A boring post about London buses

[UTH]

I often have to get a bus from Waterloo station - I have two options, both of which start their route at Waterloo.
Pretty much every time, there will be that bus sitting waiting to start its route, driver either in it, or somewhere near. The timetable says something like 'every 6-8 mins'. Yet, almost every time I've found myself waiting 10-15 mins for it to actually get going.

Anyone got any idea why they are unable to stick to the time tabled 6-8 mins given it's the START of the route?!

[greygoose]

Perhaps they are the next but one bus, so are leaving on time?

[UTH]

greygoose said:

Perhaps they are the next but one bus, so are leaving on time?

Well, one of the two buses I have stood at the stop and watched it countdown until it says 'due' and then it has sometimes been 10 mins from that point when it actually goes! And I can see it just up the road sitting there. Meanwhile 2 or 3 others have ticked down to 'due' and turned up and gone, but my route seems cursed.

[Mandat]

Drivers need their rest breaks, which are probably heavily controlled by the drivers and their unions, hence the bus sitting at the start of the route but not going anywhere.

[Glosphil]

Living in a small town in Gloucestershire I would welcome a 15 minute wait for bus. An hour between buses & even then occasional don't turn up.

A friend lives in a village that has one bus a week to the nearest large town, on a Saturday. Goes at 8:30 & leaves to return at 15:00.

I visited Bournemouth & was astonished at the bus service to Poole. On one occasion when using the service I could see the same number bus ahead & behind!

[Rebew]

Glosphil said:

Living in a small town in Gloucestershire I would welcome a 15 minute wait for bus. An hour between buses & even then occasional don't turn up.

A friend lives in a village that has one bus a week to the nearest large town, on a Saturday. Goes at 8:30 & leaves to return at 15:00.

I visited Bournemouth & was astonished at the bus service to Poole. On one occasion when using the service I could see the same number bus ahead & behind!

In rural Devon the bus to Exeter goes once every two hours. I was following the bus at the weekend and saw an older lady just coming round the corner as the bus drove off. I flashed the bus but it drove off anyway (I imagine they are quite used to being flashed at given their standard of driving!) I would have offered her a lift to the next stop but the car was full.

So yeah, there is my boring story about Devon buses on your boring post about London buses

[UTH]

Rebew said:

Glosphil said:

Living in a small town in Gloucestershire I would welcome a 15 minute wait for bus. An hour between buses & even then occasional don't turn up.

A friend lives in a village that has one bus a week to the nearest large town, on a Saturday. Goes at 8:30 & leaves to return at 15:00.

I visited Bournemouth & was astonished at the bus service to Poole. On one occasion when using the service I could see the same number bus ahead & behind!

In rural Devon the bus to Exeter goes once every two hours. I was following the bus at the weekend and saw an older lady just coming round the corner as the bus drove off. I flashed the bus but it drove off anyway (I imagine they are quite used to being flashed at given their standard of driving!) I would have offered her a lift to the next stop but the car was full.

So yeah, there is my boring story about Devon buses on your boring post about London buses

Excellent, I feel every day of my 40 years right now.

[Roofless Toothless]

Mandat said:

Drivers need their rest breaks, which are probably heavily controlled by the drivers and their unions, hence the bus sitting at the start of the route but not going anywhere.

Actually the rules about drivers rests are controlled by the Health & Safety at Work Act.

[bigpriest]

Mandat said:

Drivers need their rest breaks, which are probably heavily controlled by the drivers and their unions, hence the bus sitting at the start of the route but not going anywhere.

Which points to a problem with whoever compiled the timetable - maybe they previously worked for Northern Trains in Manchester

[Earthdweller]

I believe that in London they use dynamic service timings

The intention is to stop buses bunching up and travelling in groups, therefore drivers are instructed when to leave and at times terminate early and turn round

The idea is that they can space out the buses along the route and keep a regular spread between buses arriving at stops

[RoadToad84]

Maybe not the case in London but in this neck of the woods, there's sufficient slack in the timetable that to leave on time, would then necessitate waiting at every bus stop to avoid running early. Leaving a few minutes late allows the bus to keep moving

[ambuletz]

'evening out the service' probably.

One time I was in the bus heading into down, it was around 8:55, driver decided to stop and press the button saying he was evening it out. Queue several mothers yelling and getting irate that they're going to be late taking their children to school. He promptly started the bus up again..

[Gladers01]

The old folk around here use their smartphone app to track the buses and largely ignore the timetable as with the ongoing roadworks the buses can be anything up to 20 minutes late, shame they don't have a train tracking app that does the same thing.

[weeredmetro]

Most probably because the driver is due a legal break, so after finishing the route to get to your end, he must take a certain length of break. Late arrival of the incoming bus means the outgoing bus starts late.

I'm not good on the UK domestic Drivers Hours, but from memory, for every 5.5 hours driving, the driver MUST take 45 mins break. This can be split into a 15 min break early in the shift, and a 30 minute break later on. It looks like the bus you wait for might have a legally required 15-minute break at that point in the drivers day.