Head Stops / Tail Stops.

[delt1c]

I remember well in London we had quite a few Stops labled Head Stop or Tail Stop usually before or after a junction , these were due to the mixture of Front / Rear loading buses. Just wondering if these still exist ?

 

[Hophead]

Turnham Green eastbound, 272 stop is a Tail Stop, I seem to remember (or perhaps the next one along - there's definitely one around there).

Do such stops exist outside of London? Or were once a feature?

 

[Busaholic]

I'd imagine all stops are considered head stops now in London, so any exceptions would be labelled as tail stops, as in the Turnham Green example above.

 

[Lewlew]

There's a tail stop at Clitterhouse Road South up near Brent Cross

https://maps.app.goo.gl/YnE3Qwqxe57vW3xg7

 

[AlbertBeale]

The key thing - long lost in London - is for the bus shelters to be in the right place relative to the stops. It's no surprise that the idea of queueing for buses has gone out of the window in London (leading to vulnerable people being left behind by several buses running, at busy times) given that the shelters are no longer automatically "downwind" of the stop, so people starting a queue at the stop, and looking in the direction of the bus's arrival, no longer have the queue tailing back under the shelter. Apart from a handful of instances where road layout etc required it to be different [which is what you're calling "tailstops" here, is it?], it was once almost universal to have stops and shelters placed in a way which made queueing sensible and obvious.

I remember that when some stops near Kings Cross were replaced a few years ago, one of them went back in the "wrong" place relative to the shelter; "queueing discipline" collapsed overnight.

 

[Siemens Trains]

It's no surprise that the idea of queueing for buses has gone out of the window in London (leading to vulnerable people being left behind by several buses running, at busy times)

This problem starts with passengers attempting to leave buses when they aren't at the proper stop, leading to passengers thinking it's OK to board away from the stop as well. Once a sensible convention is established and enforced by operators, passengers will generally respect it. Stops where the queue and shelter run against the direction of approaching buses can work.

 

[delt1c]

In Edinburgh buses queue at stops and only open doors when they reach the stop. If there is a bus in front they wait

 

[AlbertBeale]

This problem starts with passengers attempting to leave buses when they aren't at the proper stop, leading to passengers thinking it's OK to board away from the stop as well. Once a sensible convention is established and enforced by operators, passengers will generally respect it. Stops where the queue and shelter run against the direction of approaching buses can work.

With no conductors on buses, and with the placing of shelters such that there's not a consistent and obvious way to queue, how on earth can a convention be enforced by operators? Wherever the bus stops relative to the bus stop, if people aren't in a queue in the first place, then they're not going to board the bus in a fair order.

 

[johnnychips]

I really am sorry for ignorance, but what is a head stop and a tail stop?

 

[delt1c]

I really am sorry for ignorance, but what is a head stop and a tail stop?

Head stop is where the front of the bus stops level with the bust stop post , tail stop is where rear of bus stops level with post