Front row seating on buses and coaches

[Martin2012]

Are there many operators that actually allow passengers to sit in the front row at the present time?

On Sunday I did a return trip from Bristol to Luton catching the Flixbus service to London and then the Greenline service to Luton.
Interestingly on the Flixbus service from Bristol to London the two seats immediately behind the driver are unavailable but a seat on the opposite side can be reserved for an excess fare (something which I took advantage of when using the route on Sunday).

On the Greenline 757 journey towards Luton the two front seats behind the driver were available for passenger use but the two away from the driver were blocked off with the driver's bags. On the return journey back to London Victoria the front seats were not blocked off but had signage stating they were out of use and I was instructed by the driver not to sit there.

On every local bus journey I've been on since last March the seats in the first row nearest to the driver have been blocked off regardless of whether or not the seats are forward or sideways facing. Most of the buses here in Bristol have the seats taped off but the ones on the X39 route have signs telling passengers not to sit there.

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

Where I live, the Stagecoach buses just have big, red "X" stickers on the windows above the first few seats behind the driver. Often, people just tend to sit there regardless, and the drivers don't seem to care all that much.