What's with bus drivers?

[Randombiker9]

Why are bus drivers a pain somethimes as to be honest in my area. everytime a bus overtakes it always overtake closely doesn't bother to switch lanes when overtaking. It's happend more then 3 times different buses but same bus company (The last 3 times i did report it to bus company saying they should be more careful around cyclists and it happend again today.
Do you report close passes to your bus company?

Does anyone else have problems with their buses around cyclists?

 

[Jody]

I find bus drivers quite courteous these days, hanging back a giving a decent amount of room when overtaking. I always stick my thumb up as a show of respect.

Suppose it depends where you live and there is always the odd n*b regardless of their mode of transport.

 

[Drago]

And the deep irony is that there are a few who drive buses by day, but by night they become superheroes and cycle out with their helmet cams shouting tosh and displaying their stupidity on YouTube.

 

[ianrauk]

Bus drivers in London are generally very good driver and very courteous towards cyclists. There has been massive stride in cycle awareness and education with many of the London bus companies,
Of course you did still get the occasional idiot driver but over all they are very good.

 

[mjr]

Do you report close passes to your bus company?

Does anyone else have problems with their buses around cyclists?

Rarely have problems (two in six years here) but I've reported three incidents to two companies: one company was OK as far as I can recall; for the other, one incident (driver doing about 20mph reading a book on the steering wheel!) was dealt with OK, the other (bullying a cycling group to the kerb) denied they'd had a bus on that road at that time, so the next time, the video's being offered to the police first. Bad bus drivers can put a lot of innocent passengers at risk, so I have no qualms about doing that.

ETA: Oh and that second company also has still uses "Cyclists - fark off" type stickers on the back left cycleway side rather than train their drivers to check before turning across a cycleway (they're low-floor buses - it has big windows all down the left side, plus mirrors - no blind spot, so no excuse for that tone of stickers)

 

[Drago]

To be fair, considering the lives in their hands and the huge responsibility that entails, they really aren't paid very well, so it's little surprise that they're not attracting the cream of the crop

 

[mustang1]

What I dislike about bus drivers is
A) when a couple of buses stop together at the bus stop, the first one may use its hazard flashers. Because I cannot see the left indicator, it looks like only the weight indicator is on and the driver wants to pull out.

B) when a bus driver is ready to move off from the bus stop, the right indicator is put on. I adjust my speed, usually by coasting, in the hope that by the time the driver has moved off, I can gently accelerate back to my cruising speed. But no, the bus driver leaves the indicator on, waits for me to get right up to him and then decided to move off. Highly annoying and the way around this is to carry on riding with the assumption he will not move off. If he does, just take action at that point.

C) when a bus is already at the bus stop, the second bus comes along and stops too close to the bus in front. If the 2nd bus needs to leave before the 1st bus, the 2nd bus has to pull far out often into the lane of opposing traffic.

I'm not sure why the drivers do any of those things, perhaps they have been trained that way.

 

[Milkfloat]

And the deep irony is that there are a few who drive buses by day, but by night they become superheroes and cycle out with their helmet cams shouting tosh and displaying their stupidity on YouTube.

Is he still doing that, I had not seen anything for a while, so I thought he had been finally knocked out by someone.

 

[Drago]

I don't know Mr Float. Traffic Dwoid has been awfully quiet of late too.

 

[Milkfloat]

I don't know Mr Float. Traffic Dwoid has been awfully quiet of late too.

I think he switched alter ego into @blazed

 

[ianrauk]

I don't know Mr Float. Traffic Dwoid has been awfully quiet of late too.

Supurb (or what ever his name was) is the bus driver iirc

 

[Drago]

That's it, Sue Perb, or something like that. Robin to Droids Batman.

 

[boydj]

What I dislike about bus drivers is
A) ...................

B) when a bus driver is ready to move off from the bus stop, the right indicator is put on. I adjust my speed, usually by coasting, in the hope that by the time the driver has moved off, I can gently accelerate back to my cruising speed. But no, the bus driver leaves the indicator on, waits for me to get right up to him and then decided to move off. Highly annoying and the way around this is to carry on riding with the assumption he will not move off. If he does, just take action at that point.

C)..........................................

I'm not sure why the drivers do any of those things, perhaps they have been trained that way.

A and C are just annoying. With B, I often slow down a bit and signal to the driver to move off and then tuck in behind the bus, which can sometimes mean taking the lane and holding up the occasional car. This often generates an acknowledging flash of the hazards. On my main road into Glasgow the bus drivers are generally pretty good in their dealings with cyclists. I think it helps if cyclists show a bit of consideration for or empathy with the bus drivers.

 

[NorthernDave]

Buses around here are a mixed bag.

First (aka Worst) have a near monopoly on suburban services so by far the most common, and while most of their drivers are OK they employ enough numpties to make it essential to take care if you're anywhere near one of their buses. I have nearly been taken out several times by Worst bus drivers, only my superior bike handling skills / good luck (you decide) saved me.

Arriva: several bad experiences, last one (overtake, close enough to be within touching distance, uphill, on a blind bend) reported and didn't even get the courtesy of an acknowledgement email, let alone a promise to "have a word".

Transdev (Harrogate & District, Yorkshire Coastliner): almost without exception great drivers. Will happily hang back until safe for them to pass, then give plenty of room. I can only recall having one fairly close pass from one of their buses in the last 3 years and even that probably wouldn't have registered if it had been one of the other two companies.

 

[User10119]

I've only had a handful of negative interactions with bus drivers while cycling, and I reckon they are vastly outweighed by the number of positive ones. I wonder to what extent it is a reflection of how many cyclists are usually about - and the extent to which infrastructure puts them in conflict with buses. Both of those probably have quite a lot of geographical variation.