I was rather surprised to see this story debated on yesterdays J.Vine show on Radio Two. Not too much was discussed about the actual event that happened in Torbay, but I enjoyed listening to the many stories that were told by a number of bus drivers.
A small exert was from a comedy sketch that was all about a bus driver receiving training was played and the bit that was funny and appropriate was about driving off when someone was running after the bus to get on it.
One story that was told was about a driver and conductor who used one of those famous routemaster buses. As the driver drove off from the bus stop, the conductor would stand at the rear of the bus looking to see if anyone was running after the bus trying to get on it. If there was such a person the conductor would ring the bell once and then the driver slowed the bus down. As the person got close to the bus the conductor would then ring the bell again six times and the driver then speeded up leaving the person behind.
A Routemaster Bus
I’m sure the pair had plenty of fun doing this but it did cost them their jobs in the end as someone did get hurt as they half got on the bus when it slowed down and then fell off. I would expect other bus driving crews and got up to similar tricks in the past and I’m sure we have all chased after a bus before and thought it was slowing down for us, only to see it speed up again.
I do not know what Stagecoach policy is on stopping the bus once it has moved off from a bus stop, with the traffic being s bad today, one would imagine the company would not want to bus having to keep stopping and letting n people who had missed it.
The bus in question in Torquay was bound for Newton Abbot and with all the road works going on to build the new South Devon Link Road, its now taking much longer to get between Newton Abbot and Torquay. The buses do not need any extra hold-ups that’s for sure and if they did stop after a bus stop to let someone one, they would add further to the traffic problems.
I grew up in the days when we had what I consider to be the best bus company ever, the good old Devon General. The drivers and conductors on the whole were a great bunch and not only were the fares reasonable, they ran a proper bus service you could depend on. Villages got a good service even on routes that were not profitable, but so many of those services were cut when stagecoach came to town.
A Devon General Bus
In saying that the stagecoach buses are quality busses even if they do cost an arm and a leg to ride on one of them and they are a far greater improvement from the days when the streets of the Bay were full of smoke fuming Bayline busses. There seemed to be hundreds of these converted transit van based busses on our roads, they were so cramped if you were ever lucky to get on one in the first place.
You might be standing at a bus stop with another 20 people waiting for one to come along and then discover there was only room for one or two to get on the bloody thing, it was then a wait for the next one to come along and the story was much the same. It was even worse during the summer months when Torbay was full of foreign students; it was often quicker just to walk to where you wanted to get too.
A Bayline Bus
Where I live in Paignton I am able to catch the First Bus that is much cheaper but the cheapest one of all is the Riverlink bus that is used on the Round Robin bus, train and river Dart cruise day out.
A Stagecoach Bus
One thing I have not noticed for a while is the open top busses we used to have in the Bay during the summer. I’m sure they were originally Devon General busses but were painted white and only ran during the summer months. They were very popular and I think there was at least three or four of them, maybe they just got to old and were never replaced?
I have seen an open top tour bus going around the Bay, but that one has two sets of doors, one set up the front and another half way along the bus and so I’m sure that is not one of the old open top busses we did have.
An Old Open Top Bus
At least the eyesore that was Paignton bus station s looking so much smarter now that it has been done up as it had become very run down and dirty. For me one of the saddest days was when the Newton Abbot Bus Station was closed down.
I have such fond memories of that old bus station with its café, shop etc as it was a meeting place as well as being the place to get the bus home to Buckland. Caught me first football special bus from that station to go and watch the might Torquay United play when I was just nine years old. Mind you my mother thought I was up playing football in the Centrax field, so on my return and before I went home I had to rub some mud into my clothes to fool her. The end result was a hiding for getting so dirty, never mind it started my love for that football club.
Getting much closer to the day I will have my very own bus pass, in saying that the last time I got on a bus I was asked for mine, guess with all I have had to deal with in life, I look older than I really am lol. I do intend to use the busses more then and go out on some nice day trips etc.
