Pressing the bell on buses, London v Outside

[Man of Kent]

Yellow Coaches' fleet of double deckers bought from Arriva London don't have "Bus Stopping" screens (as iBus was taken out but nothing put in its place) so the bells do get spammed

In which case, they are in breach of the PSV Accessibility Regulations if used on local bus services.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I find it more rude when someone does not use the bell and expects to be let off.

It seems to be regional. Using the bell on Ormskirk's old "Little White Buses" hail and ride services was definitely gauche, while on MK Metro going and asking the driver wasn't the done thing, you rang the bell and they stopped at the next safe place. And I once got told off for pressing it on a Blackpool tram, that was the conductor's job.

 

[satisnek]

It would appear that ringing the bell is universal these days, certainly in my experience in Trentbartonland and Diamondland, which is a good thing. Back in the late '80s/90s, when all local services in Worcestershire were provided by 20-seater (or thereabouts) minibuses, the custom was to call out "next stop please", even though they were fitted with bells. Going back even further, when I was catching the bus to school in Surrey, you simply walked to the front; ringing the bell elicited a grumpy "I can see you"! I would guess that improved health and safety awareness, particularly with regard to walking down a moving bus, has played a part here.

 

[BenS123]

In which case, they are in breach of the PSV Accessibility Regulations if used on local bus services.

The buses that don't have the "bus stopping" screens also don't have actual destination boards (as again, the blinds got taken out but nothing put in its place), they just have a piece of paper in the windscreen with the destination on

I think they're mainly used on school/contract routes, but have definitely ventured onto routes such as the 36 before

 

[Darklord8899]

It was the same in Northern Scottish territory too - anyone who used the bell was looked upon as if they had two heads! The bell-push was a rubber strip that ran along the ceiling of the bus, and it made a pathetic "meh" sound when pressed. In those days you only ever had to ring the bell in the Cities where they had two doors!

I'm of an age where I remember those rubber bell stripes on the roof of old LRT (Lothian) Buses!

 

[midland1]

When buses had conductors it was their job to ring the bell (buzzer). In Midland Red days round Leicester it was anyway

 

[Bletchleyite]

When buses had conductors it was their job to ring the bell (buzzer). In Midland Red days round Leicester it was anyway

That's regional too. On London Routemasters you did it yourself.

 

[londonbridge]

Couple of times I’ve stood up and moved towards the exit door but not rung the bell and bern over carried, when I called out “excuse me I wanted that stop” the driver said why didn’t you ring the bell? I said it’s a compulsory stop and he said no such thing. As far as I’m concerned a white background with red roundel means compulsory stop, red background with white roundel means request stop, but seems that’s no longer the case.

 

[py_megapixel]

That is just the E200MMC and E400MMC buses that do that. However these two types are probably the most common buses in use these days. I have no idea why they thought they needed four rings instead of one.

I thought the 4 ding bell was just designed to be whimsical! Like an old fashioned bell

It goes "ding ding, ding ding" (all at the same pitch) if you press the bell on the lower deck - or of course anywhere on a single decker - and "ding ding, ding dong" (the last two decreasing in pitch) if you press it on the upper deck, to let the driver know if someone is getting off from the top and so might need time to get down the stairs.

Also, if you press the bell and the sign is already on, you only get two dings, and I think it doesn't play through the front-most speakers. (This is presumably to avoid distracting the driver with constant ringing).

 

[Bletchleyite]

Couple of times I’ve stood up and moved towards the exit door but not rung the bell and bern over carried, when I called out “excuse me I wanted that stop” the driver said why didn’t you ring the bell? I said it’s a compulsory stop and he said no such thing. As far as I’m concerned a white background with red roundel means compulsory stop, red background with white roundel means request stop, but seems that’s no longer the case.

He's correct. For some years now the London rule has been that the bus must stop unless the driver is sure nobody wants to board, but for alighting the bell must be used. This is how it works in most of Europe, sticking your hand out is a British provincial thing.

 

[londonbridge]

I looked it up and it seems request stops were abolished in 2007! But the change was never made public, so it’s no wonder people don’t know. Now I think of it, couple of times recently bus has stopped, driver letting passengers on, someone moves towards exit door but the driver doesn’t open it and the passenger ends up shouting at the driver to open the door please.

 

[Ken H]

When buses had conductors it was their job to ring the bell (buzzer). In Midland Red days round Leicester it was anyway

That got my mum into bother when we moved to Leeds. In London you rang the bell. In Leeds on a back loader the conductor did it.
Mum rang the bell to get off on her first go on a Leeds bus. 'Oo rang that bell?!' The conductor bellowed. Oh dear.
She was still telling that story in this century!

 

[JD2168]

Most of the buses I am on people press once unless a load of schoolchildren are on pressing every 5 seconds. On some of the Stagecoach vehicles particularly the MAN E300s the stopping sign was moved to the back of the destination board as the driver could not hear it.

On the subject of the past on the Dominators you had a cord along the lower roof you pulled to work the bell, same on the Metrobuses.

 

[XAM2175]

Configuring the bell to only ring on the first push has been the standard set-up on route buses in Australia for decades now. I remain deeply bemused that such clearly-advanced technology seems out of reach of all but a tiny few British builders and operators, especially given how much everybody seems to wish it could be employed widely.

 

[Cesarcollie]

Configuring the bell to only ring on the first push has been the standard set-up on route buses in Australia for decades now. I remain deeply bemused that such clearly-advanced technology seems out of reach of all but a tiny few British builders and operators, especially given how much everybody seems to wish it could be employed widely.

Though technically very easy, I’m not sure this would be allowed by UK Construction & Use regulations.

 

[Astradyne]

I rang the bell today on a London bus, bus stops, centre doors did not open to let me off. Pressed again, waited no action. Pressed again, no action. Driver closes front door, so I start shouting at him to open door. Pokes head out of cab, sees me and opens door. Drivers can not be trusted to hear a single ring, at least there were people waiting and he did not drive past

 

[Lewisham2221]

It goes "ding ding, ding ding" (all at the same pitch) if you press the bell on the lower deck - or of course anywhere on a single decker - and "ding ding, ding dong" (the last two decreasing in pitch) if you press it on the upper deck, to let the driver know if someone is getting off from the top and so might need time to get down the stairs.

Also, if you press the bell and the sign is already on, you only get two dings, and I think it doesn't play through the front-most speakers. (This is presumably to avoid distracting the driver with constant ringing).

E200MMC's do indeed have 2 speakers, one in the cab area, one towards the rear of the saloon. For some reason there is a slight delay between the sound being played through the two speakers, hence the 4 dings (2 in the saloon, 2 in the cab). I personally find the "ding-ding" clearer and harder to miss than a single "ding" so perhaps that was the theory behind the 2 dings? As you say, any further presses only sound the bell through the saloon speaker, thus not annoying the driver, and also preventing panic from people who missed the first press and then think the bell isn't working.

Also, the bell in the wheelchair space makes 4 rapid dings (it's a PSVAR requirement that the wheelchair bell sounds different and has a different dashboard light). Oddly, the alarm to indicate that the emergency door is open is the same sound!

Most (certainly older) Wrightbus bodied vehicles have a similar system of 2 speakers, where the cab speaker only sounds on the first press. Wrightbus Streetlite vehicles, however, simply only sound on the first press throughout the whole bus.

Though technically very easy, I’m not sure this would be allowed by UK Construction & Use regulations.

Purely based on the fact that I have both travelled on, and driven, multiple vehicles where this is the case, I can quite confidently say that it is allowed.

 

[90019]

Though technically very easy, I’m not sure this would be allowed by UK Construction & Use regulations.

It's definitely allowed, as some of the buses I drive do that.

 

[Siemens Trains]

Am I imagining this or did London rear door buses have a sign advising that 'passengers must not give the moving off signal'? I interpreted the moving off signal as being a double push, which many passengers these days give as a request to stop. As noted above, some vehicles now convert a single push for a stop request into four bells which almost sounds like a train despatch communication.
To my recollection signs on bells (or more commonly in Edinburgh's centre door vehicles, a rubber strip in the ceiling) said 'Push Once'. Many children and a few adults would deliberately push twice as an act of defiance.
On rural single door vehicles around Edinburgh from the 1970s (Eastern Scottish, in common with Northern, Western & Highland as mentioned earlier) passengers were discouraged from touching the bell, whether proper front, half cab front or rear door, and especially if a conductor was on board. Having been told off for using the bell on one occasion in the early 1980s I didn't ring again on a single door vehicle until around 2004 and was almost never over-carried. Changes prompting universal passenger bell-pushing here seemed to be the advent of DDA plus main Edinburgh operator (Lothian Buses) phasing out their centre door fleet on which passengers always had to ring the bell to alight otherwise the driver wouldn't see them moving towards the door. Given the long time when both bus types were in operation with the same company nearly all passengers forgot the convention, and if sat upstairs you wouldn't be aware of the difference.

For relevance of DDA, see also the thread about whether passengers get out of their seat prior to the the bus pulling up at their stop. In bygone days people with mobility issues, prams etc weren't really allowed on buses so no worries with expecting passengers to move towards the door in advance of alighting. While there's usually a siren to help the most severely disabled passengers, a few others are likely to appreciate extra time for alighting and may not be able to shout to the driver from their chosen seat.

You'll get the occasional campanology enthusiast, either showing off or panicking, plus those who didn't hear or believe the first request. But most people realise only a single push is adequate and it's seldom that passengers in Edinburgh continually ring the bell in advance of their desired stop.

 

[johnnychips]

In Greater Manchester in the late 70s, you just shouted ‘next stop, please!’ even if you were upstairs. I was quite surprised when I moved to South Yorkshire in 1982 to find firstly, you were expected to use the bell, and secondly that it was a string suspended from the ceiling rather than a rubber strip. Indeed the BSL (British Sign Language) for ‘bus’ in some dialects is the action of pulling this string down with two fingers.

 

[RT4038]

He's correct. For some years now the London rule has been that the bus must stop unless the driver is sure nobody wants to board, but for alighting the bell must be used. This is how it works in most of Europe, sticking your hand out is a British provincial thing.

Not just a provincial thing - at London request stops also. Wasn't it the (wartime) Billy Brown of London Town that exhorted 'Face the driver, raise your hand, you will find he'll understand'?.

 

[Mikey C]

A more puzzling noise is on Volvos such as the London B5LHs, but one I've also heard on B8RLEs outside London, where when the bus is taking off a "honking" noise comes from somewhere.

 

[90019]

A more puzzling noise is on Volvos such as the London B5LHs, but one I've also heard on B8RLEs outside London, where when the bus is taking off a "honking" noise comes from somewhere.

If it's the noise I think it is, it's the handbrake being let off - though I'm not sure what actually causes the noise, and not all Volvos do it.

 

[Lewisham2221]

A more puzzling noise is on Volvos such as the London B5LHs, but one I've also heard on B8RLEs outside London, where when the bus is taking off a "honking" noise comes from somewhere.

That's when you release the handbrake. Presumably it's something to do with an air valve somewhere on the handbrake system, as you can avoid the noise by releasing the handbrake slowly/gently

 

[GusB]

Handbrake "honking" noises have been a thing for many years. It has nothing to do with sounding the bell, however, so please let's remain on-topic!

 

[Trackman]

On a modern bus with a 'bus stopping' sign, does something light up on the drivers dash?

 

[Siemens Trains]

On a modern bus with a 'bus stopping' sign, does something light up on the drivers dash?

A question I often pose to the driver when I've been overcarried. Many buses definitely do have this feature but maybe it isn't totally reliable. On noticing me standing next to the cab when passing the desired stop they often ask if I rang the bell. When I reply in the affirmative and ask if they saw the light on the dash they sometimes say "Ah, that doesn't always work....." In fairness that's been on very rattly vehicles where the bell is barely audible and I can imagine the wiring being dodgy to say the least.

Also as noted above, the illuminated saloon light isn't always activated either, for example if an eager passenger pressed the bell before the bus departed from the previous stop.

 

[Lewisham2221]

On a modern bus with a 'bus stopping' sign, does something light up on the drivers dash?

Usually, yes. However there's always the possibility of a blown bulb or maybe some other issue to prevent it from doing so. Many more modern types have the bell "light" (and many other warning "lights") displayed on a small LCD display on the dash, rather than being an independent light. These LCD displays can be notoriously difficult to see in bright sunlight, or in pretty much any daylight if the backlighting is failing.

 

[Auld reekie]

On Lothian Buses it happens frequently that every person getting of the bus has to ring the bell.
Weird behaviour.

 

[Steddenm]

On the old Midland Fox Cub buses that looked like a glorified Transit, (see image), the stop button was a tiny little push button in the roof space that made an awful screeching sound for however long it was pressed.


Image shows a Ford Transit-derived minibus in "Fox Cub" branding of a yellow front and red rear from Midland Fox parked outside some residential houses in Leicestershire. Image is taken from the Hinckley Times newspaper archive (now administered by The Leicester Mercury - a Reach company) and is used with permission via [email address partly redacted] hinckley.times.archives@[redacted].net