Bluestar drivers to learn how to be nice to passengers in Eastleigh (From Daily Echo)

I had the misfortune of watching On The Buses at the weekend- it was awful. I'm glad I grew up with funny comedy programmes like The Young Ones and Blackadder.

Sad thing is that On The Buses was funny at the time. Just cringe-worthy now. How times change!

Being nice to passengers, or 'customers' as the bus companies like to call them was all covered on the NVQ which I attended when I was a bus driver. The passenger hating, 'grumpy' drivers tick all the right boxes and say all the right things on the course. In my experience, however, when these same drivers return to the job, they do, in most instances, return to their former 'grumpy' selves!

I hope First Bus managers are reading this their drivers are far worse than than Blueline/Bluestar.

I have only ever met with good manners and excellent service from Blue Star drivers but some of the passengers have been seen to be grumpy.

What's the point? People catch buses because they have to, not because they choose to. Adding a customer service based enhancement inst going to win them any more customers

I have nothing but praise for the First Bus driver who found my daughter's purse, complete with all her birthday money, on his bus. Thank you for taking care of it, what started off as a bad day for her was turned around.

on the buses was good in it,s day so dont mock it,as for today i travel on bluestar an average of 20+ times a week also on velvet,and stagecoach and i can honestly say apart from the very rare one most of the drivers are approachable,polite,
and smile on the bluestar,the trouble mairly is the passenger they at times are so rude,if the bus is late hell breaks out with some,in fact many times i,ve interfened if i no there has been a accident or roadworks,i say dont moan if its late moan when it dont bloody turn up,also a lot of passengers moan but dont realise its themselves that help to make buses late,when they board and havent got the fare or pass out and then take 5mins trying to find the cash or pass,this all hads to time as well,i feel sometimes like shouting stop moaning at the driver get your bloody act together and have your money or pass ready,or for ffffff sake your moaning is just delaying the bus even more,so if a driver retaliates dont blame him blame the a;;;;;;e thats inconsiderate,its them that need training not the drivers,if one,s a bit off i find if your polite and say please and then thankyou when you get off they,ll even respond well and you get a smile

cmth40 wrote:
on the buses was good in it,s day so dont mock it,as for today i travel on bluestar an average of 20+ times a week also on velvet,and stagecoach and i can honestly say apart from the very rare one most of the drivers are approachable,polite,

and smile on the bluestar,the trouble mairly is the passenger they at times are so rude,if the bus is late hell breaks out with some,in fact many times i,ve interfened if i no there has been a accident or roadworks,i say dont moan if its late moan when it dont bloody turn up,also a lot of passengers moan but dont realise its themselves that help to make buses late,when they board and havent got the fare or pass out and then take 5mins trying to find the cash or pass,this all hads to time as well,i feel sometimes like shouting stop moaning at the driver get your bloody act together and have your money or pass ready,or for ffffff sake your moaning is just delaying the bus even more,so if a driver retaliates dont blame him blame the a;;;;;;e thats inconsiderate,its them that need training not the drivers,if one,s a bit off i find if your polite and say please and then thankyou when you get off they,ll even respond well and you get a smile

Where's Southy when you need him ?

It is a two way thing, let's see passenger being decent to the divers too! A quick thank you as you get off won't cost you anything.

On the whole I have found that we get a pretty good service from Bluestar and First Hampshire. I am coming up to pension age now and enjoy being driven about, so have very few complaints about the buses.

I'm not surprised at having 'grumpy' bus drivers. Negotiating the awful roads, jams, delays plus awkward whinging passengers must do their heads in. Then having to put up with the school sprog runs with foul-mouthed mini-chavs causing havoc.

'On The Buses' was funny at the time and it still stands up albeit dated. It was classic TV comedy as opposed to the junk flying about in recent years. Rising Damp, Fawlty Towers, Till Death etc - just compare with the 'irony' of 'modern' output. Same bunch of recycled 'comedians' who pop up with alarming repetitive regularity across the channels.

I prefer the Shipping Forecast

Does the Echo really have to auto-play video on full volume whenever you load a page? It annoys those on limited broadband accounts and it this case made me jump out of my chair as On The Buses boomed out of my PC!

As far as bluestar bus drivers go, apart from one they're all really good and helpful. The one who isn't drove off on a snowy day because I wasn't quick enough getting to the bus on an icey pavement compared with some people who had passes who got on the bus quickly grrrr!

Most of First Bus drivers are fine but I do come across some which should not be in contact with the public as they are grumpy and rude. The majority though are lovely I have to say.

cmth40 wrote:
on the buses was good in it,s day so dont mock it,as for today i travel on bluestar an average of 20+ times a week also on velvet,and stagecoach and i can honestly say apart from the very rare one most of the drivers are approachable,polite,

and smile on the bluestar,the trouble mairly is the passenger they at times are so rude,if the bus is late hell breaks out with some,in fact many times i,ve interfened if i no there has been a accident or roadworks,i say dont moan if its late moan when it dont bloody turn up,also a lot of passengers moan but dont realise its themselves that help to make buses late,when they board and havent got the fare or pass out and then take 5mins trying to find the cash or pass,this all hads to time as well,i feel sometimes like shouting stop moaning at the driver get your bloody act together and have your money or pass ready,or for ffffff sake your moaning is just delaying the bus even more,so if a driver retaliates dont blame him blame the a;;;;;;e thats inconsiderate,its them that need training not the drivers,if one,s a bit off i find if your polite and say please and then thankyou when you get off they,ll even respond well and you get a smile

Hmmmm sounds like a driver to me!!

You're an intolerant person, why don't you ever think that NOT everyone is able to handle money quickly or rush around at breakneck speed. They may have learning difficulties, be elderly, have a disability of some kind, be a harassed mum - whatever.

I have found some bus drivers to be terribly rude to other people, so much so that it has made me cringe! I've also had the pleasure of meeting some very lovely ones. They do put up with a lot of cr*p, but that does not give anyone the right to tar everyone with the same brush. The Council ought to insist on a code of conduct for taxi and bus drivers to adhere to, a policy of zero tolerance to those passengers that are abusive (and they get banned from all companies etc).

B. L. wrote:

cmth40 wrote:
on the buses was good in it,s day so dont mock it,as for today i travel on bluestar an average of 20+ times a week also on velvet,and stagecoach and i can honestly say apart from the very rare one most of the drivers are approachable,polite,


and smile on the bluestar,the trouble mairly is the passenger they at times are so rude,if the bus is late hell breaks out with some,in fact many times i,ve interfened if i no there has been a accident or roadworks,i say dont moan if its late moan when it dont bloody turn up,also a lot of passengers moan but dont realise its themselves that help to make buses late,when they board and havent got the fare or pass out and then take 5mins trying to find the cash or pass,this all hads to time as well,i feel sometimes like shouting stop moaning at the driver get your bloody act together and have your money or pass ready,or for ffffff sake your moaning is just delaying the bus even more,so if a driver retaliates dont blame him blame the a;;;;;;e thats inconsiderate,its them that need training not the drivers,if one,s a bit off i find if your polite and say please and then thankyou when you get off they,ll even respond well and you get a smile

Where's Southy when you need him ?

On a bus to nowhere . . . .

B. L. wrote:

cmth40 wrote:
on the buses was good in it,s day so dont mock it,as for today i travel on bluestar an average of 20+ times a week also on velvet,and stagecoach and i can honestly say apart from the very rare one most of the drivers are approachable,polite,


and smile on the bluestar,the trouble mairly is the passenger they at times are so rude,if the bus is late hell breaks out with some,in fact many times i,ve interfened if i no there has been a accident or roadworks,i say dont moan if its late moan when it dont bloody turn up,also a lot of passengers moan but dont realise its themselves that help to make buses late,when they board and havent got the fare or pass out and then take 5mins trying to find the cash or pass,this all hads to time as well,i feel sometimes like shouting stop moaning at the driver get your bloody act together and have your money or pass ready,or for ffffff sake your moaning is just delaying the bus even more,so if a driver retaliates dont blame him blame the a;;;;;;e thats inconsiderate,its them that need training not the drivers,if one,s a bit off i find if your polite and say please and then thankyou when you get off they,ll even respond well and you get a smile

Where's Southy when you need him ?

On a slow boat to
(communist) China . . . .

cmth40 wrote:
on the buses was good in it,s day so dont mock it,as for today i travel on bluestar an average of 20+ times a week also on velvet,and stagecoach and i can honestly say apart from the very rare one most of the drivers are approachable,polite,

and smile on the bluestar,the trouble mairly is the passenger they at times are so rude,if the bus is late hell breaks out with some,in fact many times i,ve interfened if i no there has been a accident or roadworks,i say dont moan if its late moan when it dont bloody turn up,also a lot of passengers moan but dont realise its themselves that help to make buses late,when they board and havent got the fare or pass out and then take 5mins trying to find the cash or pass,this all hads to time as well,i feel sometimes like shouting stop moaning at the driver get your bloody act together and have your money or pass ready,or for ffffff sake your moaning is just delaying the bus even more,so if a driver retaliates dont blame him blame the a;;;;;;e thats inconsiderate,its them that need training not the drivers,if one,s a bit off i find if your polite and say please and then thankyou when you get off they,ll even respond well and you get a smile

You have your modes of transportation confused - on yer bike!

B. L. wrote:

cmth40 wrote:
on the buses was good in it,s day so dont mock it,as for today i travel on bluestar an average of 20+ times a week also on velvet,and stagecoach and i can honestly say apart from the very rare one most of the drivers are approachable,polite,


and smile on the bluestar,the trouble mairly is the passenger they at times are so rude,if the bus is late hell breaks out with some,in fact many times i,ve interfened if i no there has been a accident or roadworks,i say dont moan if its late moan when it dont bloody turn up,also a lot of passengers moan but dont realise its themselves that help to make buses late,when they board and havent got the fare or pass out and then take 5mins trying to find the cash or pass,this all hads to time as well,i feel sometimes like shouting stop moaning at the driver get your bloody act together and have your money or pass ready,or for ffffff sake your moaning is just delaying the bus even more,so if a driver retaliates dont blame him blame the a;;;;;;e thats inconsiderate,its them that need training not the drivers,if one,s a bit off i find if your polite and say please and then thankyou when you get off they,ll even respond well and you get a smile

Where's Southy when you need him ?

Hitching a lift to Utopia . . . .

Someone should tell him he's not gonna make it.

The routes I use are mainly First rather than Bluestar - but the complaint is the same. Most of their drivers are aggressive, unhelpful and rude.

The exception though is the regular drivers on the 21/21A route. They're absolutely fantastic - cheerful, friendly, polite, always apologetic if they're late - just all round brilliant service.

OSPREYSAINT wrote:
It is a two way thing, let's see passenger being decent to the divers too! A quick thank you as you get off won't cost you anything.

Looking at my post I am surprised nobody saw my deliberate spelling mistake! I meant drivers of course, the only problem with Blue is the timekeeping which on a few occasions has let me down, but why should I complain, I have a bus pass, I cannot ask for my money back!

Markmag wrote:
Does the Echo really have to auto-play video on full volume whenever you load a page? It annoys those on limited broadband accounts and it this case made me jump out of my chair as On The Buses boomed out of my PC!

As far as bluestar bus drivers go, apart from one they're all really good and helpful. The one who isn't drove off on a snowy day because I wasn't quick enough getting to the bus on an icey pavement compared with some people who had passes who got on the bus quickly grrrr!

Before I log onto the Echo website I instinctively press the mute button on the keyboard, vice versa when I log off, much easier on the eardrums, mainly because of the commentaries from the world of intellectuals who accompany some of the videos.

When I would come home on leave (in uniform), while doing my national service in the mid 1950s, I never paid a penny in bus fairs. The conductor would always wave a no thanks, when i offering the money. A ticket from Eastleigh to Southampton, was sixpence in those days. The bus was invariably packed,- standing room only, was the norm, but there was usually, another on the way...........(pleas
e take me back to times of goodwill and pleasantness).