Sorry I’ve been a bit slack recently but some thing has got in my computer and has been causing problems.
Anyway yesterday I went down to Brixham as a 12A. When I got there the 12 in front of me was still there and being a sociable chap I went to have a brief chat to the driver. While we were chatting one or two passengers got on his bus, paid their fare and sat down. Then a lady approached the bus and looked at the side destination board and went and sat on the low wall next to the bus stop. I thought that she wanted my bus which wasn’t due out for a few mins.
Then an couple boarded the bus and also paid their fare and sat down. With this the lady sitting on the wall got up and slowly can up to the bus and asked in a slightly puzzled voice, “Is this bus for Explorers only or can anyone use it?” Now we do have some buses that are painted in the logo of South Devon College and I have been asked if it was just for college students only. This query was a first though.
I then had a look at the side destination board. It is of the type that displays the number and destination of the bus and then scrolls along and displays some additional information. This board displayed details of day tickets that can be bought from the driver. Now when the driver had reached Brixham he had switched the engine off. This stopped the words from scrolling through. Had it been scrolling through it would have read “Adult Explorers Only £5.00”. Now the £5.00 bit was missing and it read “Adult Explorers Only”.
This shows that some passengers , dispite what bus drivers believe, do actually read destination blinds, even if what is some time on them is slightly unusual. It also shows that (hint, hint, some bus drivers do wish to save the planet and switch their engines off at termini)
An other thing that happened yesterday was the voice on the radio which made a plea for all 12/12A drivers to check their bus for lost property, namely a wallet. Now I have no problem attempting to restore lost property with its loser but there are a couple of problems with this sort of vagueness. One, The wallet may not be on the bus, the loser may have left it at home or lost it somewhere else and is just hoping that it is on a bus and he may get it back pronto. The other reason it may not be on the bus is that sadly some on who gets on the bus and notices the wallet may be tempted and may subscribe to the Oscar Wilde method of dealing with temptation.
Two, at present there are 28 buses running on the 12/12A routes at the moment. I know you may find that hard to believe if you have been waiting a while for your bus but it’s true. Does the voice on the radio expect us all to pull over and check what maybe a late running or full double decker bus for lost property in a less than a 28 to 1 chance of finding said wallet.
So if you do lose some thing on a bus and you approach a controller or bus driver and ask them to use the radio to see if any one has your wallet etc please have the following information ready. The service number of the bus, where did you get off the bus, how long ago, which direction it was travelling in, where were you sitting and best of all, if you bought a ticket on the bus have that to hand as well as that will contain information regarding the drivers number. Even without the ticket the rest of the information will reduce the number of buses that pull over and look for your wallet down to two or three.
Best of all, try not to lose anything on the bus.
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