TRIVIA: Funky Not In Service Screens

[WiltsBus]

Any examples of anything other than Not In Service/ Out Of Service/Private/Depot being used?

 

[D6130]

The TLC buses used in local services in the Hebden Bridge and Todmorden areas can show a variety of different messages. One seen quite frequently on vehicles returning empty to Eastwood depot at night is "Off to bed....ZZZ". One of their buses took part in the local illuminated tractor parade last Christmas Eve displaying the message "Merry Christmas"....with a Santa image at the beginning and a Christmas tree at the end.

 

[JJM22]

I’ve seen “I’ve had enough, I’m going home!”, I think it was a Tiger European decker in Nottingham

 

[Bletchleyite]

I love the way German ones sometimes show a steaming coffee cup with "Pause" when the driver is on break. I'm sure I've also seen it in the UK but forget where.

 

[Pyewipecarshed]

"Driver on break" seems to be getting more common in the UK. Andrew's of Tideswell, Yorkshire Buses and South Pennine have it, to name a few examples. I believe it's a standard feature on one of the ticketing/destination products available.

Other 'sensible' ones I've seen are "Engineer on test" (for example Stagecoach East Midlands), "Route Learning" (example Go North West) and the more generally used "Staff Bus".

Perhaps my favourite was the sad face that Arriva Yorkshire displayed alongside "Not in Service" for a period of time.

 

[WiltsBus]

On an unrelated note, D&G 1A onboard announcement lists "Next stop: Tolkien Way" - I thought it was going to start singing a famous Aha song...

 

[KrisEK]

Henderson Travel used to have some good ones.

 

[BuhSnarf]

Henderson Travel used to have some good ones.

CCTV bus, does that just mean it has CCTV onboard? Seems an odd way to phrase it!

 

[KrisEK]

CCTV bus, does that just mean it has CCTV onboard? Seems an odd way to phrase it!

Yes, there was a period of time all the Henderson Travel buses had that on them too, I don't know if maybe it was done in response to anti social behaviour attacks or something. Pretty sure it was just on board CCTV.

 

[DunsBus]

When Edinburgh Coach Lines ran tendered service 13 in Edinburgh, its buses had screens displaying "Off Home Now - See You Tomorrow (or "See You On Monday", in the case of Saturday) once the service had finished for the day.

 

[Hbbz9392]

The Sultangazi Otokar's of IETT's has the ability to display a specially coded text at the front of the signage which says "İETT Garajı'na Gider" (Goes to IETT Garage)
What makes it special though is that "İETT" is stylized like how it appears in the logo and it also displays a pixel art recreation of the IETT logo.
I have a poorly taken photo of it somewhere. I never saw this appear on Otokar's situated at the Anatolian side though.

 

[Pyewipecarshed]

A variation on a Hulleys by High Peak bus today, "Bus on break, driver off for a coffee".

 

[Tramfan]

I saw "sorry, vehicle broken down, please wait for the next bus" a few months back.

 

[stadler]

The bus belonging to Guildford Depot of Stagecoach South was seen displaying this foreign language blind while not in service.



I have no idea what language it is (likely some Indian or Bangladeshi or Pakistani language) or exactly what it says. I am guessing it says "Not In Service" but not entirely sure. Certainly the first time i have seen a not in service screen in a foreign language.

I would be very curious to know the story behind how it got programmed. The area that the bus runs in (Guildford / Cranleigh / Horsham / Haslemere / Godalming / Woking) is a very White British majority area and has very little ethnic minorities. It is not like some parts of London or Birmingham or Manchester where some areas have a high percentage of people from these countries. So i doubt this was done for the same reasons as Southall and Whitechapel stations got their signage. I am guessing maybe one of the workers at Guildford Depot speaks this language and decided to programme it for fun.

 

[Flange Squeal]

The bus belonging to Guildford Depot of Stagecoach South was seen displaying this foreign language blind while not in service.

View attachment 200846

I have no idea what language it is (likely some Indian or Bangladeshi or Pakistani language) or exactly what it says. I am guessing it says "Not In Service" but not entirely sure. Certainly the first time i have seen a not in service screen in a foreign language.

I would be very curious to know the story behind how it got programmed. The area that the bus runs in (Guildford / Cranleigh / Horsham / Haslemere / Godalming / Woking) is a very White British majority area and has very little ethnic minorities. It is not like some parts of London or Birmingham or Manchester where some areas have a high percentage of people from these countries. So i doubt this was done for the same reasons as Southall and Whitechapel stations got their signage. I am guessing maybe one of the workers at Guildford Depot speaks this language and decided to programme it for fun.

Aldershot has a large Nepalese community, with a fair number of former Gurkha soldiers and their families finding employment at the town’s depot, and the Not in Service destination has alternated between the English and this (presume Nepali) for a number of years now. With Guildford depot only being just down the road, maybe it has found its way into their programming on this one?

 

[duncombec]

Aldershot has a large Nepalese community, with a fair number of former Gurkha soldiers and their families finding employment at the town’s depot, and the Not in Service destination has alternated between the English and this (presume Nepali) for a number of years now. With Guildford depot only being just down the road, maybe it has found its way into their programming on this one?

With the clue that it might be Nepali, Google Translate does indeed suggest that "Not in Service" in Nepali is "सेवामा छैन" in the Nepalese script, which the display seems to represent quite well.