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.

Well yes of course, though the recent trips I've taken someone has come along after me and because the bus doors were stopped in front of them, they got on first

I didn't glare though

This is what I was responding to:

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

And that’s what makes it difficult for people with disabilities, people in wheelchairs, elderly people etc. people who need the bus to pull in at the bus stop.

@CheeseMmmm sorry we are probably on the same page and I got muddled with all the responses. My brain is on a covid go slow and also semi trying to watch quite a complicated series. 😆 Interestingly though there are others from London on the thread that claim there is, at most times, a queue etiquette. As a visitor to London I don't use the busses in central (but do in greater) but I don't witness any more people standing at the stops, or busses arriving at them than there is in central Edinburgh. The people claiming there isn't one are the pushers that have been written about here and are either blissfully unaware or wilfully ignoring.

Out of manners you should join the back of the queue

I gave up on 'bus etiquette' after seeing the bus I wanted pull away, whilst the women in front of me dithered about and didn't look as if they wanted to board.

liveforsummer

Ah well that's a whole new level of complexity!

I'm pretty sure I said in my area about 9065 times in posts about this. Because it's different around London depending on factors some of which are probably so hard to think of they might as well be unknowable to anyone except the gods

I have pretty much fuck all idea outside of a sector of n London. Like a triangle point in Camden getting wider to edge.

I wouldn't like to even guess at what the done thing is anywhere else!

In fact etiquette varies through the day!
Eg has tube broken down, is it school kids commute time, are the buses or roads knackered and there's say 400 people at stop? When was last bus, did you not manage to get on last bus? Have you not been able to get on the last 3?
Etc etc.

In my area there's a code I suspect anyone who had totally different ways would need to get to grips over time

Oh and visiting 'town' as we call it here.

Unless keeping close eye on outgoings, or bus really handy for school/work/home.

In town the tube is the best quickest easiest most fab way to get about.

And more busy/touristy areas Central have such bad traffic might as well walk!

Off the beaten track you'll find them in town.
And Central is teeny part of whole London. In main areas for office/visit vv few people live there in general.
You want bus action go out a bit!
I would recommend Stratford bus station as a flavour of bus action!
Unless they changed it since I there 20 years ago

I do not use buses. I haven’t had to use a bus for 20 years, but I would expect in otherwise fit and healthy looking adults that you have to wait your turn.

Any reason why you don't use/ avoid?

Obv specific circs of course loads of people they are lifeline.

I live rurally and there is one bus every few hours that goes to a decaying town I never go to. Sometimes they don’t turn up at all, so you’d be stuck waiting another 2 or 3 hours. There are no buses in the evenings or weekends. If I lived somewhere were there is reliable, frequent transport to get around, I would quite enjoy a ride on a bus.

Fair enough klops.

The long term gradual removal of buses in areas like yours is appalling. Imo

It really is terrible. A lot of elderly people relied on the bus. I remember when I was using buses frequently how good it is to be higher up so you can have a nosey at things you wouldn’t normally see.

There's a load of news pieces about rural England and also (this I'm sure was pre devolution) the total annihilation of bus routes in the large number areas in Scotland where properly remote (more or less).

Same bottom line problem as closing down loads of post office type shops. Often meant the only shop for miles disappeared.

It's London centric, south east England centric, no fucks given for what means for everyone else. Just about saving money.

It's awful.

Yes I should think so.

I haven't got on a bus in years but even I did people queued at the bus stop and got on in order.

Last time I got a bus in the UK was in London. An older guy at the back of the queue marched past everyone, elbowed the elderly lady who was at that moment getting onto the bus out of his way, then called us all Jezebels for the duration of the journey.

I got home and told DH this story. He said “It was the bus from Kilburn wasn’t it?”

It was…

Oooh that DH guess is rife with 'problematic' stuff...

Interestingly though there are others from London on the thread that claim there is, at most times, a queue etiquette. As a visitor to London I don't use the busses in central (but do in greater) but I don't witness any more people standing at the stops, or busses arriving at them than there is in central Edinburgh. The people claiming there isn't one are the pushers that have been written about here and are either blissfully unaware or wilfully ignoring.

I see, because you've never experienced it, it doesn't happen.

I don't 'push in' neither am I 'willfully ignorant'. I have relayed what it us like where I live catching a bus. It does vary depending on where you live and the nature of the stop.

It's London centric, south east England centric,
It's not SE England centric, just London. I live in a market town 10mins outside M25 and there isn't a single bus around on a Sunday. A village 15mins further out has a bus route to the nearest 'big' town with one bus a week - it picks the shoppers up at 9am on market day and brings them back at 3pm. If you don't drive, you're stuffed.

Yes, I don't often use public transport but I do let others on first who've been waiting longer. That's fair. They should find a seat and sit down first. It is basic etiquette.

[quote liveforsummer]@CheeseMmmm sorry we are probably on the same page and I got muddled with all the responses. My brain is on a covid go slow and also semi trying to watch quite a complicated series. 😆 Interestingly though there are others from London on the thread that claim there is, at most times, a queue etiquette. As a visitor to London I don't use the busses in central (but do in greater) but I don't witness any more people standing at the stops, or busses arriving at them than there is in central Edinburgh. The people claiming there isn't one are the pushers that have been written about here and are either blissfully unaware or wilfully ignoring. [/quote]
London's massive. It's like several towns all up against each other.

There may well be etiquette in some parts of London that there aren't in others, and different at different times of the day, even. If you haven't travelled at rush hour in central London, you don't know the mayhem we're talking about!

Where I'm from, in the 80s and 90s, there was a culture of not paying on local journeys on buses or overground train (which was dubbed the "Hackney Free Line" as so few people paid). When they introduced barriers on the trains, I often saw people jumping over them at first, they were so used to not paying. Hackney was a bit wild west back then. (Now gentrified, nothing like it these days - full of media types and beardy young men).

That was a very localised "etiquette", it certainly didn't happen all over London in quite the same way.

I'd be surprised if there wasn't different etiquette at bus stops in Hackney, Chelsea, Eltham, Highgate, Moorgate or wherever. They are very different areas with different traffic levels, bus routes and demographics.

It all depends. I often find myself at the bottom of the heap, as the local practice appears to be disabled people first, then pensioners, then mums with buggies or just kids, then whoever has been waiting the longest. People will apply their own views and morality, but it doesn't stop there, the allocation of seats seems to be also stratified, with the seats nearest the front also allocated in this order. The worst I saw recently was a mum asking for a seat for their child to sit down. As someone else has pointed out, if the bus is empty, it doesn't really matter, but I do object hugely to people who insist on getting on first, then scramble about looking for their pass/phone/weekly ticket/change and/or proffer a 20 quid note for a £2 fare.

I would say yes, there is a strict queue etiquette. However, a bit like when the motorway is packed, it loses its structure at a certain critical mass of people.

Central London or busy tube station interchanges are sometimes different - the rules can break down and a "crowd surge" effect can be seen. But in general, you have to remember exactly what order everyone arrived. Breaches of that etiquette mean you're bringing on "queue rage"

That sounds amazing!

@HairyPottyMouth

That sounds amazing!

No, what. Sounds amazing is @MsJaneAustens Ultimo comment!