Trivia: Bus drivers’ sayings

[Whiteway215]

When I was a lot younger in the 60s and 70s I would have conversations with drivers and conductors. I picked up on some of the terms they used and wondered if any were still heard these days or if anyone else remembers these expressions?

Feel free to add any other sayings you are familiar with!

‘A bit of AD/BD’ Meaning a piece of overtime the crew managed to get worked either before (BD) or after (AD) their normal daily duty.

’Run it in’ The term used by drivers to exchange a defective bus for an alternative bus. To my knowledge they would sometimes get a bus that had already been ‘run in’ by another driver as defective!!

‘Taking on’ Where a crew / driver took over a bus where the previous crew had finished their duty.

’Rotas’ Do you still have groups of drivers arranged in rotas?

’Saucer it’ Where in between trips the crew had nipped to the canteen or cafe for a quick cup of tea. However the tea was still too hot to drink by the time they were due out on the next trip so cooled the tea by ‘saucering it’

 

[Glasgowbusguy]

Buses run for people who wait they don't wait for people who run

Empty bus is a happy bus

 

[mb88]

‘Punching up’ the act of deliberately sitting a short distance behind the bus in front to allow it to do all the work instead of overtaking and helping out. Also called ‘scratching’ in some places I believe.

‘Docket chaser’ someone who deliberately runs late in order to claim an overtime docket.

I’m sure I will think of a few more.

 

[Eyersey468]

‘Punching up’ the act of deliberately sitting a short distance behind the bus in front to allow it to do all the work instead of overtaking and helping out. Also called ‘scratching’ in some places I believe.

We call it dogging

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 Mar 2022 ==

When I was a lot younger in the 60s and 70s I would have conversations with drivers and conductors. I picked up on some of the terms they used and wondered if any were still heard these days or if anyone else remembers these expressions?

Feel free to add any other sayings you are familiar with!

‘A bit of AD/BD’ Meaning a piece of overtime the crew managed to get worked either before (BD) or after (AD) their normal daily duty.

’Run it in’ The term used by drivers to exchange a defective bus for an alternative bus. To my knowledge they would sometimes get a bus that had already been ‘run in’ by another driver as defective!!

‘Taking on’ Where a crew / driver took over a bus where the previous crew had finished their duty.

’Rotas’ Do you still have groups of drivers arranged in rotas?

’Saucer it’ Where in between trips the crew had nipped to the canteen or cafe for a quick cup of tea. However the tea was still too hot to drink by the time they were due out on the next trip so cooled the tea by ‘saucering it’

We still have rotas. We call taking a defective bus out of service running it off.

 

[Busaholic]

We call it dogging

That could lead to misunderstandings.

 

[Eyersey468]

That could lead to misunderstandings.

 

[Flange Squeal]

This may be a more modern one, but the nickname 'Twirlies' for OAPs. On account of when they try to board a bus before the time their concessionary pass is valid, asking "Too early?".

 

[Eyersey468]

This may be a more modern one, but the nickname 'Twirlies' for OAPs. On account of when they try to board a bus before the time their concessionary pass is valid, asking "Too early?".

We use that one as well

 

[Roger1973]

Some of the informal language varies between operators, or (with the largest of operators) between garages / depots.

For that matter, calling it a depot or garage varies - in London, buses traditionally had garages, trams / trolleybuses had depots, but this has got fuzzier over the years.

From a south London perspective -

'punching up' or 'punching' (the art is in staying fairly close behind the previous bus, but not so close that you get to the stop while it's still there, as some passengers will then get on your bus instead) is a London term. Not sure how common it is elsewhere, although some bus networks don't give so much opportunity for it.

'Scratching' (in London) tends to mean running slowly - may or may not be part of 'punching' - some crews do it to try and 'get a turn' (get turned back short of their scheduled destination) or they may be 'docket hunters' after overtime. Or some conductors who were 'on the fiddle' might welcome a full load of passengers. 'dragging the road' can mean the same thing.

(on the subject of overtime, this was paid in quarter hour chunks, rounded up or down - so buses would never arrive 7 minutes late, the crew would always scratch to make sure they were 8 minutes late.)

Overtime might happen if a bus 'went mechanical' (broke down in service) and there was a delay in 'getting a sub' or 'subbing' the defective bus. A journey cancelled because no bus was available was officially 'no serviceable bus' - in conversation, either just NSB or something else beginning with S.

'rabbits' was a fairly common one for passengers in general, or for passengers who just hop on and off for a short journey.

What was officially a 'budget key' (t-key) was generally a 'budgie key' in much of London (although south londoners in particular have a tendency not to pronounce the t)

'T and P' is what crews hope to have time and facilities for at the terminus.

'twirlies' were known as 'wombles' in some parts, and (the female ones at least) as 'mogs' or 'old moggies' (this seems to be specific to a small number of SE London garages.)

In to the 1980s, some conductors still referred to 'on top' and 'inside' for upstairs / downstairs. 'domino' meant a full bus. 'cauliflower top' a full top deck load but not so full inside.

Inspectors were either 'despatchers' (based at a terminus) 'checkers' (based somewhere on line of route or 'revenue men' / 'jumpers' (roving ticket checkers who would jump on and off different buses in their working day) - plain clothes 'spots' would travel as ordinary passengers to look for fiddling conductors.

Routes might not be known by their full route number - the 119 at Bromley was simply known as 'the nineteens', the 108B at Catford as 'the B's'

The Red RF website has a number of memories from LT bus workers, and some of the technical terms.

 

[820KDV]

To go with the O/P's BD and AD there is also IBD - In Between Duty filling the long break on Splits. Also on duties, SDAS is "See Daily Allocation Sheet" which is basically a spare duty which would be allocated a whole duty to cover, say for someone on leave. FTS - Full-Time Spare would usually be a senior driver with knowledge of all routes and vehicles who would pick up on the day cancellations, perhaps the pieces of work which couldn't be covered BD, AD or IBD.

An alternative to a saucering tea, some Inspectors would say "make it a milky one" for the same reasons when a spare asked if he had time for a tea before heading out again. And for the less experienced driver being handed a piece of work on a route they didn't know, "left (or right as applicable) out of the Bus Station and you'll find it" was often the extent of the information given.

A Change Over didn't necessarily mean swapping one bus for another, although that could happen if the engineers wanted it, but was taking an out-station bus to the main depot for fuel, sweep out and wash, while the driver was having their break.

Some sayings were very localised, "On the tap" and "On the hedge" referred to 2 spaces and 3 spaces respectively in the bus station where buses could be parked of of service.

Vehicle types also picked up nicknames, Alexander P types were "Troop Carriers" while the later PS style bodies were, naturally enough, "Improved Troop Carriers". Merc 608s were the Panzers, and while the B10BLEs which introduced First livery had the ubiquitous "Barbie" nickname, the similarly liveried small Darts which arrived soon after were Cindys. The classic though was a "Short Rell" meaning an RESL. Classic because the first L of RELL stands for "Long"!

One depot I worked at called the staff bus the Trooper, while many depots use a "ferry" (bus, car, non-PSV minibus) to move drivers. I knew of a depot where "Ferry" meant just that - catch a ferry across the harbour!

 

[Ken H]

Lerremgeroff

Leeds bus driver/conductor speak telling waiting passengers to allow passengers to alight first

 

[Geordie driver]

Overtime was blob, someone who did a lot of overtime was the blob king. Following another bus so he picked up all the passengers was hanging the dog, I have been out the cab to drivers who do this to me.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Overtime was blob, someone who did a lot of overtime was the blob king. Following another bus so he picked up all the passengers was hanging the dog, I have been out the cab to drivers who do this to me.

South of the Tyne, overtime was "grabbing". Vehicles were "blacked" (means blacklisted - a depot wouldn't use it)

Can't think of too many others - I was more impressed by the fantastic nicknames that my dad's colleagues had!

 

[820KDV]

Another memory about overtime. Back in the days when the depot was well staffed a driver wanting overtime would ask an Inspector if there was "anything on the book later / tomorrow?"

As staff levels decreased things switched round and the Inspectors would write out details of the various pieces of work they were trying to cover on strips of paper and walk round the canteen asking everyone, "want any afters?" and they weren't referring to something covered in custard from the counter!

With defective vehicles, whatever the fault, and whatever the location, the engineers would invariably ask the driver "can you limp it back?" while an entry in the defect book would (according to many drivers at least) often get the response "NDF" - No Defect Found. But, I'm sure that actually there were many more times that the bus station fitter managed to keep things running than they wrote NDF.

 

[Roger1973]

A further thought,

Place / terminus names can get abbreviated or otherwise played around with.

In SE London, Shoreditch was 'the ditch' on route 47, Blackheath Royal Standard was 'the standard', Bromley North Station was 'the north' to Bromley crews.

 

[Busaholic]

A further thought,

Place / terminus names can get abbreviated or otherwise played around with.

In SE London, Shoreditch was 'the ditch' on route 47, Blackheath Royal Standard was 'the standard', Bromley North Station was 'the north' to Bromley crews.

Crystal Palace was 'the palace', Kings Cross 'the cross' and Oxford Circus 'the circus.' I guess this implies that Alexandra Palace, Charing Cross and Piccadilly/Ludgate Circuses couldn't use those names! Charing Cross has always been Trafalgar Square in bus terminology of course. Having said that, I'm not at all sure that Holborn Circus mightn't have been called 'the circus' too by crews from some North London garages on trolleybus replacement services. In theory, you might have also had an Elmers End bus on the 12 travelling between Norwood Junction and Willesden Junction, so from 'the junction' to 'the junction', though we all knew 'up the junction' meant Battersea Rise, aka Clapham Junction. 'The pond' was at Clapton, in which a Metro Scania on the S2 route once decided to take a swimming lesson. 'The lido' was Ruislip rather than Brockwell or Tooting, but the latter had 'the Mitre.'

 

[GM078]

"Skulls" is a common term for passengers in Ireland, don't know about GB? E.g. 'I have 30 skulls on'

 

[mb88]

'Routes might not be known by their full route number - the 119 at Bromley was simply known as 'the nineteens', the 108B at Catford as 'the B's'.

Route 227 at Bromley garage was known as ‘scooters’. Not sure how this name came about.

 

[jp4712]

The Manchester term for following another bus to avoid picking up was 'pushing'.

Lots of nicknames for different types of buses - my favourite was a Crossley that had been given a Gardner engine, which was then known as a 'bomber'. Potteries had a batch of Daimler CVG6s with preselector gearboxes that were universally known as 'jumpers' due to cack-handed gear changes by drivers who either weren't familiar with them or lacked vehicle sympathy.

A full load was a 'swinger' and an inspector was a 'checker'.

Manchester City Transport crews referred to neighbour Rochdale buses as 'bluebirds' due to them being, er, blue; and a Johnson fare box was known as 'the drivers' bonus scheme' for reasons that should be obvious!

If this side of the industry interests you, the highest recommendation I can make is to read Ron Barton's 'Manchester Buses from the Platform', available from the Museum of Transport in Manchester. Almost 400 pages with many colour photos. https://www.motgmshop.uk/product-page/manchester-buses-from-the-platform

 

[Mike99]

Route 227 at Bromley garage was known as ‘scooters’. Not sure how this name came about.

South Croydon Garage (TC) had the same term for the RF's on the 234A, I think it just came from 'scooting about' sort of shortish routes 30/40 minutes like the 227 to and fro all day long

 

[T646863]

Route 227 at Bromley garage was known as ‘scooters’. Not sure how this name came about.

The six-wheel single-deck LTs used on the route for many years were known as Scooters.

 

[mb88]

South Croydon Garage (TC) had the same term for the RF's on the 234A, I think it just came from 'scooting about' sort of shortish routes 30/40 minutes like the 227 to and fro all day long

The six-wheel single-deck LTs used on the route for many years were known as Scooters.

Interesting guys thank you. I did 4 years at Bromley and no one seemed to know where it originated.

 

[Roger1973]

The 'scooter' question has come up on the 'Red RF' website.

It seemed to be a general term for the single deck LT buses (like most of these things, nobody is exactly sure why, but possibly because they appeared quite long and low height compared to the double deckers of the day.)

Keeping the term for the RFs that replaced them does seem to have been less common, possibly the Croydon / Bromley patch.

 

[Busaholic]

The 'scooter' question has come up on the 'Red RF' website.

It seemed to be a general term for the single deck LT buses (like most of these things, nobody is exactly sure why, but possibly because they appeared quite long and low height compared to the double deckers of the day.)

Keeping the term for the RFs that replaced them does seem to have been less common, possibly the Croydon / Bromley patch.

My reading of it over the years leads me to think that the term 'scooters' derived from the drivers on account of their 'lively' performance. They had exactly the same petrol engine as the much more numerous doubledeckers also badged as Renowns, with considerably less body weight, obviously. I'm sure the term wasn't only used by Bromley and Croydon crews, either.

As it happens, I must have seen these buses in service on Sidcup's 228 route, because they operated on it for the first six months of my life, and I lived a hundred yards from Eltham High Street. I can't claim to remember them, though, any more than the first RTLs operating on the 21!

 

[neilmc]

Conductors in Leeds were always known as "guards", never clippies or conductors unless in formal situation. The inspectors were always "checkers".

The division between buses was basically "front-loaders", Daimler Fleetlines and Leyland Atlanteans, and "back-loaders", the remaining Leyland PD3, AEC Regent Vs and Daimler CVGs. How the five front-loader CVGs 572-576 were referred to I have no idea, because at the time (1974/75) they'd all been drafted away to Huddersfield.

On the road, if you caught up a late-running bus ahead, you'd "push" it along the road, although my regular mate and I would often "go round" such a bus to help out. If yours was the unfortunate bus you'd be said to take a "bashing" or a "hammering" from being full. At peak periods there were often short-working extras not in the public timetable inserted, especially on the 2 to Chapeltown, and these were known as "swingers". We worked a six-day week as a rule but if you were desperate for yet more overtime you could "book a banger".

Once you'd been on the spare rota a while you'd be assigned a regular set of routes known as a "road". The busy Middleton-Moortown circular system from Torre Road was always known as "Dewsbury Road" possibly since all combinations worked down Dewsbury Road at some point. Most roads were straightforward to name but the suburban service 38 Whitkirk-Moortown was known as "top road" since the crew change was at the Foundry Lane bus bays at the junction with York Road and the break timings had to take this into account.

 

[Mal]

A Glaswegian favourite was 'Comeon,gerraff'.

 

[LUYMun]

Route 227 at Bromley garage was known as ‘scooters’. Not sure how this name came about.

Looking at the route number, it does looks like two legs standing on a scooter with the 7 as the handlebars.

 

[Busaholic]

The 'scooter' question has come up on the 'Red RF' website.

It seemed to be a general term for the single deck LT buses (like most of these things, nobody is exactly sure why, but possibly because they appeared quite long and low height compared to the double deckers of the day.)

Keeping the term for the RFs that replaced them does seem to have been less common, possibly the Croydon / Bromley patch.

I can now confirm, having done some background reading, that the term was certainly used on the 236 route in North London both for the LTs and the RFs, though whether they were used for the 'in-between' Leyland Tiger TDs is another matter! At Tottenham (AR) the RF rota for the 236 (and Sunday 210) was even informally known as the 'Scooter' rota, although 171 and 259 drivers were also required to work it on Sundays and Bank Holidays

 

[Mike99]

Just linking on to the last comment, the rota at Bromley was an all routes rota (when it was fully crew operated) so a week on the 47/119 etc with RT's could easily be followed by a week on the 227 (RF's) It would of included a week here and there on the 146 out to Keston and Downe

 

[Busaholic]

Just linking on to the last comment, the rota at Bromley was an all routes rota (when it was fully crew operated) so a week on the 47/119 etc with RT's could easily be followed by a week on the 227 (RF's) It would of included a week here and there on the 146 out to Keston and Downe

From what I remember of travelling on the 227 to work every day for a few months, the drivers enjoyed working on the route a lot more than the conductors did, generally speaking. By this time the 126 and 138 had gone opo and the 227 was combined with the Monday to Friday 47 on a single rota, or so I was told. Given the 227 was even busier on a Saturday than during the week, it sounds feasible, and Sunday allocations from Bromley had been low for quite some time.