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August 11, 2004 12:01 AM

Broken: London double decker bus seating sign

OutlookJonathan Bruck writes:

This is from a red double decker bus in London, explaining how many people it can hold. I found myself trying to figure out the seating/standing capacity on this bus. Does anyone have a clue on this one?

Comments:

There are 63 seats, 43 on the upper deck and 20 on the lower deck, plus you can have 20 people standing on the lower deck. Total: 83 passengers

You can reduce the seating on the bottom deck by 3 in order to fit in a wheelchair user (total 81 passengers), or 5 more standing people (total 85 passengers).

That's my interpretation. :)

Posted by: Alden Bates at August 11, 2004 02:03 AM

That's the easy part to figure out. Now, what does:

Standing 20

Seating 17

Standing 25

mean? Which level? Are those simultaneous? Simle horizontal lines could have made this much more understandable.

Posted by: Bakkster at August 11, 2004 08:52 AM

I see what it means (after a couple minutes of a blank stare at it). they could have worded it better

Posted by: lane at August 11, 2004 12:12 PM

I see what it means (after a couple minutes of a blank stare at it). they could have worded it better, such as:

top floor: 43

bottom floor: 20

1 wheelchair

total: 64

Posted by: lane at August 11, 2004 12:14 PM

sorry about the double post- I wasn't finished

Posted by: lane at August 11, 2004 12:15 PM

I still don't quite get those last 3 lines.

Here is my interpretation as well as my take on a not-broken sign:

Upper, Seating: 43

Upper, standing: 20

Lower, seating: 20

Lower, seat w/ wheelchair: 17

Lower, standing: 25

_____________________________

Total seats: 63

Max capacity: 108

Posted by: DaveC426913 at August 11, 2004 03:05 PM

I suspect this sort of thing is required for regulatory compliance, rather than being there to inform the passengers. (Would you get on, count the number of people on your level, and say "driver, stop, I have to get off, I'm #26!"?)

Posted by: mendel at August 11, 2004 04:37 PM

The bottom three lines are covered in my initial comment.

Upper deck: seats 43 [line 2]

Lower deck:

(20 seated or 17 seated + wheelchair) + 20 standing [lines 3 to 5]

*or*

17 seated + 25 standing [lines 6 and 7]

Posted by: Alden Bates at August 11, 2004 08:01 PM

They don't bother with these here in Toronto (or so it seems) - just keep cramming people out until they start getting off to breathe.

Posted by: Martin Kuplens-Ewart at August 12, 2004 04:08 PM

To those who think this sign is not broken:

The point of this site, I thought, was to show what needs improvement in hopes that they will get improved. Thus if this sign can be improved - it's broken.

Posted by: Nathan Hughes at August 13, 2004 04:18 PM

I think it is more likely a joke by the creative department of the London buses. They must have read some stuff about bad signage and said - "Yeah - let's do that! That'll confuse everyone". I did work on London buses for a month, handing out surveys (a long, long time ago), and got to know some of the drivers fairly well - and at the time this would have been a perfectly reasonable explanation - they definitely relayed a work atmosphere where it would have been perfectly normal and acceptable for the people who make these types of signs to have fun at customers expense.

Posted by: Chris Law at August 16, 2004 10:41 PM

The "Standing" definitely does not refer to the upper deck-- you can't stand there. Presumably you can have twenty standing and twenty seated, or seventeen seated, a wheelchair, and twenty-five standing. I guess to fit a wheelchair you have to tip up three seats, but that leaves enough room for five more to stand, too.

Posted by: Simon Trew at August 17, 2004 08:30 AM

Not to mention that cameras are installed on the bus for our *comfort*...

Posted by: Hugo at August 17, 2004 05:08 PM

Hugo:

Not to mention that cameras are installed on the bus for our *comfort*...

No vandalized seats = comfort. Seems pretty clear to me.

Posted by: Sam Dodsworth at August 18, 2004 09:50 AM

What if I want to pick my nose... I don't want that recorded on tape!

Posted by: AK at August 23, 2004 08:45 PM

Well, they may or may not record anything as "..during my journey cmaeras are installed." So I guess that means that everyday, new cameras are installed during everyone's journey.

Posted by: chris baker at September 8, 2004 10:04 AM

I liked the sign in the bottom right corner.

Posted by: Connor at September 14, 2004 10:35 PM

In reponse to the comment about the creative department joke by Chris Law. That is so cool, here in America our municipal bus lines have drivers, mechanics, administrators, and (always) some city councilmans nephew named Josh or Brian, but no creative departments. Not sure what they'd do if we had them, but I'm sure we'd all be better off if they did. Oh yeah! they'd make signs.

Posted by: billc at December 14, 2004 08:59 PM

Hmm...I think they should hve posted some info such as "jogging, vegetarians, etc."

As for the interpretation....I'm pretty much confuzzled.

Posted by: Justin at December 15, 2004 01:07 AM

WTF???

Posted by: mo at March 17, 2005 04:40 PM

jesus dick, that makes sense until the last 3 lines, and then its fucking retarded as my dick.

Posted by: andy at August 24, 2005 03:13 AM

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