AIBU? Bus driver refused to let me on the bus

[tulipkisses]

Where I live buses can be infrequent and often delayed due to awful traffic. We also don’t have tap on/off, we have to show the driver our tickets or purchase one as we get on.

I work about a five minute walk from the bus stop. As I got to the bus stop this evening the bus was just pulling away, I checked the app and there was another one coming three minutes later.

It turned up and I put my arm out to hail it. It pulled in, someone got off and I stepped on. The driver refused to let me on because I “should have been on the earlier one”. He said if I walked onto the bus he wouldn’t pull away and would wait for me to get off, and he didn’t care about sitting there for hours to see if I’d stay on. He said he knew I was “only getting on this one for a faster journey” because it was empty compared to the one in front.

I have never experienced this in my life, I have no idea what to do? I have the number plate and I’m considering reporting it but this is just totally bizarre, should I have waited for the one after this one?

Definitely report him! If his bus is empty surely he would end up over taking the other bus anyway, then people would get on his bus.

I had a mate who drove buses.

On some routes at certain times of day you could pretty much guarantee where people would get on/off and which stops would be empty/no one would get off there.

That meant that as long as no one stuffed your routine by getting on at a stop you expected to be empty, you could speed through the route, get yourself five minutes or even more up on your schedule and then go for a fag/nip to the shop and get your lunch.. etc or if at the end of the shift, get back to the depot sooner.

Sounds like this bellend forget what the actual job entails and thinks you won't bother reporting it.

Not only would I report it but I would ensure I got on that bus every day of the fucking week for the next few months!

I'm in NW England. I was travelling to Liverpool.

I think I just got stuck with an arsehole in a bad mood as most of the drivers were lovely.

It probably won't. This assumption that an OP must be to blame is a feature of MN, not real life.

OP didn't mention what she was using to get on because it wasn't relevant. OP was clear, he refused her service because he thought she should have taken the full bus ahead. If her pass hadn't been valid for the journey she could have bought a ticket. But that was not mentioned just as it wasn't mentioned that the bus couldn't go any further because a UFO turned up and zapped the engine - because none of those things happened.

Yes, report him! What a weirdo (the driver, not you)

But how was he to know what time op got to that bus stop? She could’ve missed the earlier bus, infact she did !

i briefly worked in the HR dept of a bus company. Doesn’t surprise me …. There are some characters- report it

In no way did I assume. That is your choice of words.

When something improbable happens, one wants to assess the situation clearly. Knowing that there was no issue with the fare quickly disposes of an obvious question.

My message just above was for @RawBloomers

Unless his bus was displaying "Sorry, Not in Service" he should have picked you up. Definitely report him. Some of our buses end up playing leapfrog along the route, at busy times. Sometimes one bus drops out of service and passengers have to transfer to another bus. But they don't refuse to pick you up if they're still showing a destination and route number.

But this makes no sense. If you got on, he’d only have to stop once to let you off. And it sounds like he was stopping at every stop to tell passengers he wasn’t willing to stop at every stop.

Are you sure you understood him properly?

stagecoach by any chance ?

I would report this driver. Make a note of what time you tried to get on at which bus stop and yes, give them the licence plate number. It's his job to let you board the bus and to take you to the bus stop that you need to get to. His comment was bizarre and fails his job description. I live in an area where the buses are supposed to be 30min apart but sometimes they do 20 minutes and sometimes 45 minutes! So I understand how awful it is when a driver simply refuses to let you get on and the bus isn't even crowded- he has no excuse.

(In fact, in London, when buses often can be overcrowded, a bus being not far behind or immediately behind one of the same number and route is SUPPOSED to take on as many passengers as possible to ease congestion for the bus in front. So this driver's excuse is ludicrous.)

This happened to us on holiday in Edinburgh!! Although the guy did take us he was a right twat about it.

Standing outside the zoo in the pissing rain waiting on the bus into town. First bus pulls up and people pile on before us, standing room only. So husband flags down the empty one behind and we move from the back of the first queue.

The driver was a total knob about it (“you should just get on the one in front! I’ll take you this one time but don’t do that again!”) and to this day I don’t understand what his problem was.

WTAF?!?!? I have absolutely no idea what his problem was. He sounds like a nutjob. Yes. Report him 🤬

Please report it he sounds unhinged. If you google the bus number and route with garage you should be able to find the garage the bus is with and complain to them after (a long time ago I worked at transport for London and this was more effective). Also make a complaint to the bus company this sounds so weird and he is not doing his job of picking up passengers and driving a bus!

That's a very strange response from him so can see why the bus was empty if he refused others... report as he sounds mentally unstable. Just be glad you not in a bus he is driving!

That doesn't even make sense! He shouldn't be in charge of a bus.

Agree with pretty much all of the above, also, most buses have CCTV these days, so this can be checked - report, first by phone asap, & follow up in writing, calmly stating the facts - he shouldn't be in this job if he doesn't even want to DO what he is paid for - also, bad enough for you but what if this is the way he treats a very elderly or disabled person, a young person alone, or someone on their way to a hospital appointment etc. (If not reported then his employers won't ever know what he is like, and it will happen to a very vulnerable person). x

Ah was it the airport shuttle? The same thing happened to me outside the zoo! The bus stopped to let people off but the driver wouldn’t let us on. I said someone has just got off or we’d stand but he wasn’t having it! It didn’t look at all busy either. I wondered if it was the airport bus he didn’t like stopping but he spent longer arguing about it!
Edited, just realised it wasn’t the same thing but another driver being weird.

What the fuck?

What on earth?! Definitely report, he sounds worryingly unhinged.

OP, I’m a bit confused.

You said you stepped on the bus then said the driver refused to let you on. You were either on the bus or not and even if you weren't, how would he prevent you from getting on?

How did he think you “should have been on the earlier one” if he was three minutes after that one departed?

I think he said if she got on he wouldn’t move the bus until she got off?
I’d be tempted to sit on as what would he do when more people got on?

OP - how is this true? A bus pulled off which you didn't get and then three minutes later another bus turned up and the driver wouldn't let you on as he said you should have used the other bus?

How did the second bus driver have any idea when you were at bus stop and know you didn't get on the first 🤔