When getting on or off a bus do you greet and say good bye to the bus driver?

11 comments

1. Not really. In my city we enter the bus through the back doors, and thus don’t pass the driver, neither on the way in, or the way out. Some drivers even refuse to open the front door if you’re standing outside of it, pointing you back to the other doors.

   On regional busses it is different, as here you pass by the driver, and then greeting them is only natural (you can hardly enter without having eye contact with the driver, due to having to walk up steps,) though exiting through the front isn’t a thing, so saying ‘thank you’ is reserved for somewhat empty busses, where it wouldn’t be rude to yell over the seats, but a small wave will probably be seen in the mirrors.

2. No, that’s not a thing here. And depending on the town, you often can enter the bus through all doors and don’t pass the driver at all.

3. I say hello when I get on (through the front door) and stick up my hand in the way of goodbye when I get off (through the back door). I don’t think I did this as a kid, and not every adult does it either, but it’s pretty common. More so outside of the cities I’d say.

4. Yes, in Ireland but it’s mostly down to CIE’s exceptionalism and strange dislike of using (or even installing) middle doors on urban busses.

   They’re often were not present at all or nor used on city busses, so you always had to walk out past the driver creating a scenario where it would be weird not to say thanks / bye!

   At least they’ve finally begun to wake up to the idea that middle doors are useful, although it’s only a very recent thing.

   In most of Europe you board through the front and exit though the middle doors and the ticketing is similar to Dublin’a Luas trams – not checked at the door.

5. In Vilnius, we don’t use the driver’s door, and you would only interact with the driver if you don’t have an app/card and need a ticket.

6. No. You typically enter through the back doors if you already have a ticket and only go through the front door if you need to buy one (or at night when the other doors won’t be opened in some areas). And you also leave through the back doors as well. So most of the time you never get close to the driver.

   In turn, we always say hello and good bye in the doctor’s waiting room.

7. No, this isn’t a thing in London but it is in other parts of the country, especially in rural areas.

8. In the countryside yes, in cities no. I suspect that’s how it works in most places.

9. In buses outside cities I’d say it’s fairly common, I do it too, just show some kindness to the driver, also reasonably common for the driver to just have a chat with some random people in front. Chill vibe. In cities, though, especially Riga, the drivers are very much secluded from the bus, people usually get in via the middle/back doors anyway, so way less communication there.

10. We say “kolay gelsin” which means something like “I hope your job will be easier for you” and also good afternoon/day….etc when we get off.

    We don’t say anything when we get on maybe good morning if it is early in the morning.

    These only apply if we get on or off from a door that the driver can hear us.

11. Many city buses these days have a separate compartment for the driver, so not really possible to speak to them.

    In rural areas you have the older buses where I’d say it depends. You usually have to walk in at the front for him to check your ticket, so saying hello would be normal. However if you walk out at the back then most people wouldn’t yell all the way to the front no. There’s no real expectation to say hello and goodbye though, but nice if you do it I guess.