“I’m Sorry, The Bus Was Early”
“Don’t you mean ‘late’?”
“No, I mean ‘early’. It got to the stop before I did.”
That’s a real conversation I had with Mrs Bandenburg, my old French teacher. It got a quick laugh, which is what I was after.
I discovered the other day that there was some truth in this story, when I met the world’s smartest bus driver.
Many’s the time over the years when I’ve missed a bus. I have a brain that thinks “If the bus arrives at x, I’ll get there at x.” Even now, I wouldn’t unconsciously think to get myself to a stop with a few minutes’ insurance.
My first year at university was characterised by missed buses. I’d get to the stop on time … no bus.
This was a frequent pattern over the years. Even on those occasions when I’d get to the stop with a few minutes spare, I’d be left standing there.
The worst occasions were at night. There’s one bus an hour, so you would expect to find a bunch of people waiting. How my heart would sink to turn the corner with five minutes to go, only to find the stop bereft. Sure enough, an unsuccessful twenty minutes waiting would confirm what I already knew: I’d missed the bus.
What made it worse was the fitting of electonic timers, that would indicate when the next bus was due. I’d get there with ’3′ indicated on it.
’2′.
’1′.
’0′.
’59′.
’58′.
You got it. No bus, then the countdown to the next.
Cue language that would make a Tourette’s-ridden sailor blush.
So what’s this new-fangled discovery?
I had a mega day of travelling last Saturday, leaving Hungary at 06:48 their time, and arriving in Leicester at 18:55.
I took a bus home. It being a Saturday night, people were heading into town but not many boarded on the way out.
This bus driver was a young chap. I handed over two pound coins and got nothing back. I’m sure the fare went up from £1.60 to £1.80 only a couple of months ago. Whatever.
Anyway, the driver set off, and I carried on reading.
On about three occasions, he pulled into a stop and just sat there for a few minutes, then pulled off again. On one of the occasions I caught a glimpse of a countdown at the bus stop, indicating that his bus was due there in three minutes. He patiently sat there, aware that he had arrived early and that some person like me would likely turn up in a couple of minutes expecting the bus to arrive.
And then it dawned on me. Those arseholes. So many bus drivers, near enough all of them, must know that they’re early because their route isn’t busy and just continue all the same. That has been the problem for me over all this years. That is why I’ve missed lectures.
Those absolute pricks.
Well, except this guy, obviously. Mind you, he blanked me when I said ‘thank you’ getting off at the end, so he still has a touch of ‘average bus driver’ about him, the miserable git.
Tags: Buses, Punctuality
August 5th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Erm, I take your point but I don’t think you can make bus drivers a scapecoat for the last ten years of your unpunctuality
Most of us realise that buses don’t run to timetable and get ourselves to the stop ten minutes early to avoid missing them!
August 6th, 2008 at 2:08 am
I was on a train ten years ago, and was travelling from Hamburg to Köln (Cologne). We arrived early in Köln and the announcement apologised for any inconveniece caused by the train arriving in Cologne ten minutes early!
August 6th, 2008 at 8:43 am
Wow!
They do seem to have better standards in yonder ‘abroad’.
I recall a public protest in France on a Tuesday. I saw the same people again on the Thursday and said that they must be keen to be back after two days. Keen nothing: It turns out that they had gone to Paris on Wednesday to protest and the train (from Toulouse, so a distance of 365 miles) had arrived there fifteen minutes behind schedule, so they were protesting *that* today!
January 18th, 2011 at 9:29 pm
I see your point, but my busses are meant to come every 5-10 minutes. The first bus will pick up lots of passengers, the second and third catch up because they have no passengers to pick up. Then they will start taking it in turns to overtake and pick up passengers. It can get to the point where you are unlucky enough to wait for a bus for 30 minutes and get on the ‘earliest’ bus. This bus is early bus first in the the line of 3. Then because it is early, it waits at a stop for the time it is meant to be there by the timetable, and the poor passengers have to wait 10 minutes til it starts again- making these people 40 minutes late! This happens all the time and it drives me crazy!
January 18th, 2011 at 10:23 pm
Oh, I know that problem, Sara!
There’s another one along similar lines that bothers me. Where I live now takes me an hour and a half to get to work on the bus. I usually drive, but haven’t all the time.
Along the route people will get on this bus when it’s full, even though there are several shorter-run buses that are following, and so they congest this long-distance one for nothing.
The problem is even worse leaving work. Even though these people have a choice of about eight short-run buses running within the hour, they still get on our long-run bus, meaning that those of us that could only choose that single one may have to stand. GRR!