I really wanted a video of the driver’s foot today when he kept stomping on the gas like 18 times between each stop light jerking everybody on the bus all over the place bus number 208.
I’m getting on the bus and the bus driver closes the door on my bag. Then someone else wants on behind me so opens the door and almost slams my hand in the door.
I approve of this thread. I take the bus to Taipei 4/6 times a week and I’m always left out from the “Life on the MRT” thread.
I guess something similar to this: https://youtu.be/YbW1CnThwoA @1:50
Taichung Busses are Not really better. Why approach the busstop smoothly when you can go full speed and then drop the anchor on the last 50 cm.
My number one pet peeve is lurchers. Gas-Brake-Gas-Brake incessantly for no reason. It’s like wtf, kemosabe?
They’re pretty annoying, but to me the worst are people who get on the bus then start having a full meal while making as much noise as humanly possible with all the chewing and slurping.
I wondered if I was the only one annoyed by the brake gas brake gas thing. There are times that I wonder if the bus has a mechanical issue or if they are just pissed off. Perhaps some of the busses are missing some important maintenance? I sure I would be pissed if I was driving a bus in Taipei during rush hour on Friday night. One way to stop this to take all the bus drivers for therapy which consists of them having to ride in a bus operated like this for 8 hours. …or put a sensor in the bus that measures the acceleration/deceleration and post it on the internet with their bus number and route for everyone to see. It could be on the evening news with a bad driver award given.
Taiwan buses: from 0 to 50 to 0 to 70 to 0 to 50 IN SIX SECONDS.
I have a friend whose mom fell on a bus in Taichung and was hurt. I’m amazed at how tough some of the old folks are when riding the busses.
There was this American kid where I used to work, he was like a week off the boat, and hadn’t got his bus voodoo yet, the driver slammed on the binders and he flew half the length of the bus and split his forearm wide open, 60 stitches or some friggin thing.
Welcome to Taiwan!
Poor kid. I can see how that happens. And he thought he was safe on the bus instead of a scooter…
Bus driver is obviously surprised every time he sees a bus stop because he slams on the brakes at every one.
It takes 2 hands and a shoulder to hold on.
Due to all the rain, I took the bus to dinner on Sunday.
I forgot how insanely muggy it can get in there with all the people. I think I’ll skip the bus on these kinds of days. Stick to the MRT.
I remember the days of the rolling stops: the bus wouldn’t actually come to a full stop when people were getting on and off. Then the bus would speed off, knocking down elderly people struggling to get to their seats.
And the line-of-sight bus-stop dodge, when the bus would deliberately avoid stopping at a bus stop by driving in the outer lane, hiding behind other buses already rolling more slowly by the bus stop.
Doesn’t make sense for four of the same bus numbers all following each other when three of them are empty and then like a 10 minute wait for the next one. 235
Same with 307
I highly doubt they don’t follow the schedule and allow buses to depart from the terminal station within the written time intervals. It’s just traffic patterns and how much time it takes passengers to depart and alight at stops.
Happens a lot with number one green, 642, 647, 650… etc.
Aside from looking at what’s on the LED sign, is there like a general rule about when to pay? I’m not fluent in Mandarin so sometimes, I have time to wait for the English signage before riding the bus or get called out by the driver.
There’s signs in the bus signifying what part of the route you are on and what parts pay when you enter or exit. To be very honest, the bus route map is probably harder to decipher than the marquee behind the bus driver.
You don’t need to be fluent in order to know when to pay, all you need to do is familiarize yourself with the phrases,上車收票/Shàng chē shōu piào and 下車收票/Xiàchē shōu piào.
To make it even easier, just remember the first word:
It doesn’t really matter now that they’ve adopted the honor system. I see people get on and off from the backdoor and just swipe at will. The bus driver doesn’t care when you swipe, as long as you swipe. But if you pay with coins, then you need to observe when to pay.