Explaining the basics of using a city's public transport system was (patchily) somewhat in fashion quite recently. 7pm on a very warm holiday weekend summer's evening, glorious skies (and a lot of cheerful people about) I recall leaving Wolverhampton railway station and heading for the fairly new and extensive bus station and thinking 'This is built for locals who know where they're going. At the entrance, this building and its services needs a guide for first-time visitors. A destinations map and the basics on ticket purchase pls and thq'.**

(My destination being an Irish mile across the city centre, I worked out that by the time I'd worked out what buses served it I'd have walked, and I did.)

Mark

**This was before the smartphone era - though on that count I defy anyone provided only with the FirstBus app to make sense of the likes of Bath bus station - which is another that doesn't exactly shine on the visitor information front.

 
I often ponder how I've got this far in life without ever having received training in how to hail a bus......

 
The real trick comes when two buses on different routes approach a stop and the second one is intent on overtaking the first...

 
Dilton Marsh made me think. There should probably be an entirely different thread on the subject of how to hail a bus, as this is often  another training issue (for the passenger) though bus companies could also help by ensuring that buses listed as stopping at a particular stop actually do call there - or having sufficient capacity that intending passengers don't experience full and standing services sailing past stops.

Often, for the driver, intending passengers seem to think that they're bidding in an auction - perhaps a slight touch of the nose - a small twitch of some possession in their hands - a head movement and blink.

The opposite being the over-gesticulation - a dash to the kerb edge, wild hand raising, both arms forward with shopping in both hands.

The former means that the driver needs to be clairvoyant. The latter means that that it's difficult for them to make the most of the interface between bus and kerb.

This could be addressed via dance and drama in schools if there is still such a thing as there's a tie-in with the basic art of expressing yourself appropriately using movement. It's non-verbal communication at a distance. In this case with the driver of a bus (or train) and it's a skill that's on a scale from being useful to being a lifesaver.

Mark