Emergency Stoppers!

As we all know on buses the driver has control of when and where the bus doors open. Unless of course you are aboard the No12 bus. Of course the driver has 80% of the control but when a No12 passenger wants to get off, they want to get off.

If you are in traffic, they do not wait;
If you are moving, they have no fear;
If they want to get on the bus behind instead, they change bus right there and then;

If they want a laugh, lets have one!!

Above each of the 3 doors of the No12 there is the 'Emergency Button' in order to open these doors in cases of 'Emergency'. However on the No12 these buttons serve as the passengers own personal door openening use when and where they like. In fact I can't remember the last journey when this button had not at least been attempted a good old 'twist and pull'.

Most of the time when this has been done, the driver, on cue, hops out of his compartment and staggers up the bus to the open door muttering to himself, but not once looking anybody in the eye. This is normally the only time anyone every sees the driver as no one enters from the front doors. For me the 'Emergency Stoppers' are the people who confirm to us that we even have a driver and set our minds at rest....

'oh, yep, there he is, its OK people ,we have a driver!'

Sometimes when these 'Emergency' stops happen I watch peoples reaction to the driver who starts to hobble up the bus. There blank expressions staring at him...

'who is this man?? I did not see him get on...'

The only 2 times I have ever seen the driver actually comment on these times are as follows:

1.  It was the final of the world cup, Spain had just won. We caught the bus from Haymarket and we only travelled 4 seconds down the road when the bus then stopped. All the Spanish people (in the whole World it seemed) had taken their party from the Sports Bar to the street. Some had even taken it upon themselves to climb on top of the 2 other buses that had stopped, therefore now unable to move at all. After waiting here for 10 minutes, some people at the back of the bus decided that they would not wait any longer on this bus and decided to get off. They pulled and twisted the 'Emergency' stop button and got off the bus. Out of character the 'Emergency Stopper', before leaving the scene had decided to try and re-close the doors, however being unsuccessful they fled the scene.
Out pops the driver and charges up the bus in a rage. Turning to us he starts to shout,

'DONT OPEN DIS DOOR YE!? IT IS FOR EMERGENCIES UNLY! WHAT DON'T YU UNDERSTAND YE? YU WAIT FOR DE NEXT STOP!'

We looked at each other confused, surely if we had opened the doors, we would be on the other side?! Instead of answering the driver back we looked at each other stunned, as this was the first time we had ever seen/heard a bus driver speak.

2. Now seeing as most 'Emergency Stoppers' were on the other side of the doors after they were opened, when this one wasn't he soon was after!
I had just finished work, and I went to the bus stop, luckily it is the first stop on the journey in this direction so I am always able to get a seat.
Only about 6 or us boarded, so the doors were able to close almost immediately after they opened. The bus shuffled forward only a few centimeters, and then was stopped by a taxi and the fact that the lights were red. As we sat and waited, a woman stood up and looked behind, the original bus that she wanted was obviously now behind and she wanted to get off and change to that one instead. She stood at the doors pressing the bell one after the other continuously for a few seconds. Seeing that the driver was obviously not going to re-open the doors as we were now 3 seconds away from the bus stop, she decided to take matters into her own hands. She moved to the far door and started to fiddle around with 'Emergency' button. After a few attempts of being unsuccessful, a young man that had been watching her stood up, and with one twist, the door was open and she made her way out, with no utter of a Thank You of course. The young man tried his best then to close the door, but was unable to so he sat back down. The traffic around us began to move, but the only thing on our bus moving was the driver, towards the back of the bus. As the driver approached he held his finger up to the young man,

'oit, you! off! naaaaaaw!'

'pardon?' said the young man..

'you 'eard me mayte! off naaaaaw!'

With out a word the young man stood up, sulking, and hopped of the bus, just like that.

The driver fixed the door, and walked back to his compartment and we were on our way.

The next time the 'Emergency' door was opened was in fact for an 'Emergency' however, this time everybody seemed to ask the driver first to open the door!

The rules of the No12 passengers really do bemuse me!!