Hellos and thank you make for a brighter bus journ

[timelesstable]

Even in our ‘time poor’ lives bus passengers still give their driver a thank you as they get off the bus. Arriva Yorkshire believes our findings show there’s a widely accepted etiquette for getting off a bus, with over 90% of passengers offering drivers a cheery ‘thank you’ or a ‘cheers mate’ as they leave their service.

We studied the reactions of passengers as they boarded and departed vehicles, and the findings showed that drivers and passengers still had a great deal of interaction even in these very busy times.
Chloe Leach O’Connell, marketing and communications manager for Arriva Yorkshire, said: “We wanted to better understand the bus as a social environment. We carried out the study after drivers discussed the benefits of engaging with their customers. Sometimes it is a simple smile from the driver and other times an enthusiastic ‘Good Morning’ or ‘Goodbye’, either way it unearthed some strongly established behaviours.
“It was very interesting to see that on leaving the bus there was a standard protocol of a ‘thank you’ or a ‘goodbye’ between passengers and drivers. We’re now looking into this further and seeing if we can build on this interaction as it certainly brightens up everyone’s journey.”


The studied showed:
- More than half of passengers follow suit when they get a cheery “good morning” from their driver as they board the bus
- When a driver welcomed passengers on board with a hello, 83% of women and 74% of men responded in a positive manner
- Over nine out of ten passengers give a polite thank you or goodbye to the driver on leaving their bus

[driver6540]

Good manners cost nothing, I personally wouldnt board a bus without a greeting to the driver or saying thankyou when alighting. Some people though, just think of drivers as public servants or paid lackeys to get them from here to there. On the odd occasion ive come across a grumpy driver who dosent respond to a good morning etc, ive put it down to the fact that maybe he,s having an off day, which we all get from time to time, after all were only human.

[guyarab]

I do agree with much of the aforementioned, however not all drivers are very communicative first thing in a morning.

I tend to offer thanks when alighting, but decline with drivers whom I consider to have handled the vehicle in the "old fashioned" manner of the thrashing the bus to a stop and then slamming on the anchors, causing problems for would be departing passengers. I am pleased to say that such drivers are fewer on the ground (well in the cab anyway) nowadays.

[danielnew]

The friendliness of the driver reflects the company they work for, you can find vast differences between operators. This is the case in many industries, the better the organisation, the more secure and valued the employees will feel and therefore will get better job satisfaction.

I agree with all the previous posts, it doesn't hurt to have manners and I will even say thank you to a driver who has been grumpy to me which does happen more often than is acceptable to be honest, it should only happen 1% of the time and at the moment it happens 40% of the time. In a way I feel that one day that driver may learn some manners and realise that it doesn't hurt to be polite back, after all you the customer are indirectly paying his/her wages and if the driver dosen't like their job they should consider a job as an HGV driver then they don't require the ability to interact with the general public as often! Even in London I make an effort to say thank you which is more difficult on a dual doored vehicle, often the reason for Londoner's like myself being considered unfriendly, it's just awkward!

[driver6540]

Ive got to respond to the previous post, havent i?. If i am delivering goods to a customer who has paid a lot of money to my employer to recieve their goods, then as far as i am concerned they are entitled to courtesy and good manners from me, as their driver, because without the customers orders i wouldnt have a job. I do believe other HGV drivers may think the same as me as well.

[swfcforever]

Jul 27, 2011 19:33:16 GMT 1 driver6540 said:

Good manners cost nothing, I personally wouldnt board a bus without a greeting to the driver or saying thankyou when alighting. Some people though, just think of drivers as public servants or paid lackeys to get them from here to there. On the odd occasion ive come across a grumpy driver who dosent respond to a good morning etc, ive put it down to the fact that maybe he,s having an off day, which we all get from time to time, after all were only human.

I can offer the other side-I work in public transport on Trams in Sheffield. I say please and thank you, but somebody as a flash pass-Megarider, OAP, Mobility, Travelmaster etc, 90% of the time the passengers do not say anything when I say thank you, but when they are buying a ticket they say thank you about 50% of the time.

Yes most Passengers do think of us has lackeys and yes we can have off-days. I personally do not smile as much anymore due to people being impolite and its very very hard to keep smiling when people treat you like rubbish.

However there are some staff who do not like the job and do not like working with the public-I suppose thats like every job. I will just keep saying please and thank you-thats basic manners.

What I am trying to say, if I have come across okay-it works both ways, people need to have more manners and respect for other people in this country, buts thats another subject.

[driver6540]

Yes, i fully agree with you SWFC. Respect should breed respect, but we all know its not like that, My motto is, Keep going and dont let the b*stards grind you down. good luck mate.

[swfcforever]

thank you . Ive been doing it 10 years and I do enjoy it. I do hope this intiative works for Arriva and other companies do the same.

[Deleted]

I Always Say Thank You To The Driver, He didn't do all that driving for nothing