Only in Canada...

[Acajack]

The normal practice to me is that you yell out a thank you to the bus driver when exiting by the back door only if you're the only one on the bus.


Thanking when exiting the front door is common but not everyone does it.


BTW I believe bus drivers in my city have it in their job description to say "Bonjour" to every single passenger who boards.


If 20 people get on at a stop they say Bonjour 20 times.

[BIMBAM]

Originally Posted by botticelli

honestly only in small towns and small cities is this possible. It is less about politeness but more about practicality. Imagine everyone saying "thank you" to a bus driver in 8:45am in central Tokyo?


plus there is nothing impolite about not saying thank you. Driving is the driver's job after all. there are hundreds of people on different lines of work who don't get thanked at all.

Saying thank you doesn't slow one down a bit, it doesn't involve the legs. And it's not like Vancouver buses are less crowded at rush hour then buses in other cities despite the city being smaller, we're not talking about Nanaimo here. It is true, however, that when the bus is packed people do thank the drive less often, but I have seen streams of 15 people walking past the driver all saying thank you as they leave. It's a nice custom.

[Tanya2112]

Originally Posted by Zoisite

Where you live, do passengers call out "thank you" to the bus driver when they're exiting the bus?

I just wondered if it's a common thing across the country now (or even in other countries), or only something that happens here.

Up until 3 years ago I didn't use the bus and always used my car for the past 40 years. But since I started using the bus again I've noticed that many, many people all over the lower mainland loudly call out "thank you" to the driver as they exit from the back of the bus. The first time I heard that I was pleasantly surprised and thought it was a one-off thing coming from a particularly polite passenger but then I noticed that other people were doing it too. Now I've gotten into the habit of doing that myself.

Before 40 years ago nobody ever, ever yelled out thank you when exiting the bus (being loud and conspicuous attracting attention like that just wasn't done) so I don't know when people here started the custom but I think it's nice and I wonder if other people do it in other locations as well.

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I always say "thank you" when i exit the bus. Driver does a very important job so it seems necessary for me to thanks for the safe drive

[canadian citizen]

Instead of saying thank you........how about using the rear door, to get off ?


Jim B.

[Zoisite]

Originally Posted by canadian citizen

Instead of saying thank you........how about using the rear door, to get off ?


Jim B.

Jim, just exactly what part of this statement didn't register with you when I brought up the subject of people saying thank you?

Originally Posted by Zoisite

....... many, many people all over the lower mainland loudly call out "thank you" to the driver as they exit from the back of the bus.......

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[canadian citizen]

My point was.........Get on at the front door, leave through the rear door, to expedite passenger movement. Walking to the front door, just to say Thanks, seems to me to be a time waster, especially at rush hours with full passenger loads.


This used to be a thing that most people understood......now not so much.

Jim B.