Should someone who's been waiting longer than you at the bus stop always get on first?

[Letthebodieshitthefloor]

The bus I take is essentially a coach, always plenty of seats even at busy hours.

This morning I approached the bus stop, a woman was already there, and I saw her glaring at me because I was standing in the bus stop rather than at the side.

She then let another woman on first who'd perhaps been there longer than she had, then got herself in front of me and looked at me making sure I wouldn't get on before she did.

It's all a bit petty really, the bus was almost empty, it's not going to go without you.

If there were a pregnant/vulnerable/elderly passenger getting on and I could see there weren't many seats left then I'd let them on first.

@FourTeaFallOut

Of course the people who get there first go on the bus first. What are you, a savage?

This .

Though I wave elderly people and mothers with multiple small children on before me so they have time to sit down. When DS was a baby, I once had a stand-off with an elderly Japanese lady who was determined that baby DS (asleep in a sling) and I would get on before her. I won but it was a close thing!

Yes, who is at the bus stop gets on first
It is the bus stop law !

Doesnt matter if theres lots of seats first dibs, some of us prefer some over others and if we have been waiting longer of course we should get on first.

I'm so confused by this thread. I live in a northern city and everyone queues for the bus. It's not a case of not knowing who was there first, they're actually standing in a queue in the order they arrived. Everyone knows where the bus will stop as it stops at the ... bus stop?!?

This is the same in the rough inner city area I now live in, the nice suburb my OH lives in and the MC village where my dad lives.

I would let someone who had been there longer than me on first as I guess I would feel like it's a natural queue. But if someone got the the bus stop after me and was mobility challenged or pregnant or something, I'd let them go first. I wouldn't be particularly miffed if someone who arrived after me got on the bus first unless they barged past me and took the last seat left, that would be more about manners though than the actual bus queue. I do think it's polite to let other go first if they were there first.

Does this also apply to trains? Cos I (irrationally) loathe people who arrive 10 seconds before the train does and swan on ahead of me.

I live in Merseyside and I have noticed that while there is often no formal queue there appears to be in instinctive understanding of who was there first and last. It's a sight to behold.

I always let them go on first
Unless they are being pedantic and petty.

depends whether the one that's been there an age suddenly decides to start rifling through their bag/pockets to find the mask card/whatever becuase it never occurred to them they'd need to pay to get on the bus

If the bus is fairly empty, doesn't bother me too much, whoever is closest to the bus door when it pulls up.
TBF although I'm not particulalry elderly, people often gesture to let me get on before them, but I wouldn't expect it.

@WrongWayApricot

Where are all these londoners queueing at a bus stop? Zone eleventy hundred? In actual London it's the person who's in front of the door that is first, it's a lottery. The rude thing is when you lose the lottery and knock over the person who won, a la Kanye West. The other rude thing is not letting people off before you get on.

Err in many places all over London! I have been in London my whole life and more often than not, there isn’t an actual queue but people let others on who were there before them.

You always know who was there before you
you might well, but how do you know which bus they are waiting for?

@LaurieFairyCake

Literally everyone does this in London - it's amazing how organised we all are and how everyone knows 'their' place in the queue

There's so much politeness too 'no, you were here before me' with loads of smiling and nodding

Eh? Not in my past of London, it's a free for all! There's no effort to respect order if arrival - whoever is nearest the doors when the bus stops gets on.

But, I'm talking about inner London on bus routes with frequent buses where if everyone tried to respect the order you arrived it'd slow everyone down. Maybe that's why?

@LaurieFairyCake do you live in a vair posh bit of London? Locally, we do the bus queue etiquette thing. It's not the 'elderly women' quoted above who are the problem. Last time, a young bloke who got there after me was so determined to get on before me he actually shoulder barged me out of the way. I actually said to him, 'Your're obviously desperate to get on the bus'. Technically assault. Quite unnerving when someone 20 yrs younger thinks that's ok.

@daimbarsatemydogsbone

Does this also apply to trains? Cos I (irrationally) loathe people who arrive 10 seconds before the train does and swan on ahead of me.

Trains are always a lottery, if you're standing where the doors stop then you're first. If you've been there 5 minutes but you're sitting in the waiting room or standing where there's no doors then that's hard luck unfortunately.

@mangoontoast

I'm so confused by this thread. I live in a northern city and everyone queues for the bus. It's not a case of not knowing who was there first, they're actually standing in a queue in the order they arrived. Everyone knows where the bus will stop as it stops at the ... bus stop?!?

This is the same in the rough inner city area I now live in, the nice suburb my OH lives in and the MC village where my dad lives.

On London, at stops on busy routes with lots of buses there is often more than one bus (maybe several) at the same stop at a time. They stop, open their doors and you go to them. They don't wait their turn to stop at a assigned spot as that'd slow the service down.

I live in London and I have never stood in an orderly queue at a bus stop, people just pile on. Mostly because it's impossible to tell who arrived first as no one actually forms an orderly queue.

This is my experience too. Where I live you sometimes get 3 buses arriving at one time and you have no idea who wants which bus out of the 10 or 15 people standing there. You walk towards your bus and get on. Very different to where I grew up rurally where there was a clear queue as the buses were infrequent and the etiquette was first come first served so to speak.

This reminded me of a time I was at a bus stop and got told off for not letting someone on before me . It was a busy bus stop with about 10 buses stopping at it . I was with my baby and I saw my bus pulling in . I was about to jump on when a lady pushed me (and my baby ) out of the way, yelling at me because she was waiting before me . The bus was empty and the bus stop had about 20 people standing around waiting for various buses. I had no idea who was there first. I hate upsetting people though and instantly felt horrible but another couple saw what happened and told off the lady for being rude😅 now that I think about it she shoved me!! What the heck? I had a baby attached to me too. It was so rude.

@KatherineJaneway

I live in London and I have never stood in an orderly queue at a bus stop, people just pile on. Mostly because it's impossible to tell who arrived first as no one actually forms an orderly queue.

This is my experience too. Where I live you sometimes get 3 buses arriving at one time and you have no idea who wants which bus out of the 10 or 15 people standing there. You walk towards your bus and get on. Very different to where I grew up rurally where there was a clear queue as the buses were infrequent and the etiquette was first come first served so to speak.

Yes, in London where 3 or 4 buses come along at once the most difficult thing is telling which ones have actually stopped, just further back from the stop, or which ones are going to wait and only open the doors once they get to the bus stop itself. If you want one of the buses at the back of the queue you sometimes have to do a little jog back and forth

I'm from a village in Staffordshire where everyone made an orderly queue to get on the bus. I was very shocked when I first moved to London to realise that people mostly don't queue and just pile on when it arrives. There is definitely a Northern/Southern divide for bus etiquette.

@emmaw1405

I'm from a village in Staffordshire where everyone made an orderly queue to get on the bus. I was very shocked when I first moved to London to realise that people mostly don't queue and just pile on when it arrives. There is definitely a Northern/Southern divide for bus etiquette.

It's nothing to do with north / south, it's to do with the fact that many London bus stops, especially in central, are served by many different bus routes which arrive frequently. You can't have 15 different queues on the pavement.

It's not unique to London, any busy city will be the same.

Love a bit of drama on public transport. 2 ladies were arguing over the priority seat the other day on the tram even though there we so many other seats available. They even called over the conductor to officiate this madness, then woman who wasn't seated then got off at her stop about a minute later

Unless you form an orderly queue based on arrival time

Well, yes, you queue?

Yes, in London where 3 or 4 buses come along at once the most difficult thing is telling which ones have actually stopped, just further back from the stop, or which ones are going to wait and only open the doors once they get to the bus stop itself. If you want one of the buses at the back of the queue you sometimes have to do a little jog back and forth

Very true

@FourTeaFallOut

Of course the people who get there first go on the bus first. What are you, a savage?

Savage 😂😂

No, I'm in SE London ! - I queue at Blackheath/ Greenwich or Westcombe park for my buses
(I think it's posh though as I'm from a much more robust part of the country )