If you like, you can skip to the end of this post to answer the empty seat poll.

Results from last poll: signalling to a driver that you don’t want their bus

Last week I asked about how you signal to a driver that you don’t want them to pick you up.

The winning strategy: step back from the bus stop, which swept the poll with 71% of votes. “Use some sort of hand signal” was a distant second with 16% of the vote. Hide behind the bus shelter (5%), just ignore the bus (4%) and “other” (4%) were less popular options.

In the comments, some said they try to really not look at the bus to indicate they don’t want it. Here’s Holly:

I step back, turn around and start admiring the building behind the bus stop. I don’t even look in the direction of the bus!

Others try to shake their head “no” as the bus approaches. Joseph Bilac wrote:

I normally shake my head, it’s the most universal signal there is for no, no chance of them getting confused.

And as a side note, Dora mentioned the different strategy applied at London’s request stops.

Something I found really confusing the first time I visited London is that some stops (generally ones in less busy areas) are “request stops”, meaning that if you’re waiting at the stop you have to wave to the driver if you want the bus to stop and let you on. It takes a bit of getting used to if you’re more familiar with our system here, where the driver will always stop if there is someone waiting, unless you indicate that you don’t want to be picked up.

In other words, if you don’t signal for your bus, at a request stop, your bus will just pass you by! Very interesting.

Again, you can find everyone’s full comments at the original post!

This week’s poll: do you jump to an empty seat if it becomes available?

So here’s the situation:

You’re in an aisle seat on a two-seater bench facing forward, with someone you don’t know sitting beside you. All the other seats on the bus are occupied.

However, at the next stop, two people leave and now one of the two-seater bench seats is entirely empty.

Sometimes I see people leap for those seats like crazy, and in other cases nobody seems to mind. What are your thoughts?