Not necessarily related to this scenario but there does seem to be an assumption that we know where to get on and off buses where there are multiple stops. I realise that passengers alighting can be a problem but, provided they signal a bus well in advance, joining shouldn't be if the bus is due to stop somewhere in the vicinity.
I had seen a bus I wanted at the bottom of a hill; I reached the next bank of stops - I knew it stopped there as it was a timing point, I checked each one, none had that number on that flag, one had the timetable in the shelter, so I waited there, it pulled up at the next stop and was greeted with a barrage of 'this is the stop, blah, blah. ......' when I got to the stop. He did, however, stop. I am relatively unfamiliar with the area, and had never caught that a bus on that route before*; however, I am a regular user of buses, this sort of response might well put an irregular off. Contrast that with a more recent experience, when I couldn't find the starting point of a route - none of the bank of stops had the route number on. The bus passed me heading to the terminus (a little distance away), I dashed after it, caught the driver just before he went for a (brief) break, he explained the best place to stop if uncertain (the second set of stops as there are always passengers there) and agreed to me (and another potential passenger) catching the bus there.
Some staff just don't help the industry at all.
* - and won't be doing so again, I found out the route was being cancelled (I was the only passenger, so no surprise); once I found that out, I didn't complain in case he had found that he had lost his job.
