A London bus driver has taken to social media to complain about the attitude of people in the capital when using public transport. He has branded many of the travellers "rude" and claims his job is "awful" because so few passengers acknowledge him or say hello.
MyLondon.news reported that the driver took to TikTok, with the username @absolutelynotbritish, to explain that he drives the 159 route. In a video titled: "#londoners are so #rude to #bus #drivers" he spoke about his experience. He described how people "ignore" him and said only one in 20 passengers would say hello..
TikTok users responded with sympathy and shared their theories on why this might be, although some pointed out that they have experience of the opposite - with drivers ignoring passengers who greet them.
The bus driver said: "Do you know how awful it is being a bus driver in London? No-one looks at you when they get on the bus. Everyone ignores you. They even roll their eyes sometimes as they go past you so they don't have to look at you."
He then went on to describe how people tapping their cards to pay for the journey are often in a world of their own. He said: "You just hear beep beep [motioning paying] and then someone will go beep beep beep beep and I'll be sitting there going, 'It's fine, it went through the first time, you can go through' and they'll be like beep beep beep beep and I'm like, 'Hello?' they've got headphones in, but they won't look at the driver. If they looked at me I'd be like 'get on the bus it's fine' and they don't."
The driver continued: "People are so rude in London. I'd say one out of 20 passengers look at the driver or even acknowledges that they're there. But as soon as you don't open the doors at the bus stop within one second of pressing the bell, they all want to know about you then, they all want to know, 'Mr Driver - why aren't you opening the door, driver?'"
In response to his rant, social media users spoke about their bus experiences. One TikTok user replied: "It's the opposite for me. I always say hello to every driver and they always ignore me." Another theorised that: "Middle doors have ruined it" as they mean passengers don't exit via the driver to say thank you. A third person joked: "I always say thanks at the end and everyone looks at me like I’ve committed a crime."
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