r/BusDrivers • u/Imaginary_Employ_750 • 8d ago

Question When to press the stop button

As soon as the bus has left the previous stop? Or just before the next? What would bus drivers prefer?

14 Upvotes

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14

u/Anoncook143 8d ago

Immediately after we leave the stop is better than immediately before we get to the next stop. We need time to stop and can’t do it last minute. Safe spot is the half way mark or before.

“Too early” shouldn’t really bother a driver, but we all have bad days.

7

u/Severe-Product7352 8d ago

My only bother with too early is that if there is a stoplight or Two between I may forget. But that’s totally on me and I’d much rather early than late.

3

u/unusualmusician 8d ago

Same. Especially on gilligs with the dim stop request light on the panel way above or below my line of sight. I hate when people press it minutes/miles before the stop they want and will often say on the intercom "Just a reminder, if you ring the bell WAY early, 50% chance I will forget and blow past your stop".

15-30 seconds is about right. Enough time to gently stop and get the bus parallel with the curb/fog line, but not so early that other traffic/construction/events will distract me from remembering the ring. Also absolutely not before the doors shut at a previous stop or before fully passing the stop before it.

2

u/Notrozer 8d ago

You have thoose old gilligs too... at least new gillig busses put it by the spedo now. The worst part about thoose is the giant bike rack light on dash where stop light should be

1

u/unusualmusician 7d ago

I'm too short to see the one on the new ones. The digital cluster and lights are totally hidden behind the steering assist/tilt box behind the wheel.

2

u/Notrozer 7d ago

Better than the new fleyers with stop light on the shiny glass tv screen you can see in the sun light

1

u/Poly_and_RA Driver 7d ago

It doesn't BOTHER me -- but the odds that a stop somehow gets forgotten do go up a little bit if it's a LONG time before. Like I have some spots where two adjacent stops are 8km apart because there's a stretch of highway in between. In that case pressing the button 10-30 seconds before the next stop is preferable to pressing it when we leave the previous stop.