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.

I've had a quick google and can't easily find numbers for Edinbugh bus passengers, but I can find there are 70 routes and 700 buses, so it's nothing like the scale of London.

It's got more routes and busses because it's a shot load bigger and has more space to cover. A similar number of people are waiting and busses are stopping and individual stops

I'm American and I can tell you that in New York, bus lines can be incredibly long and complicated and only an idiot would dare to try to cut in line. New Yorkers are not shy.

I've travelled a lot by bus in London and what often happens if there is a wheelchair user who can't get on (often because the bus is parked with a bin or pole in front of the double doors and the driver hasn't noticed the wheelchair) is that someone shouts 'Excuse me driver!"/"Oi mate!" at the driver and alerts them to the situation. In most situations (with a few dispiriting exceptions), people seem quite eager to help.

Parents with young children/elderly passengers do generally have to fend for themselves though. I've seen little ones go flying across the bus more than once. Having said that, they learn fast. My 4yo has been capable of standing and holding tight to the rail when there are no seats for at least a year now. He knows not to let go.

@sqirrelfriends

I had no idea about this! I think I might be a CF

Are you British born & bread?

Bloody phone!! Bred

Are you British born & bread?

Bread doesn't usually take the bus. At least, not by itself.

@JasmineGarden there's a few that have missed the memo - including one poster who accused me of lying when I described the basic, every day way it works in our city 😆

@nonevernotever

Here in Edinburgh if you have a busy bus stop with a lot of different buses stopping, it's still regarded as correct to ask the people in front of you before pushing in. "Are you getting the 26?" If the answer is yes you step back and follow them on, if the answer is no then you can step past them with impunity. Very civilised! Until the festival when it becomes mayhem. But the offenders then can't all be from South London...

That's what we do here too (large town in SE). Or more often than asking the person in front, what happens is if you aren't waiting for the bus that arrives, you step to one side and say "I'm waiting for the next one" thus allowing anyone behind you to board the bus. Then you step back into the queue and wait for your bus.

Lived in London for over 20 years and this is broadly my experience:

Mostly follows the loose informal queue system, acknowledging those waiting first. Frequent at times though to get pushers in. Sometimes something is said, sometimes it’s not.

When there’s a tube strike or a line down or something, extremely large numbers surge to bus stops. It’s a scrum but there’s some tiiiiiny semblance of the informal queue. Mostly people are just grateful to get on A bus. If that total number of people don’t all get on a bus because it runs out of space (which is likely), the remaining mass of people would largely follow the informal queue - but a growing sense of collective anxiety unfolds where everyone left waiting for the next bus is waiting for the next surge of new people to have realised there’s no trains and need to get a bus home.

This is where it starts to get very tricky and it basically becomes a free for all. The original people left by the first bus still have a sense that they are “first” and will jostle into position as the next bus arrives. There’s a lot of jostling as there’ll be multiple buses coming and you’re never quite sure exactly whereabouts your bus will stop.

There’s nothing quite like experiencing this 😂🙈 Especially when you get trapped between the doors as the bus is full, and you’re pushing you’re way on and being pushed in by the people behind you, as the driver is yelling there’s no more space and is trying to pull away from the curb.

Now I think about it, it’s kind of mental.

I love the front window seat on coaches. I would have been very upset if you nabbed it after I’d been first in the queue.

*Mostly follows the loose informal queue system, acknowledging those waiting first. Frequent at times though to get pushers in. Sometimes something is said, sometimes it’s not.
*

Some of those pushers in are on this thread and seemingly unaware of this

[quote liveforsummer]@JasmineGarden there's a few that have missed the memo - including one poster who accused me of lying when I described the basic, every day way it works in our city 😆[/quote]
🙄🙄 yeah if it's not their experience, you must be lying 🙄🙄

I don't recall ever being 'taught' these things, it just seems like good manners, the way things are 💁🏻‍♀️

@MsJaneAusten

Was this in Britain?

Of course you get on the bus in the order you arrive. It’s literally what this country is known for

I'm intrigued to know how other countries board buses now

Please enlighten me , I would assume this is how everyone gets on a bus
What do they do where you live

I have queued in a Spanish bus station.
Italy was very free form however.

My husband squared up to and was close to thumping a dumpy middle-aged Spaniard who robustly elbowed me out of the way at Fuengirola bus garage - I believe I accidentally stamped on husband's foot which took his mind off it for some reason and avoided an international incident.

I've travelled around India on busses.

Now that is quite the experience!

[quote liveforsummer]@JasmineGarden there's a few that have missed the memo - including one poster who accused me of lying when I described the basic, every day way it works in our city 😆[/quote]
Oh come on, she didn't say you were lying about how things work in Edinburgh. She was saying that it has nothing to do with what happens in London. All this 'excuse me, are you waiting for the 11' -- I have never in my life seen this in South London.

But by all means, go on and give it a go on Brixton Road at rush hour.

This puts me in mind of a time when me and my 2 DC (10 and 12 at the time) went to a concert in Birmingham at the NIA. We left it at 10.40 pm as the last train back to Welshpool - where we lived at the time - went at 11.11 pm. So we legged it to the station, and got on the platform, where there was around 50 people waiting for the train.

By 11.10 pm, there were around 200 people waiting - for this one train that accommodated around 300 people. The train came, and it was half full already (of people from Birmingham International, and Coventry, and further back.) Some got off, but long story short, there was not enough room for everyone. There was only room for about 150 people.. Around 50 of the 200 people waiting would not be able to get on.

Me and the kids had got there early, and were pushed and shoved out of the way by dozens of people, and ended up on the platform, unable to get on the train. Dozens of others, elderly, disabled, and several people/couples with children could not get on.

A British Rail man came onto the platform, walked onto the train, and said 'anyone who is only going to Smethwick Galton Bridge, or Wolverhampton, PLEASE GET OFF. A train going to these 2 places is leaving at 11.30pm, you can get that one. We have people going further, to Telford, Shrewsbury, and Welshpool, who won't get home tonight as this is their last train.' Not ONE person moved. Not ONE.

The man then shouted 'myself and my colleague are going to go through EVERYONE'S tickets, and anyone who is only going to Wolverhampton or Smethwick Galton Bridge will be leaving the train.' Suddenly, approximately 60 people poured out of the train sheepishly....... SO the other 50 got on!

tl;dr, yes I DO think people should get onto public transport in the order they got there @Letthebodieshitthefloor

It's very obnoxious and rude to push in front. Who the fuck does this?

We got to the train station for about 10.55 pm by the way.

@NearlyAHoarder
Your mistake there was that you didn't acknowledge his rightful place in the queue. It only takes a split second to make eye contact, smile and gesture for them to go first. Most will smile back and return a gesture for you to carry on. The whole interaction can be completed before the bus door is fully open.
Basic manners, they cost nothing and they create a tiny moment of positivity in the day.

It's very obnoxious and rude to push in front. Who the fuck does this?

If you're at a bus stop where a large and constantly changing crowd of people are not in a queue but spread up and down the pavement, waiting for multiple different buses with a new bus every minute or so, not always in the same place, how on earth do you even keep track of who's in which order?

I grew up in East London ( and worked in central through my twenties) and observing the arrival order etiquette was very present then. The breakdown of this quirky politeness is symptomatic of the quiet charm we are losing as a culture. Individualism rules and it's all about 'me, me, me and my convenience and fuck everyone else'. Sad really.

@Blossomtoes

I thought queuing was our national pastime - we’re famous for it! Of course people should get on the bus in the order they arrive at the stop.

'At the stop', I was once in a queue for a bus and when it arrived half a dozen women came out of a cafe 20m down the way, 'We were here first'!

@PurpleRainlnTheSky

This puts me in mind of a time when me and my 2 DC (10 and 12 at the time) went to a concert in Birmingham at the NIA. We left it at 10.40 pm as the last train back to Welshpool - where we lived at the time - went at 11.11 pm. So we legged it to the station, and got on the platform, where there was around 50 people waiting for the train.

By 11.10 pm, there were around 200 people waiting - for this one train that accommodated around 300 people. The train came, and it was half full already (of people from Birmingham International, and Coventry, and further back.) Some got off, but long story short, there was not enough room for everyone. There was only room for about 150 people.. Around 50 of the 200 people waiting would not be able to get on.

Me and the kids had got there early, and were pushed and shoved out of the way by dozens of people, and ended up on the platform, unable to get on the train. Dozens of others, elderly, disabled, and several people/couples with children could not get on.

A British Rail man came onto the platform, walked onto the train, and said 'anyone who is only going to Smethwick Galton Bridge, or Wolverhampton, PLEASE GET OFF. A train going to these 2 places is leaving at 11.30pm, you can get that one. We have people going further, to Telford, Shrewsbury, and Welshpool, who won't get home tonight as this is their last train.' Not ONE person moved. Not ONE.

The man then shouted 'myself and my colleague are going to go through EVERYONE'S tickets, and anyone who is only going to Wolverhampton or Smethwick Galton Bridge will be leaving the train.' Suddenly, approximately 60 people poured out of the train sheepishly....... SO the other 50 got on!

tl;dr, yes I DO think people should get onto public transport in the order they got there @Letthebodieshitthefloor

It's very obnoxious and rude to push in front. Who the fuck does this?

Trains are always a free for all at New Street. If you don't know where the doors going to be when it stops you've no chance.

The thought of getting a bus without an orderly queue system is bringing me out in hives