You know what I’m on about. Some people – me included – might even look out for them. Those brief, almost compulsory exchanges of affection. It’s a topic that even has a Facebook group. But why do bus drivers wave to each other?
Thanks to the complete lack of parking spaces anywhere around Poole and Bournemouth, I’ve been forced to leave my car behind in Northampton. So, as a result, I’ve had to catch the Unilinx buses to Bournemouth University and back almost every day. That half hour journey is made more irritating by their constant need to get out and have a smoke while you’re waiting to go home, but made up for by their jolly nature between one another.
But that’s really only a Unilinx thing. You can’t tell me that every bus driver across the country has met every other bus driver, can you? Even ones from rival companies wave to each other, and probably would never speak to each other in person. So why would they wave?
Let’s take a step back to something you probably didn’t learn when learning to drive, but learned from friends or family when they’ve been out driving. The wave you do. It might just be a British thing, or we just do it a bit over the top, but what you do when you’re letting someone out from a T-junction, parking space or whatever is that you "Wave them out". It’s one of those unwritten rules of the road. You just do it. The person you’re letting out usually replies.
Now the same would go with bus drivers. In fact I’ve seen it more here in Poole than I did in Northampton. There’s a fair amount of roundabouts (including a lot more of those annoying mini ones) in Poole, and obviously it’s enough of a challenge for one bus, let alone two. So what they do is use their power of size to their advantage by getting the bus who’s already on the roundabout to stop and let the other one through. That way the one waiting to get on can at least get their foot on the ladder and get round, which is otherwise difficult with a slow, cumbersome vehicle.
So to initiate this, they obviously do this little wave thing. "Hi, can I come in?" "Sure thing, fellow driver!" is essentially what they’re saying. This is my theory of where it comes from. So if you’re writing an essay on the bus driver wave, don’t forget your Harvard referencing of me. (Just kidding, I couldn’t give a shit.)
But this still doesn’t explain why – even drivers of rival companies – wave to each other as they pass. There’s been theories knocking around and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a mix of the general ‘rules of the road’ and this ‘bus-buddying’ type idea I just discussed. Maybe it was an in-joke between a few drivers, other drivers saw it and copied and the idea’s just carried on? Hey, who knows. We should really get a bus driver’s opinion on it.
So it’s just courtesy, I do believe. But what’re your thoughts?
I’ve always wondered this.
What always makes me laugh is on the route from Cheltenham to Gloucester, the bus drives along the double-carriageway of the A40. Most of the time there’ll be another 94U coming along the opposite carriage way and whilst travelling about 60mph, the two bus drivers never fail to make ‘the wave’.
The wave I can understand, sort of. It’s acknowledgement that the other person is also going through the same things you are (driving a big, cumbersome vehicle, having to deal with passengers and stuff).
What I don’t understand is why some of the bus drivers around here blow kisses to each other… even to drivers of rival bus companies. I know I live in a rural area, but still… we’re only 10 miles away from Newcastle!
Another unwritten rule is always saying “Cheers” to the driver. If I don’t say thanks it means they’re really annoying *Looks at the Halton 62*
Don’t know the details but it’s VERY important. In true Darwinian fashion the non-waving bus driver lasts not 5 minutes.
It’s like knowing the correct protocol at the chippy. Without it you will starve.
Once I witnessed something very special happen between two bus drivers.
But first, scenario: an average road, cars parked all along one side, two buses on either end of these parked cars (I’d draw a diagram but it’s 2am). I should mention here that the opposing bus was a ‘learner’ bus which is a whole other topic by itself. Anyhoo, so here we are, two buses, one usable lane. What do we both do? Move forwards. Shit so here we are, two buses heading towards each other (reversing is never an option) with what seems like no room for passage. My bus then does the unthinkable. It mounts the curb. Everyone kinda falls sideways (it was a big curb =p), I believe the general consensus at this point was ‘bloody hell this guys a maniac’.
So these huge gargantuans of the road pass each other by about an inch and we pootle along, everyone tutting and thinking prick, some pricking and thinking tut (McIntyre, 2008). We then come to a rival bus, what happens? Our driver pulls alongside, waves, and has a minute long conversation with him. Both buses completely blocking the road having a good old chinwag about learner drivers.
This I believe was the longest exchange between busdrivers in human history.