Getting on the bus (or train) a stop before the busy one - should it be allowed

[whole diary]

[bobm]

Exactly.  I suspect their ire was based on the belief I had a senior pass (I don’t yet qualify) and thus my short journey was also “free” as well as lazy and delaying. 

Needless to say I didn’t hold things up further by engaging them in conversation. 

[CyclingSid]

There used to be public health messaging about getting off the bus one stop before your destination and walking. Good for your health.

I am sure there would be a PhD student somewhere who would do some research to find that the person who walked to the previous stop possibly lived longer than those who complained. (It would be no more unreasonable than some of the research that is published nowadays)

[froome]

From The Mirror

Mum 'screamed at' and called 'selfish' for jumping bus queue by walking to previous stop

A woman who walked to a previous bus stop to make sure she could get on has been branded 'selfish' by other mums who accuse her of being a 'queue jumper' – but she doesn't think she's done anything wrong

Declaration of interest ... I will admit to regularly getting on to the bus to Bath one stop BEFORE the first Town Centre stop - in the Market Place where there are almost always lots of people joining; there is rarely a queue at the stop I use.  Oh - and it's just outside our house.

I live on a bus route and if I wish to travel into the centre of Bath, I am midway between two stops. So I have a choice of whether to walk uphill to the stop further away from the centre, and where in theory I would have a better chance of getting a seat, or walking downhill to the next stop. I usually choose to do the latter, although very occasionally I will walk uphill to ensure I can get a seat (or even just to manage to get on) if I think that bus might be crowded.

But other factors weigh more heavily on my decision. I usually walk downhill because if the bus doesn't come at all (which is probably more common that it being too crowded to get a seat), I have a shorter walk into town than I would have from the other stop. Neither stop has a shelter, but the next one further down towards the centre does, so if it is raining, I usually walk down to that one so that I can keep out of the rain while waiting. And from that one, I get a clearer view of the road to see when the bus is coming.

So we all weigh up various factors and make decisions on them, and all are valid.

There is, of course, a more useful discussion to be had around crowded trains forcing people to move further away from their workplace, so that they can guarantee a seat to get to work rather than having to stand half an hour in a crowded train.