Can bus driver order you to sit down?

bobbyss

Was on a bus recently and I heard irate bus driver telling/ordering a passenger to sit down. Bus half empty. They may have exchanged words when the passenger boarded about a fare or something and that may have been the reason driver was angry.

If you wanted to stand on a journey -maybe you are only going a few stops or whatever, maybe you prefer to stand, maybe there is a medical reason why you would prefer to stand- and were ordered to sit down by driver what would you do?

SCOOP 64

Sit down

YFlyer

Are you the guy that want to get on the bus without a mask?

amdublin

Are you kidding me? Of course he or she can ask you to sit down

Ffs

amdublin

Oh sorry I see a question at the end of your post.

Eh, I'd sit down.

What would you do?

bobbyss

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118025669#Comment_118025669

Good question. The driver was shouting at the person and I would not like to be shouted at and ordered to sit down. Sometimes if I am on a bus and I am going for a few stops I would be carrying bags of shopping, it would not be worth the trouble to sit down. Especially if had to go and seek out a seat upstairs or at the back of the bus. I probably would say No thanks. I prefer to stand.

Aint ya supposed to sit down until the bus comes to a "complete stop"...? Try doing that out in the countryside when perhaps you're the only person getting on or off at a particular stop.. Bus stops - no one getting off apparently, because the bus is still shuddering, and it normally shudders for about 1.5 - 2 seconds after stopping, ergo the bus hasn't come to a 'complete stop' until 2 seconds after it's no longer moving forwards, ergo the driver starts to move off because he thinks no one is getting off,, Try and make a shape to get up off your seat then, as the driver is pulling off, and see what happens....

EmmetSpiceland

No standing upstairs.

If a driver told me to sit downstairs when I’d prefer to stand I’d just ignore them. There’s “standing room” downstairs so they can’t take that from you.

nj27

He can probably order you to sit down yeah but you don't have to, he isn't your dad or me etc. But why would you want to get tough with a guy who has a job of work to get you where you're going?

Allinall

I’d sit down.

Montage of Feck

Oh sit down

Spook_ie

There are circumstances enshrined in SI's applicable to bus passenger behaviour, certain parts of a bus are prohibited from allowing standing passengers and if (for instance) a passenger is obstructing other passengers from getting on or off they may be told to sit down or even leave the bus.

https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2019/si/273/made/en/print

Oscar Madison

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118026639#Comment_118026639

These's alway one that will justify the need to go to a solicitor to conpensate for their own stupidity!

Pawwed Rig

I would keep standing just to show that bus driver that he is not the boss of me and then I would stick my tongue out at him when I was getting off and I wouldn't say thanks.

That would show him

beachhead

The driver is responsible for the safety of his/her passengers.Sounds like a claim going on here as a standing individual takes out a few seat rows or people when bus has to do an emergency stop.

Ger Roe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118026743#Comment_118026743

This... the driver is responsible for the safety of all on the bus and his interaction with other road users too. He can tell anyone to sit down and is duty bound to stop the bus if he thinks there is a safety issue arising. In the normal safe course of travel, you have a limited option to stand - it is not a right that you can claim in all circumstances.

I'd sit down.

BalcombeSt4

I think it's a safety measure.

When I was on a school bus when I was about 10/11 I was standing up, just pissin about with some mates & the bus came to a sudden stop, I flew forward & chipped a small piece of a front tooth on a handle bar. After that the driver would always shout at anyone standing while the bus was moving, he was right to do so.

Citrus_8

Depending on a bus. Intercity buses aren't designed for standing. Double deckers aren't designed for standing upstairs but they are designed spaces to be standing downstairs. Need to more context to understand where the driver's attitude is coming from.

Citrus_8

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118027301#Comment_118027301

Depending on a bus, some of them (especially Dublin city buses) have standing spaces which are in the bus specifications. If it's the kind of bus, I wouldn't say driver's demand is reasonable. A gentle request would. But again, request. A passenger don't have to comply with such a request if there are designed standing spaces.

But it depends on a context. If a passenger is standing without holding, using a phone etc., a driver may see it as a risk and could ask to sit down if there are spaces around.

Gregor Samsa

Under international law, they have the same powers as the captain of a ship: They can marry you to someone, throw you in the brig, make you sit down and - if their passengers are at risk of starvation - hunt whales. But they have to be wearing their hat. Was he wearing his hat?

While the Titanic did hit an iceberg, the actual cause of the ship listing and sinking was people not sitting down. The captain lost his hat to a seagull earlier in the day, and couldn’t make them sit down, and the ship sank with the loss of over two million lives. This is used as an example in bus driver school, so many bus drivers are particularly sensitive about it. A lot of them glue their hats to their head, or style their hair in the shape of a hat. Some of them wear a special invisible hat, so just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean he’s not wearing it.

if you do stand, be careful who you stand next to on a bus too, or you could end up accidentally getting married to them if the driver decides to do an impromptu ceremony. Legally, you can’t get married sitting down.

I think you have to comply with instructions from a driver. But one time in Malta with a many free seats, people who are standing near the front were told "sit down you bastards"!

corner of hells

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118030693#Comment_118030693

This story reminds me of my great uncle Vincent , who attempted to join up when when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour. The problem was , not him being only 14 years but the fact that he couldn't speak a word of Japanese.

The Japanese embassy were , however very polite when the returned him to the care of my great great grandmother.

greasepalm

The bus is not an Indian bus where many are standing, hanging , sitting on roof. out the windows etc.

If you were standing and bus braked suddenly as you were standing and you got all the front teeth knocked out when you fell onto the seat when earlier told to sit down as plenty of space available would you be smiling then?

Cant blame the bus driver for doing their job.

40 years ago many would be standing on lower deck as buses were full and used each other as a brace.

Ten of Swords

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118026655#Comment_118026655

Bad Yelp review, that'll soften his cough...

Capt'n Midnight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118030751#Comment_118030751

If you can see though an African bus it isn't full yet.

Ger Roe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118030692#Comment_118030692

It depends on the driver... no matter how many designated standing paces exist, it is not an unquestioned right to stand. The standing spaces are certainly within the specification of the vehicle, but only to be used if safe to do so. The driver decides what is safe, not the passengers. If the driver needs you to sit down, you do so. He is dealing with the prevailing road and weather conditions and whatever circumstances exist within the bus, while you are standing and if for whatever reason he decides you must sit down, that is his prerogative. A passenger accepts the terms and conditions of carriage when they pay their fare.

Everlong1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118030693#Comment_118030693

I'm a hardcore U2 fan. When they were on the Experience and Innocence tour, Adam Clayton's bizarre looking hair was causing me some agitation. I wonder was he thinking of jacking in the band and becoming a bus driver instead?

Clayton hair.jpg

Although of late he seems to given up that idea in favour of a Santa Claus gig....

Adam Clayton 2.jpg

Poochie05

I’d sit down.

@Pawwed Rig good suggestions but not saying thanks when you get off, bit harsh! 😆

AckwelFoley

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118031042#Comment_118031042

Yes. In India the bar is a touch higher.

If you can see the bus, it's not full