Quirky or quaint practices on buses in the past

[Tom Gallacher]

Growing up in the 1980's I have vague memories of broken down LT buses having a seat cushion removed and propped up against the rear of the bus. I'm assuming this was to signal that assistance was on the way for the stricken bus? Did seem rather an odd practice!

I think that was standard practice throughout the country. They certainly did it in Glasgow.

 

[OVS Flatbottom]

I think that was standard practice throughout the country. They certainly did it in Glasgow.

CIÉ in Ireland did this too (in Atlantean days) but with the variation that it was usually two seat cushions propped up against each other, some distance behind the bus, in a kind of approximation of a warning triangle.

 

[jp4712]

Yes, a cushion on the back panel was pretty universal. In the days before hazard warning lights, it was the normal, accepted way of telling following traffic that the bus was broken down and not just waiting at a bus stop etc. I’ve done it myself in recent years on a stranded preserved bus, but I’m not sure how many following drivers were aware if its significance…

Many bus operators had night services; some even had crews who worked only those services, i.e. permanent nights; the only bus operator I know of who had vehicles dedicated to night services was Salford City Transport, whose Daimlers 555-560 of 1952 were the only buses in the fleet equipped with heaters and in consequence were used on night services and very rarely during the day. From 1960, Salford had a campaign to fit the fleet with heaters and from then 555-560 were used generally like the rest of the fleet.

 

[Merle Haggard]

Growing up in the 1980's I have vague memories of broken down LT buses having a seat cushion removed and propped up against the rear of the bus. I'm assuming this was to signal that assistance was on the way for the stricken bus? Did seem rather an odd practice!

The father of one of my mates had been a bus driver in London in the 1960s and he did say that the definition of 'breakdown' was stretched by L.T. crews (for example, the failure of a lamp in daylight) with the objective of having to avoid the pressures of work for a period.
In the mid 1950s onwards I used buses to go to school (including returning home at mid-day for 'dinner') and never experienced a breakdown. I understand that, if a United Counties bus broke down in service in those days there would be a lot of paperwork and blame attribution, it was so unusual.

 

[GordonT]

Some operators (Western SMT was an example in its day) had a history of, as far as possible, semi-permanently allocating the same vehicle to the same shift with a specific pair of drivers or crews pre-omo (early shift and late shift). This quite often meant that buses had a tea-break at the same time as their regular crew with the tea-relief crew covering the gap with "their" bus.
This was considered to give staff a vested interest in looking after their "own" vehicle as well as creating a culture of empathy between staff and their regular customers as had been the case within the original small independent operators which the larger operator had subsequently acquired.

 

[Merle Haggard]

Some operators (Western SMT was an example in its day) had a history of, as far as possible, semi-permanently allocating the same vehicle to the same shift with a specific pair of drivers or crews pre-omo (early shift and late shift). This quite often meant that buses had a tea-break at the same time as their regular crew with the tea-relief crew covering the gap with "their" bus.
This was considered to give staff a vested interest in looking after their "own" vehicle as well as creating a culture of empathy between staff and their regular customers as had been the case within the original small independent operators which the larger operator had subsequently acquired.

Barton Transport had the same system - one driver, one bus, always worked the same rota. Bearing in mind that some of the Barton area was industrial, many services started early and finished late. A driver that started before 6 a.m. finished his shift and parked his bus in the early afternoon, the bus then did no further work until the next morning. Meanwhile, at about the same time another driver booked on, and took his bus out. This bus had been idle alll morning, indeed since the previous night.

When Trent took over Barton it's perhaps easy to see how the Barton fleet could be almost halved.

This practice also partly explains why the Barton fleet (until the 'Bus Grant') had some very elderly buses in its fleet.,

 

[AndrewE]

Some operators (Western SMT was an example in its day) had a history of, as far as possible, semi-permanently allocating the same vehicle to the same shift with a specific pair of drivers or crews pre-omo (early shift and late shift). This quite often meant that buses had a tea-break at the same time as their regular crew with the tea-relief crew covering the gap with "their" bus.
This was considered to give staff a vested interest in looking after their "own" vehicle as well as creating a culture of empathy between staff and their regular customers as had been the case within the original small independent operators which the larger operator had subsequently acquired.

In "Most Secret War" R V Jones describes how an apparently logical initiative of the allocation of any available Spitfire to the next pilot needing one went very wrong, with a collapse in availability. It turned out that a pilot unfamiliar with an individual plane would fail or decline it if (e.g.) a gauge was inoperative, whereas a pilot who knew his own plane and what it had done since its last service would just take his recent history into account and keep flying it.

 

[GordonT]

In "Most Secret War" R V Jones describes how an apparently logical initiative of the allocation of any available Spitfire to the next pilot needing one went very wrong, with a collapse in availability.

Eastern Scottish's Edinburgh New Street Depot tended to go with the allocation of any available Spitfire policy including visiting "foreign" vehicles temporarily not being utilised by their owning company and potentially of a type totally unfamiliar to Eastern Scottish drivers.

 

[farwest]

I remember having to shew your ticket if asked.

 

[satters]

I remember having to shew your ticket if asked.

I have to now whenever the inspectors board

 

[GordonT]

I remember having to shew your ticket if asked.

..... and being forbidden to spit.

 

[Taunton]

I'm trying to remember which route it was in Fife, around 15 years ago one of the duty broad clearly stated " Which out for a blind woman at X times at a Supermarket bus stop" Supermarket was a timing point. It was in very big and bold lettering.

More generally, in the days of conductors, it was common at many operators that the driver, on approaching a stop and seeing someone with a white stick waiting, would flash the saloon lights so the conductor would go to the open back entrance to assist. And this extended beyond bus stops; at a blind persons home where residents wanted to cross, they would just wait at the edge with their stick and the next bus along would stop and wait for the conductor to see them over. I suspect police cars etc did the same.

 

[Roger1973]

Passengers in my youth were wee acquainted with red(or green in country/green line areas) and white bus stop colours.

I thought that the green ones were only for 'Green Line' services as 'coach stops' - the red ones were for buses either country or central (I'm aware of some which hung on post deregulation)

This must have given Frank Pick a lot of worry, though...

In a desperate attempt to get back on-topic, perhaps their use of roadside canteen points remote from garages could be considered quirky?

Not all that unusual - must have been quite a few operators had canteens at town centres / bus stations / relief points away from garages (and some where conductors / OPO drivers would pay in at the bus station not the garage / depot at end of shift.)

London Transport had quite a few, some were just for cups of tea and quick snacks at terminus points (Grove Park Bus Station was close to home at one time), some were for meal breaks where routes were operated remotely, e.g. Liverpool Street Station (somewhere in the Broad Street building) used by Dalston / Ash Grove crews on routes 9 and 11 in the daytime, and by many night bus crews at night. Stoke Newington Common also had a remote canteen for Tottenham crews on route 73, what's now Waterloo London General garage had a canteen and was meal relief point for some south London routes when it was just a bus parking area. And think some bus crews used Underground canteens at stations including Morden and Uxbridge (I'm not sure these are still used following bus privatisation.) There are some TFL driver break rooms at bus stations now, but don't think they include proper catering.

Nottingham City Transport had a city centre canteen in the 90s (may even have been above the enquiry office shop premises - I don't know if either is still in use) and Reading Buses had (at least a few years ago) a canteen in the town centre as well as at their depot.

Many bus operators had night services; some even had crews who worked only those services, i.e. permanent nights; the only bus operator I know of who had vehicles dedicated to night services was Salford City Transport

Yes, most London night bus crews were on regular nights (as ever with LT, some garages did different things) - it tended to be senior crews, as it was a regular week - and until a certain point, regular Saturday nights off, as most LT night routes didn't run Saturday night until the early / mid 80s, the whole shift was on 'unsocial hours' rate. And if the crew / driver did the sixth night as 'rest day' (at garages where there was just one night bus) after the 5 day week came in, that would have added up to quite a good pay packet.

Again, there's variety between operators, but most London operators have a separate rota / pay grade for night bus drivers now.

As for vehicles, possibly stretching a point a bit, but London Transport had a batch of 'one and a half deck' Leyland Cub buses built in the mid 30s for the 'Inter Station' route, which at that time ran mainly in the evenings, and one or two buses stayed out all night (photo of preserved example on 'SCT61' website here.) During the 1939-45 war they were joined by at least one double deck ST bus with some of the lower deck seats replaced by luggage racks (not sure there's a surviving photo of one of these) mainly to cater for members of the armed services in transit. Also possibly the first 'route branded' buses in London? By some point in the 1950s the route became nights only then weekend nights only but used standard RT (then later types) buses off daytime allocations.

More generally, in the days of conductors, it was common at many operators that the driver, on approaching a stop and seeing someone with a white stick waiting, would flash the saloon lights so the conductor would go to the open back entrance to assist.

On London RT / Routemaster buses, the saloon lights were controlled by the conductor, but the light on the platform was part of the side / tail lights circuit, so it was a common signal from driver to conductor to flash this on and off a few times to get the conductor's attention. I don't remember it ever being used for this purpose, though.

 

[renegademaster]

London now uses the German approach at all stops, which is to stop if anyone at the stop may wish to board but to alight you do need to ring the bell. A lot of people do put their hand out, though.

This isn't true in outer London at least in Croydon. They'll slow down for you but won't stop unless you appear to want to board

 

[Roger1973]

The father of one of my mates had been a bus driver in London in the 1960s and he did say that the definition of 'breakdown' was stretched by L.T. crews (for example, the failure of a lamp in daylight) with the objective of having to avoid the pressures of work for a period.

Another feature of LT as it was, overtime (as a result of being delayed) was paid in quarter hour chunks, rounded up or down.

Therefore, no bus would ever arrive at garage / change-over point 7 minutes late, always 8 or more (likewise 22 / 23 minutes and so on.) in the days before satellite tracking, there were stops where an inspector couldn't see the bus (round the far side of the Catford one way system was one favourite.)

 

[Simon75]

Up until a few years back ive remember you often saw a buse parked outside a drivers house , both during the day and at night

 

[izvor]

Another feature of LT as it was, overtime (as a result of being delayed) was paid in quarter hour chunks, rounded up or down
Therefore, no bus would ever arrive at garage / change-over point 7 minutes late, always 8 or more (likewise 22 / 23 minutes and so on.)

This was still the case on London Country right up until privatisation c.1987.

Unfortunately most other "quirky or quaint practices" I can think of are unrepeatable on this board!

 

[Springs Branch]

I'm slightly surprised to learn that the 232 (or its forbear) was run from Urmston - sorry, I don't use Facebook so can't see if this was confirmed on the Facebook page? I would have assumed NWRCC's Manchester garage would have run it. Stockport (Charles St) might also have been more convenient.

On reflection and further investigation, you're very likely correct on this.

The Facebook Group certainly has some discussion on closure of the depot at Urmston and the vehicles and crews that transferred across to Princess Road garage as a result. However it doesn't specifically say this was how the 32 / 232 service came under PS's purview. This might well have come about as the result of some wider-ranging change of responsibilities when Selnec Cheshire was absorbed in 1973.

I also had in mind that, in NWRCC days, some of the inward short workings on the 32 which didn't continue all the way into Manchester had terminated at Barlow Moor Rd / Southern Cemetery, which would have been logical for a dead run into Urmston garage. But looking through a wider range of old timetables, it seems inbound buses generally either proceeded all the way into central Manchester, even if they arrived there well after the last outbound journey had left - so based at Manchester Hulme Hall Rd. Or terminated at Bramhall - which certainly has a Stockport Charles St smell about it.

With the NWRCC head office being in Stockport, I wonder if the unique "stop at the Boar's Head" task on the last bus to Middlewood originally came about because one of the senior men at North Western lived somewhere around Poynton, was a regular at that pub, and wanted a guaranteed bus ride home for him and/or his drinking mates?


Back OT . . .
In the 1970s/80s, before the advent of electronic destination displays, Eastern Counties buses around Cambridgeshire had a habit of displaying the route number and SERVICE as the destination. I don't remember seeing this practice anywhere else around the country (but open to correction).

I suspected this came about because ECOC had a largeish number of different rural destinations, a good few of which were served only once or twice a day (or week), together with a contracting rural network at the time. Presumably it would be time-consuming & expensive to manufacture manual blinds with all the required different village destinations, some of which might soon become obsolete - so why not include a generic SERVICE to cater for the rare ones.

However, I'm sure the availability of SERVICE was a useful 'labour saving' device for certain crews, as it regularly appeared on the front of buses which did have a major destination available on blinds - sometimes even on regular, conductor-operated, urban double-deck routes within Cambridge.

 

[Taunton]

Back OT . . .
In the 1970s/80s, before the advent of electronic destination displays, Eastern Counties buses around Cambridgeshire had a habit of displaying the route number and SERVICE as the destination. I don't remember seeing this practice anywhere else around the country (but open to correction).

I'm a refugee from the rail pages here, but this was very standard on Western National buses in Taunton in the 1960s-70s, and actually across much of their territory as well, apparently all down to shortage of the linen indicator blinds when vehicles were transferred around from one point to another. The town service double deckers were especially prone to this. They had provision for the destination, the intermediate points, and the number. The destination read "Western National", the intermediate points were "Service No", and the number was correct. I seem to recall they had a stock of blinds that only had these couple of generic points that would be put in when they ran out of the proper ones. The town routes were about half a dozen numbers scattered between 204 and 276, and I really don't think that many passengers knew their numbers well.

Newport Transport's last buses of the day all left the bus station at 2300, an inspector (remember them?) blowing a whistle.

We moved on in life from Taunton to The Wirral, where such a fascination actually took place every 10 minutes (!) at the Seacombe terminus of almost all the Wallasey buses, where they connected with the ferry boats coming across from Liverpool, which at peak periods still delivered several hundred passengers each. The buses were reversed into a diagonal line alongside one another for the various routes, the passengers would spill out for the various routes getting on at the back, when all had come up the gangway an inspector would blow their whistle and maybe 10 buses would all fire up their engines together and be immediately off, drivers all jockeying for position, woe betide any who were slightly timid. It was a real Le Mans-style start (apart from running across the road), and they must have had collisions there occasionally before the exit from the bus station, when they all fanned out in different directions. 10 minutes later, next boat arrives, repeat.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

Some operators (Western SMT was an example in its day) had a history of, as far as possible, semi-permanently allocating the same vehicle to the same shift with a specific pair of drivers or crews pre-omo (early shift and late shift). This quite often meant that buses had a tea-break at the same time as their regular crew with the tea-relief crew covering the gap with "their" bus.
This was considered to give staff a vested interest in looking after their "own" vehicle as well as creating a culture of empathy between staff and their regular customers as had been the case within the original small independent operators which the larger operator had subsequently acquired.

The 681 (Atherton/Hag Fold circular) by Jim Stones Coaches was a bit like that (15m journey, 15m break, repeat), with some journeys being cut so the bus could run a school service. Almost always same bus and same driver (with the bus running empty from depot each morning, but scheduled to return as a short route 682).

 

[daodao]

Actually, Princess Road did run the 99/108/9 routes that passed the garage pre-deregulation, which ran to Sale, Timperley and Wythenshawe Hospital respectively (8 buses all day, but later this was complicated by them interworking with the 260/6 in Piccadilly!).

In a desperate attempt to get back on-topic, perhaps their use of roadside canteen points remote from garages could be considered quirky? The Northenden garage worked services to Wythenshawe had their mealbreaks at Southern Cemetery, while the services through Old Trafford worked by Princess Road had theirs at a very cramped canteen there - surprisingly, it appears to be still standing! Elsewhere, there was another canteen at Levenshulme Lloyd Road and I believe Belle Vue too, although I didn't really get involved with schedules on that side of the city.

Establishing canteens at major termini makes sense, to minimise dead time between finishing journeys and taking a meal break.

Historically, Southern Cemetery was a major tram and later bus terminus. Until shortly before the demise of the first generation tramways, many of the Wythenshawe buses stopped short at Southern Cemetery and one apparently had to change to a tram to continue travelling to the city centre. The planned tramway further south to Wythenshawe was cancelled in 1929/1930 following the appointment of a new corporation transport manager, whose father-in-law was a bus manufacturer.

While the first generation tramways disappeared in the 1940s well before I was born, one bus service that I do recall was route 94 (formerly tram route 37), which ran from Southern Cemetery to Levenshulme Lloyd Road via Deansgate.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

I'm a refugee from the rail pages here, but this was very standard on Western National buses in Taunton in the 1960s-70s, and actually across much of their territory as well, apparently all down to shortage of the linen indicator blinds when vehicles were transferred around from one point to another. The town service double deckers were especially prone to this. They had provision for the destination, the intermediate points, and the number. The destination read "Western National", the intermediate points were "Service No", and the number was correct. I seem to recall they had a stock of blinds that only had these couple of generic points that would be put in when they ran out of the proper ones. The town routes were about half a dozen numbers scattered between 204 and 276, and I really don't think that many passengers knew their numbers well.

We moved on in life from Taunton to The Wirral, where such a fascination actually took place every 10 minutes (!) at the Seacombe terminus of almost all the Wallasey buses, where they connected with the ferry boats coming across from Liverpool, which at peak periods still delivered several hundred passengers each. The buses were reversed into a diagonal line alongside one another for the various routes, the passengers would spill out for the various routes getting on at the back, when all had come up the gangway an inspector would blow their whistle and maybe 10 buses would all fire up their engines together and be immediately off, drivers all jockeying for position, woe betide any who were slightly timid. It was a real Le Mans-style start (apart from running across the road), and they must have had collisions there occasionally before the exit from the bus station, when they all fanned out in different directions. 10 minutes later, next boat arrives, repeat.

Cheltenham Coach Station famously had the '2.00 p.m. Whistle' where coaches would be sent on their way to all parts of the country having fulfilled their connections.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Dec 2025 ==

Establishing canteens at major termini makes sense, to minimise dead time between finishing journeys and taking a meal break.

Historically, Southern Cemetery was a major tram and later bus terminus. Until shortly before the demise of the first generation tramways, many of the Wythenshawe buses stopped short at Southern Cemetery and one apparently had to change to a tram to continue travelling to the city centre. The planned tramway further south to Wythenshawe was cancelled in 1929/1930 following the appointment of a new corporation transport manager, whose father-in-law was a bus manufacturer.

While the first generation tramways disappeared in the 1940s well before I was born, one bus service that I do recall was route 94 (formerly tram route 37), which ran from Southern Cemetery to Levenshulme Lloyd Road via Deansgate.

The old (rather grim) bus station at Piccadilly, Manchester had an 'upstairs' staff canteen.

Mauldeth Road West in Chorlton was laid out for trams in the '20s but tracks were never laid due to the change in policy. Happily, the Airport branch of Metrolink now runs along part of it.

 

[PeterC]

I remember a discussion on the letters page of Buses Illustrated back in the 60s about the Brigadoon like village of "Service" as well as its subsidiary settlement of "Town Service".

In the same period Eastern National seemed to be a common destination for ENOC vehicles in Chelmsford.

 

[Bletchleyite]

This isn't true in outer London at least in Croydon. They'll slow down for you but won't stop unless you appear to want to board

If they are doing that they aren't following what the "Big Red Book" says. Of course drivers deciding to do their own thing rather than follow company policy very much is a quirk of UK bus operation.

Stop if anyone is waiting at the bus stop, making sure you check the area.

• Stop at any stop on your route if someone is waiting by, sitting down or has signalled to you

• Slow down while approaching the stop to check there are no customers waiting

• If there is any doubt, stop

• Look out for older and disabled customers, especially blind and partially sighted people. Remember that not all impairments or conditions can be seen

https://www.transportforall.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/pub19006thebigredbookupdate2019aw.pdf

 

[MotCO]

I thought that all bus stops in London were now regarded as 'request' stops - or is it the other way round?

 

[pitdiver]

I don't whether it was unique to the Isle of Wight but I can remember travelling on a bus from Ryde to St Helens and the bus stopping to pick up and drop off parcels.

 

[High Dyke]

Earlier on it was mentioned about collecting/delivering the internal post bag between depots. I've done that. The running card showed which duties had that task.

From a passenger point of view, our depot used to have a Saturday tendered route across Rutland. In one village the regulars would advise you if Mrs xxxx was travelling today by leaving her shopping bag on the garden gate. Woe betide you if you didn't stop to pick her up.

 

[mangad]

I thought that all bus stops in London were now regarded as 'request' stops - or is it the other way round?

It's the other way round. There are no request stops in London and haven't been since about 2008. That's for ALL TfL bus services.

 

[Lewisham2221]

It's the other way round. There are no request stops in London and haven't been since about 2008. That's for ALL TfL bus services.

Didn't the old compulsory stops require the driver to stop even if there was nobody waiting?* Whereas now there's no requirement to stop if the bus stop is empty (and nobody's rang the bell). So these days, they function more like a request stop than a compulsory stop.

* - I'm sure I remember reading something, several years ago, about the old compulsory stops acting as sort of makeshift brake tests before buses approached major junctions or steep hills, but that could just be an urban myth.

 

[JKP]

I don't whether it was unique to the Isle of Wight but I can remember travelling on a bus from Ryde to St Helens and the bus stopping to pick up and drop off parcels.

Very common practice across the UK. Newspapers, car parts, bicycle parts, dentures for repair were the most frequent in my experience. Where I live prescriptions were sent out from Boots on the afternoon bus to a remote village to be collected by people from the village shop. This happened until around 20 years ago when one day the Health Board found out and put a stop to it. A van was sent to make the delivery instead.

I travelled on a Saturday morning bus around 45 years ago where the driver delivered newspapers to houses through one village by throwing them into gardens either by opening the door or through the driver’s side window!