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| On the buses 25/10/2010 at 21:21 #1941 | |
GeoffM
6282 posts |
Dark at 7am and freezing cold, I get on the bus to town. Ten minutes down the road the driver stops and makes an announcement "Sorry everyone, but I've driven the wrong route, I need to go back and start again". Chorus of diassent. Turns out he was supposed to drive the 15A which left from Asda at the same time as the 15 which takes a different route but both end up in town. So he tells the Traffic Controller (apparently that's what their bus "Control" is called) by radio what he's done, and that none of the passengers are at all happy about it. After all, we got on the bus identified as our bus, at the right time. Why should we go back via the "other" route, which would have aded another half hour to the journey time? Anyway, the Traffic Controller tells the driver to turn around and go back, all clearly audible to the passengers. So muggins here gets up and has a discussion with the TC about the passengers about to miss their trains, late to work, etc. TC still refuses. Driver ignores him and carries on to town, and a small cheer ensues from the other passengers. If we had turned back, we would have turned up on the "correct" route at the departure time of the next bus, so those folks left waiting for the missing bus would have had two to choose from - and there would be not one, but two, sets of irate passengers. Carrying on as we did, against the TC's instructions, meant only one set of irate passengers, and all the buses and drivers would have been left in the correct places at the correct time. If anything should have gone back it should have been the "correct" bus which was presumably following not far behind the "wrong" bus - and probably devoid of passengers. Still not a solution though. I felt a bit sorry for the driver later on, as he was in a no-win situation, so I fired off an email to the bus company. It seems they were quite irate about it and were going to discipline the driver. Fair enough he made a mistake, but the TC only made it far worse had his instructions been followed, and I made that clear to them. Hopefully he won't get too much grief about it, but I bet the TC won't get any grief. Rant - and guilt trip for the driver - over. SimSig Boss Log in to reply |
| On the buses 25/10/2010 at 21:21 #12140 | |
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GeoffM
6282 posts |
Dark at 7am and freezing cold, I get on the bus to town. Ten minutes down the road the driver stops and makes an announcement "Sorry everyone, but I've driven the wrong route, I need to go back and start again". Chorus of diassent. Turns out he was supposed to drive the 15A which left from Asda at the same time as the 15 which takes a different route but both end up in town. So he tells the Traffic Controller (apparently that's what their bus "Control" is called) by radio what he's done, and that none of the passengers are at all happy about it. After all, we got on the bus identified as our bus, at the right time. Why should we go back via the "other" route, which would have aded another half hour to the journey time? Anyway, the Traffic Controller tells the driver to turn around and go back, all clearly audible to the passengers. So muggins here gets up and has a discussion with the TC about the passengers about to miss their trains, late to work, etc. TC still refuses. Driver ignores him and carries on to town, and a small cheer ensues from the other passengers. If we had turned back, we would have turned up on the "correct" route at the departure time of the next bus, so those folks left waiting for the missing bus would have had two to choose from - and there would be not one, but two, sets of irate passengers. Carrying on as we did, against the TC's instructions, meant only one set of irate passengers, and all the buses and drivers would have been left in the correct places at the correct time. If anything should have gone back it should have been the "correct" bus which was presumably following not far behind the "wrong" bus - and probably devoid of passengers. Still not a solution though. I felt a bit sorry for the driver later on, as he was in a no-win situation, so I fired off an email to the bus company. It seems they were quite irate about it and were going to discipline the driver. Fair enough he made a mistake, but the TC only made it far worse had his instructions been followed, and I made that clear to them. Hopefully he won't get too much grief about it, but I bet the TC won't get any grief. Rant - and guilt trip for the driver - over. SimSig Boss Log in to reply |
| On the buses 25/10/2010 at 22:13 #12144 | |
Lordmwa
148 posts |
Well done geoff 
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| On the buses 25/10/2010 at 22:35 #12146 | |
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UKTrainMan
1803 posts |
Mistakes happen. Personally, if I was working in a senior role at the bus company involved in this then I'd look at the drivers record to see if he's had any problems like this before and if he didn't I'd let him off with a warning or perhaps give him a few days accompanying the most experienced driver for that route for a refresh of route knowledge. I recall hearing a slightly similar story from a mate that went something like this; Bus driver goes under railway bridge (ECML too) and took next left-hand turn, drove along road and came up to a width restriction which also has an automatic barrier 'spread' diagonally across the road in the middle of the width restriction for buses (the only bus that takes that route has a sensor on-board which operates the barrier, in either direction), anyway this driver comes up to barrier and it doesn't raise, then I assume his face went red. At this point the passengers on-board told the driver it wasn't the right route and the driver was meant to carry-on straight ahead, not turn left. Driver somehow manages to turn around on the road and simply turned left at the end and continued along the right route. Apparently there was no radio call made to control, but I understand this was around the time that iBus didn't exist so control wouldn't have known about the wrong-route anyway. So apart from perhaps delaying his run by maybe up to 10 minutes and causing a bit of a traffic jam, no real harm was done. Wonder if he still has a job though.... How bad were the delays in your case? I did notice you said that the second bus would have been right behind it once back of right route, but how regular is the bus service? Any views and / or opinions expressed by myself are from me personally and do not represent those of any company I either work for or am a consultant for. Log in to reply |
| On the buses 26/10/2010 at 02:28 #12147 | |
northroad
870 posts |
Geoff - or do we now call you Blakey
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| On the buses 26/10/2010 at 04:42 #12148 | |
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derbybest
274 posts |
Well done Geoff. A simular thing happens fairly regulary on my route. The 22 (my bus) goes the opposite way to the 24 and the driver's rostering sends him round the 24 route 3 times then he has a break and then does the 22. After his/her break it's only 'habit' that they try to go the previous way as they are used to it on the day. If it did happen the delay is not too long as the correct route is easy to get back too. All this shows is that bus drivers are human and do make mistakes like everyone else Chris Log in to reply |
| On the buses 26/10/2010 at 08:20 #12150 | |
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GeoffM
6282 posts |
UKTrainMan said:give him a few days accompanying the most experienced driver for that route for a refresh of route knowledge.He was driving the correct route for that number bus, just wasn't supposed to be driving that number. UKTrainMan said: How bad were the delays in your case? I did notice you said that the second bus would have been right behind it once back of right route, but how regular is the bus service?Only about 5 minutes late, which does beg the question of what happened to the "correct" bus since I didn't see it pass us while we stopped. The two routes concerned start from the same place just a minute apart, go separate ways, then have a common route for the latter part of the journey. One route is longer so the 20 minute service on each route becomes a 10 minute interval service on the common section. Thus since we were already some 10-15 minutes into the journey, even doing a non-stop back to Asda to resume the correct route would have meant arriving about the same time as the next bus to depart on the correct route. No benefit to anybody, and buses would have been in the wrong places at the wrong times. derbybest said: After his/her break it's only 'habit' that they try to go the previous way as they are used to it on the day.Yes, I think a similar thing happens - they alternate routes. But it's not the first time; a few months ago, going the other way on the last bus of the day (7pm!), a different driver thought he was doing the one route but I pointed out that there wasn't such a service at that time and he should probably be doing the other route. Eventually he realised I was right. Although these are two isolated incidents, one wonders whether the information given to the drivers is sufficient. When investigating incidents like this you have to consider external influences as well, not just the person involved. Again, my issue was the handling after the error, not the error itself. SimSig Boss Log in to reply |
| On the buses 27/10/2010 at 01:58 #12174 | |
flymo
135 posts |
In a perfect world what should have happened is that the 'wrong' bus should have stopped and waited for the 'correct' bus to catch up (assuming of course it was running behind - if not then this scenario is moot). Then the 'wrong' bus should have transferred it's passengers to the 'correct' bus and the 'correct' bus continued on it's way. The 'wrong' bus should have then returned empty to the start of the route to begin it's 'correct' journey, albeit slightly late. Better late than never though.
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| On the buses 29/10/2010 at 05:49 #12225 | |
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Woodhead Signalman
64 posts |
What would be even better is if the two buses in question didn't carry such similar numbers! You'd think that they would be 15 and 16 rather than 15 and 15A. If possible of course, assuming that there is a 'spare' number available. This may help in the identity of routes for both drivers as well as passengers. 
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| On the buses 29/10/2010 at 07:38 #12230 | |
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GeoffM
6282 posts |
Woodhead Signalman said:What would be even better is if the two buses in question didn't carry such similar numbers! You'd think that they would be 15 and 16 rather than 15 and 15A. If possible of course, assuming that there is a 'spare' number available. This may help in the identity of routes for both drivers as well as passengers. :)Agreed. Originally there was just the #15 which ran every 10 minutes during the day, plus another route with a different number operated areas the #15A now serves. It turns out these services were subsidised by the council, which cut back funding. So the #15 service was halved (and no evening service either) with the #15A taking over the other route. SimSig Boss Log in to reply |
| On the buses 05/05/2011 at 17:05 #15540 | |
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Sam Tugwell
493 posts |
Woodhead Signalman said:What would be even better is if the two buses in question didn't carry such similar numbers! You'd think that they would be 15 and 16 rather than 15 and 15A. If possible of course, assuming that there is a 'spare' number available. This may help in the identity of routes for both drivers as well as passengers. smileWe have that down in Torbay with several routes. There is the 12, 12A and 12C. The 12 is the main route from Newton Abbot through Torquay and Paignton to Brixham, whilst the 12A only starts at Torquay and ends up in Brixham. The 12C is completely different, starting at Paignton and finishing at South Devon College (on t'other side of the ring road). I have seen numerous people asking where said bus routes go to, and I think to myself, "Why do the bus companies make the route numbers so similar, especially in Torbay where there are many retired and elderly". "Signalman Exeter" Log in to reply |
| On the buses 05/05/2011 at 18:01 #15544 | |
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Quizman
276 posts |
Sam Tugwell said:Why do the bus companies make the route numbers so similar, especially in Torbay where there are many retired and elderly". Because they can and whilst a route has to be authorised by the local Traffic Commissioner they would not bother about the numbers unless someone objected to it at the application stage. As those numbers go back to the days of Devon General I suspect that they remain historically. By the way, emergency or rail replacements services do not have to be authorised by the Traffic Commisioner and can basically go where they like and a what frequency AFAIK. Log in to reply |
| On the buses 05/05/2011 at 18:16 #15545 | |
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Sam Tugwell
493 posts |
Quizman said:As those numbers go back to the days of Devon General I suspect that they remain historically.From the top of my head, the 12 was indeed a Devon General number, but the 12A was introduced much more recently (by Stagecoach) and the 12C was only introduced in 2010 (once again by Stagecoach). I can understand the 12A being numbered in that manor because it covers most of the same route (albeit via South Devon College rather than the direct route), but the 12C is far different. "Signalman Exeter" Log in to reply |
| On the buses 05/05/2011 at 18:28 #15547 | |
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Quizman
276 posts |
Sam Tugwell said:the 12A was introduced much more recently (by Stagecoach) and the 12C was only introduced in 2010 (once again by Stagecoach). Ah ha selective old-age memory bank but thanks for that. Log in to reply |