Do London bus drivers own the road?

[Sa Calobra]

Using their vehicle to force their way into traffic, cut you up etc?

Is it the law here or just an ingrained rudeness?

This isn't bus driver profession bashing. There are some considerate and polite ones out there (up north)

[Monkeylegend]

Have you tried keeping to a timetable in London

[MrGTI6]

You think they're bad, wait until you encounter an Uber driver in a Prius. I don't think I've come across a single one that isn't blind, suicidal, or both.

[psi310398]

They all seem to learn from a version of the Highway Code that says pull out and then indicate.

I’m quite happy to stop and let them out per the Highway Code but I’m not a bloody mind reader!

[S1KRR]

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/shocking-mom...

[fido]

MrGTI6 said:

You think they're bad, wait until you encounter an Uber driver in a Prius. I don't think I've come across a single one that isn't blind, suicidal, or both.

Glued to their SatNav mostly .. some of them are appalling drivers! Bus drivers are generally consistent - if you don’t let a bus out don’t be surprised if they force their way out.

[vikingaero]

Totally agree about Uber drivers. They are a special breed of stupid and a long way ahead of Addison Lee drivers. At least Black Cab drivers are on the whole polite when they cut you up.

[Bartosh]

I don't have any problem with buses or their drivers. They carry a lot of potential drivers, so making roads less congested...

[S1KRR]

In order of "Likely to do something ttty on the road" (swerve, park illegally etc)


1) Addision Lee
2) Minicabs (cant tell which are Uber and which aren't)
3) Buses
4) Black Cabs


In order of likely to be over aggressive and want to literally fight you when they fk up


1) Black Cabs
2) Buses
3) Addison Lee
4) Uber et al

In order of likely to be knowingly law breaking (dodging income tax or have a bald tyres etc)

1) Black Cabs
2) Minicabs
3) Addison Lee
4) Buses

HTH

Edited by S1KRR on Sunday 18th August 12:59

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Bartosh said:

I don't have any problem with buses or their drivers. They carry a lot of potential drivers, so making roads less congested...

100% this. What would you rather have, one crappy bus driver, or 75 extra cars, with a mix of good and bad drivers. I actually jump on the bus in London now and then, and I've never noticed it being driven badly.

[Your Dad]

S1KRR said:

In order of "Likely to do something ttty on the road" (swerve, park illegally etc)


1) Addision Lee
2) Minicabs (cant tell which are Uber and which aren't)
3) Buses
4) Black Cabs


In order of likely to be over aggressive and want to literally fight you when they fk up


1) Black Cabs
2) Buses
3) Addison Lee
4) Uber et al

In order of likely to be knowingly law breaking (dodging income tax or have a bald tyres etc)

1) Black Cabs
2) Minicabs
3) Addison Lee
4) Buses

HTH

Edited by S1KRR on Sunday 18th August 12:59

Frank will be raging at this suggestion. Frank's a former black cab driver, in case you weren't aware.

[Algarve]

Sa Calobra said:

Using their vehicle to force their way into traffic, cut you up etc?

Is it the law here or just an ingrained rudeness?

This isn't bus driver profession bashing. There are some considerate and polite ones out there (up north)

When nobody wants to be stuck behind you, you have no option but to bully your way into traffic.

[Venturist]

Algarve said:

When nobody wants to be stuck behind you, you have no option but to bully your way into traffic.

For 12 seconds before halting at the next stop

[hyphen]

S1KRR said:

In order of "Likely to do something ttty on the road" (swerve, park illegally etc)


1) Addision Lee
2) Minicabs (cant tell which are Uber and which aren't)
3) Buses
4) Black Cabs


In order of likely to be over aggressive and want to literally fight you when they fk up


1) Black Cabs
2) Buses
3) Addison Lee
4) Uber et al

In order of likely to be knowingly law breaking (dodging income tax or have a bald tyres etc)

1) Black Cabs
2) Minicabs
3) Addison Lee
4) Buses

HTH

Edited by S1KRR on Sunday 18th August 12:59

You forgot coach drivers. Not National Express but the private companies.

One recently challenged me to a fight as he tried to bully me with his piss take lane change, I was in a £100 shed and held firm

[Blakewater]

They're not polite up north.

Where I live they want to pick a fight at merge points, whether they're in the inside lane blocking people moving over or in the outside lane trying to move in.

They block roundabouts and cause gridlock.

The colours of traffic lights are meaningless.

They drive at pedestrians on crossings like they think they're going to score bonus points for running them over.

There's also a silly little bit of bus lane at the bottom of the hill near my house, by a petrol station, where the lanes have been narrowed to fit the bus lane in. Pulling out of the petrol station you have to nose out over the bus lane to see round the signage and the bus shelter at the stop to the right. Only last Thursday a bus driver called me a wker in front of all his passengers because he couldn't muster the intelligence to see the situation.

[Pericoloso]

National Express drivers stay in L2 for the whole "mad mile " A217 northbound or else no one will let them get into L2 at the end to take the right fork into Sutton.

Doesn't bother me as I always want the left fork.

[Pica-Pica]

Occasionally, I would get the train down to Euston, and then get the (73?) bus to Victoria to conferences. I once said to the bus driver “I don’t know how you drive around here”.
As a passenger on the upper deck I could see all the crass driving that would recklessly cut the buses up - yes, the worst by far were cyclists.

Like the reversing B18 OAF scenario, I am waiting for a driver to confront a bus, and a bus load of burly passengers dis-embark and frog-march the car driver into the nearest ditch.

[Pica-Pica]

psi310398 said:

They all seem to learn from a version of the Highway Code that says pull out and then indicate.

I’m quite happy to stop and let them out per the Highway Code but I’m not a bloody mind reader!

Bus stops, people get off. The waiting queue gets on. No-one else left waiting. Now where is the bus likely to go next? That is not mind-reading - that is observation.

[ElectricPics]

Pica-Pica said:

psi310398 said:

They all seem to learn from a version of the Highway Code that says pull out and then indicate.

I’m quite happy to stop and let them out per the Highway Code but I’m not a bloody mind reader!

Bus stops, people get off. The waiting queue gets on. No-one else left waiting. Now where is the bus likely to go next? That is not mind-reading - that is observation.

Sometimes quite difficult to see through a bus, particularly if there's another on or other traffic behind it. That said, if a bus is at a stop, the next likely occurrence will be that it pulls out from it.

[Pizzaeatingking]

In my experience driving in London is chaotic at best, no one lets anyone out, people don't give way when they should and it's generally a pain in the arse. I should imagine driving a bus round there is even worse, since as others said, no one wants to get stuck behind it there's even less chance of getting let out so I guess they've just got into the habit of forcing their way out. Doesn't make it right but I can understand why they do it.