Quirky or quaint practices on buses in the past

[Falcon1200]

any thing you want but you can never leave”.

'any time you want', surely?!!

 

[Mark L]

'any time you want', surely?!!

The curse of auto-correct (although that doesn’t absolve me of responsibility for not checking before hitting the “post” button).

 

[Dwarfer1979]

There are a few services that are “set down only” beyond a certain point on the route. In practice I suspect that once the last passenger gas got off the bus just heads straight for the depot. I’m not sure that this is in strict compliance with the letter of the law (as it’s not running the registered timetable, unless such eventualities are catered for in the registration) but clearly makes sense.

Such eventualities are catered for in the registration. There is a section in the registration forms asking about sections of routes served on demand which covers this - fully demand responsive services are also covered by the registration system though they have a special form due to the intricacies of the service. It is explicitly that the bus will only continue beyond a specified point if passengers are on board the vehicle at that point and will only go as far along the route as required to drop those passengers off. It is often used on last trips heading out into countryside, or past the depot or convenient point to turn to head to the depot, where it is not common to have passengers travelling but the trip is still seen as being needed to maintain some form of travel opportunity. We have actually converted one such journey to always run through as there was almost always someone wanting to go beyond the depot so it made it more reassuring to the passengers they could travel and avoided the occasional dispute with a passenger who boarded the stop this kicked in which sometimes meant drivers didn't want to consider them eligible.

 

[Whisky Papa]

Back to codes shown on buses indicating their garage allocation, and the system used by Greater Manchester Transport from the mid 1970s until deregulation doesn't seem to have been mentioned yet.

AM - Altrincham
BN - Bolton (covered Shiffnall Street and Bridgeman Street before they closed and were concentrated at the enlarged Crook Street)
BS - Birchfields Road, Manchester
BY - Bury (also covered Ramsbottom until its closure)
FK - Frederick Road, Salford
HE - Hyde Road, Manchester
LH - Leigh
NN - Northenden
OM - Oldham
PS - Princess Road, Manchester
QS - Queens Road, Manchester
RE - Rochdale
ST - Stockport (included Charles Street buses until they were all accommodated at Daw Bank, but the code was not shown by Charterplan coaches based at Charles Street)
TE - Tameside (originally Ashton-under-Lyne Mossley Road and Stalybridge Tame Street, transferred to new garage at Whitelands Road, also included Glossop garage)
WE - Weaste, Salford
WN - Wigan

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

There are a few services that are “set down only” beyond a certain point on the route. In practice I suspect that once the last passenger gas got off the bus just heads straight for the depot.

Not uncommon on rural routes. One local example to me is Frome Bus 162 - it enables the bus to finish at Sainsbury's if empty which is close to their depot.




Meanwhile, the last Libra 94 from Bath is really free form!!

 

[Martin1988]

Service 680 between Yate and Filton college which was designed as a college day only service but which members of the public could use. There were numerous incidences where the drivers didn't bother with the full route on the return journey back from Filton to Yate and just fast-tracked to areas where there were passengers to drop off.

Remember for a time in early 2013 the driver often picked up an elderly couple in Yate on a Friday evening and took them up to Chipping Sodbury High Street, despite that location not being on the route.
Going further back, when South Gloucestershire Bus and Coach worked the 622 (Chipping Sodbury to Thornbury and Cribbs), they often seemed to make passengers swap vehicles mid route (Tytherington, just outside of Thornbury rings a bell). Remember being on one journey where we started off on a coach but then got made to swap to a standard bus when we reached Tytherington and on another occasion when travelling in the other direction, we started off from Cribbs on a minibus and when we reached Tytherington we pulled into the bus stop, waited a few minutes and then another minibus coming from Yate arrived and we were all made to swap vehicles.

Pretty sure that for a time in Autumn 2007 the first journey of the day towards Cribbs Causeway regularly used a coach, at least at the start of the journey. Remember riding it twice with one journey (referred to above) involving a vehicle swap en-route and the other involving the coach working the full route.

Also remember back in 2004/2005 Turners Coachways of Bristol had a regular Friday/Sunday National Express working on the 040 to and from Bristol and London and there was one driver who used to act a bit like a tour guide and used to try and entice passengers to listen to the welcome/safety announcement by saying "if you listen carefully, you might win a prize"!

 

[Leyland Bus]

Back to codes shown on buses indicating their garage allocation, and the system used by Greater Manchester Transport from the mid 1970s until deregulation doesn't seem to have been mentioned yet.

AM - Altrincham
BN - Bolton (covered Shiffnall Street and Bridgeman Street before they closed and were concentrated at the enlarged Crook Street)
BS - Birchfields Road, Manchester
BY - Bury (also covered Ramsbottom until its closure)
FK - Frederick Road, Salford
HE - Hyde Road, Manchester
LH - Leigh
NN - Northenden
OM - Oldham
PS - Princess Road, Manchester
QS - Queens Road, Manchester
RE - Rochdale
ST - Stockport (included Charles Street buses until they were all accommodated at Daw Bank, but the code was not shown by Charterplan coaches based at Charles Street)
TE - Tameside (originally Ashton-under-Lyne Mossley Road and Stalybridge Tame Street, transferred to new garage at Whitelands Road, also included Glossop garage)
WE - Weaste, Salford
WN - Wigan

AN - Atherton
HY - Hindley
SN - Swinton

Grade: C-, more effort required, see me after class

 

[Pinus contorta]

AN - Atherton
HY - Hindley
SN - Swinton

Grade: C-, more effort required, see me after class

Depends when you left school. 1970's or 1980's when AN SN HY added to the list!

 

[padbus]

A quirky event from my early childhood over 70 years ago occurred when going on a family holiday to Hayling Island. The final part of the journey was by bus from Portsmouth. The bridge over to the island had a weight limit so, in order to keep within the limit, all the men and boys had to get off the bus and walk over the bridge.

 

[Tim33160]

Back to codes shown on buses indicating their garage allocation, and the system used by Greater Manchester Transport from the mid 1970s until deregulation doesn't seem to have been mentioned yet.

AM - Altrincham
BN - Bolton (covered Shiffnall Street and Bridgeman Street before they closed and were concentrated at the enlarged Crook Street)
BS - Birchfields Road, Manchester
BY - Bury (also covered Ramsbottom until its closure)
FK - Frederick Road, Salford
HE - Hyde Road, Manchester
LH - Leigh
NN - Northenden
OM - Oldham
PS - Princess Road, Manchester
QS - Queens Road, Manchester
RE - Rochdale
ST - Stockport (included Charles Street buses until they were all accommodated at Daw Bank, but the code was not shown by Charterplan coaches based at Charles Street)
TE - Tameside (originally Ashton-under-Lyne Mossley Road and Stalybridge Tame Street, transferred to new garage at Whitelands Road, also included Glossop garage)
WE - Weaste, Salford
WN - Wigan

There was also the low cost units of minibuses in de-regulation days
eg
CS Charles St
BE Boyle St ( sub depot of QS )

LUT depots
AN Atherton
HY Hindley
SN Swinton

 

[RT4038]

A quirky event from my early childhood over 70 years ago occurred when going on a family holiday to Hayling Island. The final part of the journey was by bus from Portsmouth. The bridge over to the island had a weight limit so, in order to keep within the limit, all the men and boys had to get off the bus and walk over the bridge.

This also happened at one time on a bridge at Bembridge Harbour on the Isle of Wight.

 

[Leyland Bus]

There was also the low cost units of minibuses in de-regulation days
eg
CS Charles St
BE Boyle St ( sub depot of QS )

LUT depots
AN Atherton
HY Hindley
SN Swinton

And to really round them all off:

SB - South Bury (low cost unit)
LL - Liverpool (Bootle)

 

[Whisky Papa]

Depends when you left school. 1970's or 1980's when AN SN HY added to the list!

Yes, I was ticking them off from one of AM Witton's 'Fleetbook' publications from 1975 to make sure I didn't forget any, and meant to add the ex-Lancashire United ones at the end...but dashed off to the pub instead . They were of course fully integrated into GMT by the time I left in 1985.

I'm not sure how quickly the stickers were changed in the (relatively rare) event of inter-garage transfers? I remember Princess Road having two or three ex-Bolton Atlanteans for a brief period - one of which gave a very lively ride over the then Chester Road flyover on the 254 one evening, but can't recall if they had BN or PS stickers. Likewise, I rode a 24 from Rochdale into Manchester on an ex-Wigan Leyland PD2, and I seem to remember it didn't have WN showing.

 

[WibbleWobble]

And to really round them all off:

SB - South Bury (low cost unit)
LL - Liverpool (Bootle)

Wasn't there also a "SA" South Atherton low cost unit?

 

[Leyland Bus]

Wasn't there also a "SA" South Atherton low cost unit?

Potentially, which leads to one SOU garage even I forgot:

SW - South Wigan

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

Further to recent Greater Manchester themed posts Lancashire United Transport was purchased by Greater Manchester Transport in 1976 but not fully integrated until 1981. Nevertheless in the meantime LUT buses started to receive a mostly orange version of GMT livery: it didn't wear particularly well but somewhat foreshadowed a similar colour scheme applied to GMT's first 2nd generation double-deckers (Metrobuses and Titans).

The low-cost operations were known internally as Separate Operating Units (SOUs) but apart from Stockport's Charles St were only adminstratively separate being based under the same roof as the parent fleet. As such they were a fudge to allow the introduction of inferior pay and conditions for new starters though some, mostly older, "core" drivers sold their T's & C's for a decent lump sum thereby undermining union opposition to the concept. Minibuses were very much central to the idea but depots tended to have a small number of full-sized buses on SOU work and in practice there was a certain amount of a common-user approach taken to day-to-day vehicle allocation.

There were additional SOUs to those previously mentioned:
BE - Boyle Street (Queen's Road)
NB - North Bolton
By rights there should have been one at Oldham (WW - Wallshaw Street ?) but I have no recollection of it, perhaps someone can confirm either way.

 

[Statto]

Further to recent Greater Manchester themed posts Lancashire United Transport was purchased by Greater Manchester Transport in 1976 but not fully integrated until 1981. Nevertheless in the meantime LUT buses started to receive a mostly orange version of GMT livery: it didn't wear particularly well but somewhat foreshadowed a similar colour scheme applied to GMT's first 2nd generation double-deckers (Metrobuses and Titans).

The low-cost operations were known internally as Separate Operating Units (SOUs) but apart from Stockport's Charles St were only adminstratively separate being based under the same roof as the parent fleet. As such they were a fudge to allow the introduction of inferior pay and conditions for new starters though some, mostly older, "core" drivers sold their T's & C's for a decent lump sum thereby undermining union opposition to the concept. Minibuses were very much central to the idea but depots tended to have a small number of full-sized buses on SOU work and in practice there was a certain amount of a common-user approach taken to day-to-day vehicle allocation.

There were additional SOUs to those previously mentioned:
BE - Boyle Street (Queen's Road)
NB - North Bolton
By rights there should have been one at Oldham (WW - Wallshaw Street ?) but I have no recollection of it, perhaps someone can confirm either way.

After Lancashire United Transport was integrated into GMPTE you had the odd situation with Earlestown & Newton Le Willows being in Merseyside, but bus services were provided by another PTE (GMPTE) until deregulation, including bus services that didn't go into the GM area.

 

[M60lad]

If I remember rightly the SOU unit at Oldham Depot was coded MS (Mumps Bridge)

 

[Geswedey]

This also happened at one time on a bridge at Bembridge Harbour on the Isle of Wight.

On a through Coach from Inverness to Portree we had to get off the coach when crossing on the ferry from Kyle to Kyleakin

 

[341o2]

The Stalybridge, Hyde, Mossley and Dukinfield Transport and Electricity Board erected wiring for trolleybuses and maintained it, but did not own any trolleybuses, vehicles were supplied by Manchester and Ashton Under Lyne.

 

[overthewater]

There are a few services that are “set down only” beyond a certain point on the route. In practice I suspect that once the last passenger gas got off the bus just heads straight for the depot. I’m not sure that this is in strict compliance with the letter of the law (as it’s not running the registered timetable, unless such eventualities are catered for in the registration) but clearly makes sense.

Didnt a good number of Trentbarton service operate like this on the last journey of the day at 23.00. Once it got outside of Derby or Nottingham?

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

If I remember rightly the SOU unit at Oldham Depot was coded MS (Mumps Bridge)

That definitely rings a bell. Thank you.

 

[ACBest]

Didnt a good number of Trentbarton service operate like this on the last journey of the day at 23.00. Once it got outside of Derby or Nottingham?

I seem to remember that the Villager night bus from Derby, which I think was all points by request, was marketed as ‘your choice of route to Burton’.

 

[GCH100]

Further to recent Greater Manchester themed posts Lancashire United Transport was purchased by Greater Manchester Transport in 1976 but not fully integrated until 1981. Nevertheless in the meantime LUT buses started to receive a mostly orange version of GMT livery: it didn't wear particularly well but somewhat foreshadowed a similar colour scheme applied to GMT's first 2nd generation double-deckers (Metrobuses and Titans).

The low-cost operations were known internally as Separate Operating Units (SOUs) but apart from Stockport's Charles St were only adminstratively separate being based under the same roof as the parent fleet. As such they were a fudge to allow the introduction of inferior pay and conditions for new starters though some, mostly older, "core" drivers sold their T's & C's for a decent lump sum thereby undermining union opposition to the concept. Minibuses were very much central to the idea but depots tended to have a small number of full-sized buses on SOU work and in practice there was a certain amount of a common-user approach taken to day-to-day vehicle allocation.

There were additional SOUs to those previously mentioned:
BE - Boyle Street (Queen's Road)
NB - North Bolton
By rights there should have been one at Oldham (WW - Wallshaw Street ?) but I have no recollection of it, perhaps someone can confirm either way.

There was no North Bolton Depot it was SB South Bolton, NB was North Bury, in fact the codes a low cost units where as follows:-

BE - Boyle Street
BT - Bennett Street
CS - Charles Street
MS - Mumps, Oldham - This is the Oldham SOU talked about above
NB - North Bury
SA - South Atherton
SB - South Bolton
SW - South Wigan

there may be others which I have forgotten

LL - Liverpool - Greater Manchester Buses North but actually situated at Bedford Place, Bootle.

In the SELNEC era there where other Depots that SELNEC closed:-

Urmston, Higher Road
Oldham (Former North Western Road Car)
Manchester (Parrs Wood, Wilmslow Road - Now the site of Parrs Wood, Tesco Store after being used as a parcel depot for the parcel fleet both by Selnec/GMT and United Carriers)
Manchester (Rochdale Road) for a very short period only, closed by early 1970.

 

[frodshamfella]

The most quiky bus route I ever recall was the run operated by Thames Weald. Which I'm not sure I ever saw, but operated a convoluted route from possibly South Ockenden to Sevenoaks via Dartford Tunnel, Dartford, then small villages in the Darent Valley area and West Kingsdown. I believe the owner of the operation came up to a lot of opposition from larger operators in the region.

I also remember a rare summer only service by Maidstone and District from I think Woolwich or Abbey Wood via Welling & Bexleyheath to Leysdown Isle of Sheppy and possibly another seaside destination, number 300.

 

[PeterC]

The most quiky bus route I ever recall was the run operated by Thames Weald. Which I'm not sure I ever saw, but operated a convoluted route from possibly South Ockenden to Sevenoaks via Dartford Tunnel, Dartford, then small villages in the Darent Valley area and West Kingsdown. I believe the owner of the operation came up to a lot of opposition from larger operators in the region.

The Essex end was at Romford. I think they tried 6 days a week originally but soon cut back to market days only.

 

[izvor]

Oh yes, Thames Weald certainly was quirky! With a proprietor named Dr. H. Nesbitt Heffernan, a psychiatrist in a Dartford hospital, it could hardly be otherwise. But his minibus routes provided a lifeline to isolated settlements around his base at West Kingsdown for over 30 years - eventually extending to Crawley and Romford, after the Dartford Tunnel opened - and he is still well remembered locally.

Bio and links here (pdf).

 

[PeterC]

I crossed the river on the 300 on several occasions in my bus spotting youth but the TW timings were such that it wasn't viable when starting a full day outfrom Romford. Girls and exams intervened and I never got around to making a special trip on the minibus.

I do remember going down the tunnel approach in a GS with the windows rattling so loudly that you expected something to fall off. If you had a Green Rover you had to pay a small supplement to on the bus to go through the tunnel.

 

[DunsBus]

During the period when Tyne & Wear Omnibus Company (TWOC) ran services in Sunderland in competition with Busways there was a gap in the timetables, of around 75 to 90 minutes, around midday to allow drivers to have their lunch.

The services were all run from Gateshead, so this was TWOC's way of ensuring compliance with the law with regards to meal breaks when the drivers were some way from their base. If my memory serves me correctly, the timetables on the retaliatory Busways services also included the "lunchtime gap".

 

[frodshamfella]

Oh yes, Thames Weald certainly was quirky! With a proprietor named Dr. H. Nesbitt Heffernan, a psychiatrist in a Dartford hospital, it could hardly be otherwise. But his minibus routes provided a lifeline to isolated settlements around his base at West Kingsdown for over 30 years - eventually extending to Crawley and Romford, after the Dartford Tunnel opened - and he is still well remembered locally.

Bio and links here (pdf).

Indeed, I would be surprised if any of small settlements TW served have any bus link these days.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Feb 2026 ==

I crossed the river on the 300 on several occasions in my bus spotting youth but the TW timings were such that it wasn't viable when starting a full day outfrom Romford. Girls and exams intervened and I never got around to making a special trip on the minibus.

I do remember going down the tunnel approach in a GS with the windows rattling so loudly that you expected something to fall off. If you had a Green Rover you had to pay a small supplement to on the bus to go through the tunnel.

Much later there was an Eastern National service 402, which went from Southend to London Victoria via Dartford Tunnel . This run for some years, I'm sure I actually went on it , to get from Bexleyheath to London Vic C/S.