever travel by chauffeur, because London.

I can concur with your excitement when someone is from your ends though- aren't you all just robots here for my own amusement or something?

My poor DS got shouted at by a ranty woman on his first bus journey to secondary school. There were only three people waiting, my two ds and ranty woman. Ds went to look at the timetable on the actual stop because he was nervous about missing the bus and (according to his brother) ranty woman laid into him about jumping the queue. He was quite upset.

I always assumed the bus queue was a bit like waiting to be served at a bar. You all know where you are in the queue without physically having to stand exactly in the necessary spot. In my case that often means a little vigorous “no, after you” - ing just to ensure I haven’t inadvertently upset anyone.

@IAmGrootGrootGroot Ooh Hi! Maybe we know each other haha!!
I'm actually not on 24 route, I used to be. I'm Bartley green now. So X22!
Are you in Quinton?

In London, if you get tired easily, have mobility issues or have small children, you sit in the shelter until your bus approaches, then queue up.

Tbh people who get in the way of my line of sight at the bus stop infuriate me, but I'm a very impatient and unreasonable person

Only queues for London buses are the ones at Waterloo station. Otherwise it's every man for himself within reason. If you want to be first on the bus you don't sit in the shelter, that's just how it is.

Busses are definitely every man for himself

We don’t queue for buses here until the bus actually comes, then people queue - usually waving those who were there first/are juggling kids etc ahead to be polite.

Not in London. There is a queue. It starts in the shelter then progresses outwards. So people in the shelter are first in the queue. (The post has nothing to do with it - buses pull up to the shelter).

If not busy / big shelter / all sitting then not a physical queue - more an 'honor queue' or whatever the name is when people are all aware of their order of arrival and naturally defer until it's their turn.

What I do find annoying is when it's raining and I want to use the shelter to shelter and it's not that full but people are queueing outside. I will in that case 'jump the queue' to use the shelter but honourably maintain my queue position when the bus arrives. In my view shelters are for sheltering under.

Standing in front of the person at the front of the queue would be pretty rude.

YWBVU to start a thread about this non-event.