When I lived in England in the Northwest, among the first habits I picked up from using public transportation was passengers leaving say “thank you” or more verbose “thank you driver” before getting off the bus. You’d say it loud enough so they could hear it.
It struck me as polite to recognize their effort this way. It feels completely natural to me now, and I moved to the continent since so internally there’s this emotional gap now everytime I do not hear other passengers saying that or anything remotely similar. Tbh, that feeling wore off somewhat over time, so I want to know is that even a common thing for you?
(This is not shitposting or complaining about rough manners elsewhere. I liked the habit.)
14 comments
In Spain, we only greet when getting on the bus, not off. I
Where I live we don’t say thanks to the bus driver, but we do raise our hand to them while getting out of the bus as a way to say thanks.
Spain: No. Nobody does it, bus driver don’t expect it. Is not a social rule there.
Ireland: Yes, always, some bus drivers even say “you’re welcome” to every passenger. I also liked the habit.
This is the first time I’m hearing about something like this and it kind of reminds me of people who clap at planes landing.
The driver is just doing their job.
Sure, if I get off the bus in the front. I’m not sure I count as normal for Norway, though, since I lived six years in the East Midlands.
I’ve been on a few buses in the UK and other countries where you HAD to get out of the door where the driver was seated next to. In those cases it feels natural to say thanks or bye to the driver.
Most Dutch buses have multiple doors, so you get off somewhere in the middle. When I do, it depends whether the bus is packed or not. If it’s a calm bus I wave and say thanks. If it’s packed to the brim I just get off asap. Might put my hand up as a “cheers” wave to the driver though.
Finland. Sometimes. I picked up the habit from a smaller city where it is more common. Here in Helsinki it is not customary. I also usually greet the driver when entering the bus. It’s not customary even in smaller cities, but I think it’s a nice gesture.
In Turkey it is mandatory to enter the bus in the front and exit in the middle or end, so no. I do greet the bus driver when I get on the bus, though. I may also say bye if I am on a minibus and sitting on the front next to the driver, but that happens rarely. I would never shout to the driver, busses are crowded and he wouldn’t hear it anyway.
I may greet on the way in but we exit out the middle or back.
Almost never. I do greet when getting on a bus though.
You have to exit through the back door(s) so we don’t thank the bus driver because we would have to shout.
An exception is when you have something in the hold(bodega?). When this happens you exit through the backdoor walk up to the driver, ask them to open the hold, retrieve your things and then go to the driver again, tell them your done and thank them.
Probably only in villages going in/out via maxi taxi and you know the dude, otherwise nah.
No, driver is in his boot and can’t hear you anyway. There is also a sticker with “do not talk to driver” and that beast he is driving is 18 meters long so you would have to be very loud when using rear doors. It stops every minute or two, that would be just annoying.
This is for public transport here in Prague, long distance bus are different.
The door next to the driver is the entrance door and not used to exit unless the bus is full. It’s very rare you’re anywhere near him when exiting. I remember talking to them some times where the bus was full though.