Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2018 June 7

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June 7

Buses making up time

When a bus reaches its terminus, it often simply turns round and starts going back the way it came, taking the same route in the opposite direction. Often, this turn-around time is a chance for the bus driver to rest up for a few minutes (something probably mandated by health and safety legislation and/or his/her contract of employment), or even for the drivers to change over as one goes off shift and another one comes on. My question is, how is this turn-around time affected if the bus is running late? Is the driver expected to shave a few minutes off his/her rest time in order to bring the bus into line with the timetable, or is the timetable allowed to continue to run late? The question is meant in generic, non-country-specific terms, but if you need a specific example, take Transport for London. --Viennese Waltz 12:32, 7 June 2018 (UTC)

In the UK it's generally 4.5 hours on, 45 minutes break, then another 4.5 hours. However in practice it's timed rather less in case of delays, otherwise the bus could be stuck en route if the driver runs out of hours. The driver is expected to keep to the timetable, which might or might not allow for a short break at the terminus. You can find the UK regulations here.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 14:57, 7 June 2018 (UTC)

Neither the bus driver whose routine work shift cannot end until he delivers the bus to an end destination, nor the employer bus company whose reputation and contract performance is judged on punctuality to a published timetable, can be interested in letting time errors accumulate from one turn-around to the next. These are factors calling for rest periods to be flexible to the benefit of all. I have seen two examples of resistance to such flexibility: 1) one driver who refuses or only grudgingly opens the bus doors to allow passengers to take shelter from cold rain in his warm bus with engine idling at a terminus wait, and 2) another driver who is a practicing moslem. He shuts the bus doors after passengers leave, takes down a cardboard advertising placard to use as a prayer mat, is careful to align its direction, and performs Salah on the bus floor. DroneB (talk) 15:40, 7 June 2018 (UTC)

I think this largely depends on the bus company. A number of years ago, I was trying to get from Langley to the Birmingham Oratory. The bus was very late and we got as far as Bearwood, at which point the driver stopped and ordered everyone off the bus saying "That's the end of my shift." --TrogWoolley (talk) 11:17, 8 June 2018 (UTC)

In London all buses with a particular route number run on a common route. Sometimes (not in London) there are different termini, which is reasonable because outlying areas may not require the same level of service. This makes it easy in London to turn a bus short of its destination when late. When a route ends at the garage a driver change is simple - when it doesn't changes occur at a stop near the garage where the route originates. This afternoon when I reached one of these stops I saw an unprecedented four buses full of people lined up. I jumped on the first in line but we were soon ordered to the next one for lack of a driver. Some years ago I was on a bus waiting at one of these stops and the driver ordered us all off because there was no replacement driver and he was going to take it into the garage (which he did). 2A00:23C0:8302:3A01:D9F2:509:9EC6:581E (talk) 19:57, 7 June 2018 (UTC)

Driver hours are an item where there is frequently two truths: the one that gets reported to the government and the one that actually happened. Just as a quick semi-related example, the US recently mandated electronic logging of driver hours for commercial truckers, for the express reason that e-logs are much more difficult to fake than the previous paper ones. How big a difference could it make? The doom and gloom predictions here have mostly panned out. IOW, unless kept under a very careful watch, driver hours are often faked to meet requirements. Matt Deres (talk) 22:26, 7 June 2018 (UTC)