When i mean this, the question is, has anyone caught the wrong bus, but thinking it was the right bus, or decided to go a long way round to get somewhere, even though there is a bus that goes direct
For Example, this happened on the third week of my 6 week holiday:
Anyway, it started when my friend asked me to meet him at B'ham New St station, so i left the house in Willenhall at 9:00am, for the journey to Brum, via Sutton Coldfield as i had to pick something up while i was there, anyway, so after picking up what i needed, i decided that the 71 from Sutton wont take long, it'll probably take about the same time as the 5 to West Brom
My mom boarded the 251 thinking it was a 226. I had to send her on a GRS 246 to get to Russells Hall!
sorry hadn't finished writing that. So i caught the 71 in Sutton, to Solihull, not knowing that it took over an hour and a half, but anyway, so realising my mistake, i got off the bus, 55 minutes later in Castle Bromwich, and not knowing my way round, caught the 94, thinking it was going to B'ham, in fact was going to Chelmsley Wood. About 25 minutes later, i got into Chelmsley Wood, and had to catch the same bus home. When i got to B'ham, i ran round New St for nearly an hour trying to find the platform my friends train was due into, turning out that the train wasn't in yet, and was just passing StarCity. That is one of the only times that i have actually being so annoyed that i turned red with anger, and walked into a post at the station. Result:Me being bright red, and having a black eye, from the post
Not a bus, but when the Stourbridge & Walsall line shared a New Street platform, somehow I got on the Stourbridge train & not the Walsall train!
I had to get off at Cradley Heath & catch a train back!
Quote from: Westy on September 12, 2014, 11:01:47 PM
Not a bus, but when the Stourbridge & Walsall line shared a New Street platform, somehow I got on the Stourbridge train & not the Walsall train!
I had to get off at Cradley Heath & catch a train back!
The xx:38 to Wolverhampton and xx:39 to Birmingham International often share the same platform at New Street, and they're both 323s. Once I got on the International train, luckily the conductor announced it was the Birmingham International traaim and not the Wolverhampton before the doors closed ;D
Worst I've ever done on my own steam was board a 2 thinking it was a 3, although at the time they interworked so there is a good chance it was a 3 when I got on!
I can think of one many years ago now, my first ever trip to the Black Country, must've been about 2008, I was in Dudley and I asked one of the Centro staff which bus was the quickest to Stourbridge, and instead of telling me the 246, he pointed to the nearest bus which just happened to be a 297A. I can barely remember it now though!
Last Saturday, I was in Wellington (Telford). I needed to get to Telford itself, and I knew from a past visit that I wanted the 44 from Wellington bus station, which is frequent, pretty much direct via Oakengates, and takes around 20 minutes. But there was a 55 at a stand in Wellington bus station with "Telford Town Centre" on the display, so I thought why not, and hopped on that.
When I eventually got to Telford about an hour later, having travelled through Hadley, Trench, Donnington, Wrockwardine Wood and Trench again, and that was before even getting as far as Oakengates ......
At one point in the journey, I noticed I passed the same row of shops I'd passed about 10 minutes previously, but going in the other direction ... :D :D :D
A few years ago now, one evening I'd found myself at a friend's house party somewhere in Erdington. It got to about 9pm when I decided I'd had enough and wanted to go home (I was living in Bearwood at the time). Not being over-familiar with the area, I just knew I had to get back to the main road, and I could get a bus into town, which wouldn't take long.
It seemed like perfect timing, I got to a bus stop on the main road, and saw a 115 approaching. In my defence, I was a bit tipsy at the time, but the destination blind did say 'Birmingham' (it was a Metrobus, I do recall). So I just got on. I hadn't realised I was actually on the wrong side of the road. It was only after I'd been on the bus about 10 minutes, when I realised we hadn't even got to Salford Circus yet! Next thing I know, I'm in Sutton Coldfield town centre! Walked around for a bit as the next bus back to Brum wasn't for another 20 minutes or so. It was about 11pm when I eventually got back to Bearwood.
Not really a mistake on my part but the drivers.
So before I used to get the 07:07 82 towards Wolverhampton from Roseville. One day on my way to school and the bus came, a merc as usual at the time, and the driver pulled up. Id never had nor seen this driver before but showed my bus pass grabbed a paper and sat in the front left seat. The bus pulled off and then went straight on over the island in the Wolverhampton direction of Roseville. The driver did this when i thought and said "bollocks ive got on the wrong bus" so went down to the front and asked the driver if she was the 82 she said yes and I subsequently replied with you've gone the wrong way she.then did a u turn in the street the coseley school is in and carried on. She.know drives as far as I know on the 529.
I took a fancy to a girl I used to see most days on the bus home from work. After seeing her in a local pub I plucked up the courage to speak to her and she ended up being my girlfriend for a year and a half. She was a nightmare - a moody, bad tempered nutcase, and when we split up she owed me over £1000 which I never saw again.
That was a disastrous and expensive bus related mistake.
Quote from: Mike K on September 13, 2014, 01:10:57 PM
I took a fancy to a girl I used to see most days on the bus home from work. After seeing her in a local pub I plucked up the courage to speak to her and she ended up being my girlfriend for a year and a half. She was a nightmare - a moody, bad tempered nutcase, and when we split up she owed me over £1000 which I never saw again.
That was a disastrous and expensive bus related mistake.
Ha Ha ;) You do make me laugh sometimes ;D
When the Premier Waste place on the A34 in Perry Barr caught fire, the police were diverting everyone along Church Road. The buses, however, were doing a u-turn there (from the bus lane straight across all the lanes of traffic) to head back up the Walsall Road, then right down Beeches Road... Except the X51 I was on on me way to work, which carried on straight at Tower Hill, followed by a proclamation of "ah shit, sorry! Autopilot" from the driver. U-turn again just before Scott Arms and we're back on track
The creation of KX60 LHO, now that was a stupid mistake involving buses if ever I saw one!
I've had a few!
- Falling asleep on a bus to School and ending up around 15 miles away, with it then going out of service!
- Directing a driver on the Coventry 19 service on New Years Day (run by Stagecoach), leaving Tile Hill Village terminus and I just went off into my own little world, eventually the driver said to me "Shouldn't we have turned off by now?" followed by me realising and exclaiming "Sh*t! Yes we should have", noticing the bus was in Burton Green, far past the turn off!
- Directing another driver the previous New Years Day, this time on the 13 route! I said to him "It's this next right" he replied back with "Okay" and immediately drove straight past it...
- I was showing someone how to display the blind test sequence (that one with all the random letters and numbers) and went into the wrong menu on the controller, I tried to get out of it but the arrow keys kept changing the blind settings, I held the enter button in until the signs reset and when they started, the side one only had the top left LED illuminated! Kaput!
- My biggest and most common muck up is with the Stagecoach 57 service, on Saturdays after 16:35, there isn't another until 19:18, but there's still pretty much 2x 57's an hour between those times on a Weekday, so I'm stood there on a Saturday wondering where the hell my 57 is and then it hits me!
Quote from: Mike K on September 13, 2014, 01:10:57 PM
I took a fancy to a girl I used to see most days on the bus home from work. After seeing her in a local pub I plucked up the courage to speak to her and she ended up being my girlfriend for a year and a half. She was a nightmare - a moody, bad tempered nutcase, and when we split up she owed me over £1000 which I never saw again.
That was a disastrous and expensive bus related mistake.
You should've sent her my way...
...I could do with a woman with fire in her belly right about now...
...I've got a used one you could've had in return, Mike K.
When Stephen Morris was editor of 'Buses' he was in Walsall and saw a Timesaver Metrobus that said Birmingham, so he boarded and anticipated a rapid ride south. But it was the 901 which went north up to Lichfield before heading south for Brum, so he had a very long bit of time saving. At least, as he said, it was only 32p.
Two stories - one bus and one train.
A couple of days after Pensnett received its first Tridents, I was on board a 246 heading towards Dudley. A woman boarded in Brierley Hill High Street and then started screaming at the driver when he failed to turn left into Bank Street. When he explained that he was a 246 and not a 255 as she thought, she replied "well it can't be, it's the wrong shape".
A few years ago, I was on a Virgin Cross Country service that had just left New Street. Just in front of me was a foreign gentleman. When the Train Manager came round to check tickets, he looked at the gentleman's ticket and said "I'm sorry sir, you're on the wrong train". The reply was "No, this right train, this Newcastle train" to which the Train Manager replied "Sorry sir, this Newquay train".
Not something to do with this thread entirely, but reading these is making me think if I should laugh or look on with awe. :D
One from a journey i had on Friday:
I caught the 1710 WA41 off Walsall to get home, and there was a couple sat adjacent to me, who thought they were on a WA40 (in all fairness to them, the 40 and 41 interwork and it did come in to Walsall saying 40 Walsall beforehand), so when we got to the main difference to the route, where the 40 continues through Lodge Farm, but the 41 turns off and serves Lane Head and New Invention, they didn't have a clue what was happening, so asked around, to which i answered
''This is the 41, not the 40''
''No, it said 40 when we got on''
''They interwork, so the 40 becomes a 41''
''Ohh sh**, now how do we get to the main road?''
''Walk?''
To be honest, i shouldn't have be i may have laughed a little under my breath as they got off
Almost got on the wrong coach Thursday. Could have ended up in heathrow instead of Gatwick South Terminal...
Quote from: Matt on January 04, 2015, 10:32:25 PM
Just remembered another from a few weeks back.
A couple of local chavs got on the 241 from Dudley with the intention of going down to Merry Hill. They seemed to think it went the same way as the 276 so were amazed when it turned off Buffery Road. They then went to ask the driver how long it was to Merry Hill whose response was one hour. Well done lads
I've also seen on numerous occasions people putting notes down the fare chute then looking rather miffed when they find out NX don't give change.
Another BIG mistake was going on Andrew's late night 246 on the 24th...being Christmas Eve, there were people around who had clearly had one too many...this one woman seemed to take a "liking" to me & I had to take evasive action to avoid getting a face full of lipstick and booze...she tried to get Andrew too but the assault screen came in handy there 8)
Was she good looking? ;)
Quote from: Matt on January 04, 2015, 11:46:51 PM
Quote from: the trainbasher on January 04, 2015, 11:35:12 PM
Quote from: Matt on January 04, 2015, 10:32:25 PM
Just remembered another from a few weeks back.
A couple of local chavs got on the 241 from Dudley with the intention of going down to Merry Hill. They seemed to think it went the same way as the 276 so were amazed when it turned off Buffery Road. They then went to ask the driver how long it was to Merry Hill whose response was one hour. Well done lads
I've also seen on numerous occasions people putting notes down the fare chute then looking rather miffed when they find out NX don't give change.
Another BIG mistake was going on Andrew's late night 246 on the 24th...being Christmas Eve, there were people around who had clearly had one too many...this one woman seemed to take a "liking" to me & I had to take evasive action to avoid getting a face full of lipstick and booze...she tried to get Andrew too but the assault screen came in handy there 8)
Was she good looking? ;)
Errr, no
Fair enough
Quote from: Matt on January 05, 2015, 12:05:08 AM
Quote from: the trainbasher on January 05, 2015, 12:03:02 AM
Quote from: Matt on January 04, 2015, 11:46:51 PM
Quote from: the trainbasher on January 04, 2015, 11:35:12 PM
Quote from: Matt on January 04, 2015, 10:32:25 PM
Just remembered another from a few weeks back.
A couple of local chavs got on the 241 from Dudley with the intention of going down to Merry Hill. They seemed to think it went the same way as the 276 so were amazed when it turned off Buffery Road. They then went to ask the driver how long it was to Merry Hill whose response was one hour. Well done lads
I've also seen on numerous occasions people putting notes down the fare chute then looking rather miffed when they find out NX don't give change.
Another BIG mistake was going on Andrew's late night 246 on the 24th...being Christmas Eve, there were people around who had clearly had one too many...this one woman seemed to take a "liking" to me & I had to take evasive action to avoid getting a face full of lipstick and booze...she tried to get Andrew too but the assault screen came in handy there 8)
Was she good looking? ;)
Errr, no
Fair enough
He who finds frogs attractive may find her good looking....
Ahh, Winston's cup of tea then. Say no more!!
Pershore road bus a few nights ago travelling towards City in Stirchley displaying '46 City centre via Lozells' :)
Quote from: Bham Central Driver on January 05, 2015, 01:34:05 AM
Pershore road bus a few nights ago travelling towards City in Stirchley displaying '46 City centre via Lozells' :)
And one last night displaying Birmingham 55!!!
Mistake #1: Was at Solihull Rail station. Decided to take 72 to Bromford instead of the usual either taking a train to town then the 72, or 957 to Swan Centre then the 11.
Mistake #2: Wanted to go to somewhere that took me about 10 minutes with 8A, but took 8C instead and deciding to stay on, going all way around.
If I'm bored usually go home from uni 2 ways instead of train
82 to Solihull
30 to acocks green
36 to sparkbrook
Then any bus from Stratford road to town then 46 home
Or
900 to airport
75 to Sutton Coldfield
110 to town
Quote from: vinh1000 on January 06, 2015, 03:41:25 PM
If I'm bored usually go home from uni 2 ways instead of train
82 to Solihull
30 to acocks green
36 to sparkbrook
Then any bus from Stratford road to town then 46 home
Or
900 to airport
75 to Sutton Coldfield
110 to town
@vinh1000 , your second option is the more favourite, I wouldn't stand voluntarily going home via Stratford Road... Eugh.
Would be interesting to hear from other bus drivers on their embarrassing errors. Fortunately I haven't made too many but when driving the 44 route in Worcester on a journey to County Hall I left the bus station and then preceded to follow the 44 route back to Malvern via St Johns instead of going to towards County Hall. It was only when I had got to Malvern Road (about a mile from Worcester) that a passenger piped up and asked if I was planning on going to County Hall. Very embarrassing having to turn around at Lower Wick island and run back empty to the city to follow the proper route. The dangers of cross city routes!!!!!
A new starter at Pensnett took his X96 through Netherton by the aldi (276 route) if that counts
I was on a late night 94 a few months back. I was coming off Auckland Drive onto the island with the Collector Road, but instead of turning off the island onto the Birmingham Road, I turned back into Auckland Drive (God knows why!) So I had to do a big U turn where the City bound 94 turns right onto Auckland Drive and go round the island again. At least I had no passengers on, otherwise I don't know what they would have thought I was doing ;D