It is a firmly established belief among bus drivers that the travelling public do not read destination blinds. This afternoon I was in Brixham and my blinds were reading Paignton, Torquay, NEWTON ABBOT.
47 people got on and 22 of them asked me if I was going to Torquay. Of the remaining 25, three were locals and didn't ask anything, apart from "When will they all go home?" The other 22 asked if I was going to Paignton. The company spent a small fortune buying buses equipped with destination blinds so people would know where the bus was going. It must be that the only people in the UK that can read are you and me , dear reader. You wouldn't ask me where I was going would you?
Just as I was about to go a couple came up and got on the bus. I had already decided that if one more person asked me where I was going I would ignore the running board and head for Berry Head where I would stop the bus 50 feet from the edge, hold up a sign saying "This bus is now going to plunge over Berry Head, you will be able to enjoy unprecedented views until it hits the sea 800 feet straight down." No body would have moved. None of them would have bothered reading the sign. I would then have but a brick on the gas peddle and left the bus. The couple showed me there megariders and went and sat down. No, "Are you going to Paignton? Are you going to Torquay? Are you going to Newton Abbot?" Thank God, every one was saved.
Thirty yards further while waiting at the lights on the bloke who had just got on came up to me and said, "You are going to Torquay aren't you?" Which is why you will have read about a driverless bus going over Berry Head in your newspaper. If the jury is made up of bus drivers I will get away with it. Justifiable Homicide; no problem.
3 comments:
may be this is because many 12 travel to brixham with the newton abbot display on the front have seen many on the strand this last 2 weeks also a 200 15327 this morning heading for totnes with paignton zoo on the front and the via blind showing stagecoach devon so maybe the pasangers dont trust the display. find your posts very interesting.
Mike
Thanks for your comment Mike. I am glad you enjoy the blog.
I know that some times drivers, me included forget to change blinds and some of the older buses used on the Open Top service are having problems with the blinds. Like you say, passengers like to be cirtain they are on the right bus.
David
When I worked on the buses in Newcastle upon Tyne (many years ago), Bus 1121 had a "doctored" blind and the last destination on the roll was "Cripple Creek". When the mood took us, we would put this up on the front of the first bus through the area after the OAP passes started for the day.
Not one passenger would question it, which suggests to me that they never looked at it.
The extra entry was actually done in marker pen but so professional you would have thought the printers had made it!
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