Taking bulky items on buses

[AY1975]

I was wondering what the position was in terms of taking bulky items such as small items of flat pack furniture (obviously boxed and not assembled) or electrical or electronic appliances on buses. Have any of you had any experience of doing this yourself or seen anyone doing so?

About 20 years ago I took my new TV home on the bus in its box without any problems. It was a 14 inch TV (old style, box-like as opposed to flat screen). I think I put it in the buggy space where the tip-up seats are.

However, a few years later I saw someone trying to get on a bus with a TV. Again I think it was an old style 14 inch TV, but it wasn't boxed. This time the driver turned him away, saying it was against the law to take a TV on a bus. I wondered if he was just being over-zealous, or if it actually is illegal to take an unboxed TV into any indoor public place that doesn't have a TV licence. Or it might be a safety thing.

I wondered this because I have a spare TV (a 14 inch flat screen TV with a bracket attached to stand it on) that I acquired second-hand and I have a friend who is looking to move house and who I think might like it. I don't drive, and nor does this friend, but they may be moving to somewhere near my office.

I would guess that bulky items are carried at the driver's discretion, and that wheelchair users and passengers with prams would have priority over passengers carrying bulky items.

 

[WY Bus Spotter]

I was wondering what the position was in terms of taking bulky items such as small items of flat pack furniture (obviously boxed and not assembled) or electrical or electronic appliances on buses. Have any of you had any experience of doing this yourself or seen anyone doing so?

About 20 years ago I took my new TV home on the bus without any problems. It was a 14 inch TV (old style, box-like as opposed to flat screen). I think I put it in the buggy space where the tip-up seats are.

However, a few years later I saw someone trying to get on a bus with a TV. Again I think it was an old style 14 inch TV, but it wasn't boxed. This time the driver turned him away, saying it was against the law to take a TV on a bus. I wondered if he was just being over-zealous, or if it actually is illegal to take an unboxed TV into any indoor public place that doesn't have a TV licence. Or it might be a safety thing.

I wondered this because I have a spare TV (a 14 inch flat screen TV with a bracket attached to stand it on) that I acquired second-hand and I have a friend who is looking to move house and who I think might like it. I don't drive, and nor does this friend, but they may be moving to somewhere near my office.

I would guess that bulky items are carried at the driver's discretion, and that wheelchair users and passengers with prams would have priority over passengers carrying bulky items.

Had a mate who would occasionally take lighting equipment flightcases on the bus. Driver would even put the wheelchair ramp down for him

 

[cadder toad]

I once took a 6' panelled wooden door on a double decker. It was a Saturday afternoon. I was going from one side of the town centre to the other maybe 8-10 stops. One of these was the bus station. I got on and the bus was quiet. The door sat in the aisle, blocking about four seats. All was ok until we got to the bus station where a good number of people got on, few of whom could sit down. I got a lot of looks from people! I sat and sort of pretended it wasn't my door until I got off, two stops later.

 

[PeterC]

About 45 years ago i took a new stainless steel sink unit home on the bus.

 

[GusB]

However, a few years later I saw someone trying to get on a bus with a TV. Again I think it was an old style 14 inch TV, but it wasn't boxed. This time the driver turned him away, saying it was against the law to take a TV on a bus. I wondered if he was just being over-zealous, or if it actually is illegal to take an unboxed TV into any indoor public place that doesn't have a TV licence. Or it might be a safety thing.

It's certainly not illegal to carry a television on a bus, but in doing so you may be in breach of the company's terms and conditions. Here's what Stagecoach have to say on the matter (other operators will have their own policies, of course):

Conditions of Carriage

Conditions of carriage for Stagecoach UK Bus website

www.stagecoachbus.com

On services operated by buses, as opposed to coaches, we reserve the right, at the discretion of the driver, to refuse any large, unsuitable or awkward packages or an excessive amount of personal hand luggage.

...

Fragile items such as electronic goods, portable televisions, computers, radios etc will only be carried if they are of reasonable size and securely packed. We will not be responsible for damage to such items however caused.

A small telly shouldn't be an issue. If in doubt, wrap it up and use a suitable carrier bag. It'd be a different story if you were trying to lug a 50' gogglebox on to the bus!

 

[Gloster]

Not bulky but unsuitable. A lad got on the bus with a lit cigarette in his mouth, but the driver told him he couldn’t smoke on the bus so the lad chucked the still-lit cigarette on the floor. This drew the driver’s attention to the five-litre plastic container (with an old shopping bag stuffed in where top should have been) that he was carrying. The driver asked him what was in the can. When the lad said it was petrol for his motorbike he was told to get off sharpish. A short argument ensued with threats of the police before the lad exited.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

A lot will depend on the driver you meet on the day. Also, as @cadder toad mentioned, it depends how busy the bus is likely to be.

In the past I have managed:

• As a student, at the end of term, more than I could comfortably carry.
• A pack [8 sticks?] of 2x1 timber presumably of 6 foot length [model railway purpose] - that required laying down the aisle of the first bus - a midibus and there were no other passengers; and propping in the corner against the luggage rack on the second bus - except the woman sat in the aisle seat wouldn't move her shopping so I could sit in the window seat and hold it safely!
• A lawn mower - new and boxed so handle folded down - chose early Sunday morning so I would be coming back from town when everyone else was going the other way.
• Two wooden folding chairs and a flat pack set of wood slat shelves - at the same time.
• Several times large cardboard boxes from work to home - of the well built type that computers / monitors come in.
• A flat pack DVD/CD cabinet - note the word cabinet not a simple rack. That is probably the last bulky item I have tried.
• Most recently a bundle of bamboo canes - not bulky but 2.1m long, they just fit on the bus height-wise, my comment to the driver being - glad I didn't buy the longer ones.

The final point being key, ask the driver nicely, 'can I get on your bus with this box/package/bulky parcel please?' or 'do you mind if I bring this 'x' on the bus, I'll sit by it and hold it firmly'.

i would suggest that anything the size of a pram, wheelchair or electric scooter ought to be acceptable if the space for those things is free, and perhaps if you make clear to the driver that you will get off if that space is required by its proper user.

Nowadays I would have bulky things delivered - Argos tends to have most things and their delivery is cheaper than the bus fare.

 

[Citistar]

I once took some exhibition display boards (approx 5ft x 5ft x 1ft) on a couple of buses to get them to an event i was working at (about 20 years ago). The driver on the country bus i came in to town on barely batted an eyelid, but i don't think the driver of the town bus i went three stops across town on was too impressed. The damned things were so bulky, i could barely walk with them, otherwise i'd have carried them across town!

 

[AY1975]

Some time in the early to mid 1970s my parents managed to take a rolled up carpet home on the bus. This was a London bus, probably a Leyland Fleetline, and they even managed to get the carpet through the automatic fare collection turnstile that many London Transport one-person operated buses then had.

A friend of ours had a less fortunate experience in the 1980s. She lived in a village served by a route that was mainly worked by Leyland Nationals (which I think usually had a parcel rack by the front door) but occasionally by Bristol REs (which I don't think had this facility, or at least the dual purpose REs with coach type seats didn't).

This friend of ours was buying a chair from a furniture shop or antique shop and was going to take it home on the bus, as I think her husband was working that day and needed their car for work. No problem, she thought: she would be able to put the chair on the parcel rack.

Unfortunately I think the bus that she was going to catch was a dual purpose RE instead of a Leyland National. The driver turned her away and said "I won't have my bus used as a furniture van." So I think our friend had to phone her husband to get him to come and pick her up, or get a taxi.

 

[Eyersey468]

As a driver I had no issue with people bringing boxed things on the bus, an unboxed TV isn't allowed for safety reasons, obviously things like petrol aren't allowed. We aren't meant to carry tins of paint but if it was clearly unopened I would ask them to put it in a bag. Now I am on National Express the majority of luggage goes in the lockers anyway.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Some time in the early to mid 1970s my parents managed to take a rolled up carpet home on the bus. This was a London bus, probably a Leyland Fleetline, and they even managed to get the carpet through the automatic fare collection turnstile that many London Transport one-person operated buses then had.

A friend of ours had a less fortunate experience in the 1980s. She lived in a village served by a route that was mainly worked by Leyland Nationals (which I think usually had a parcel rack by the front door) but occasionally by Bristol REs (which I don't think had this facility, or at least the dual purpose REs with coach type seats didn't).

This friend of ours was buying a chair from a furniture shop or antique shop and was going to take it home on the bus, as I think her husband was working that day and needed their car for work. No problem, she thought: she would be able to put the chair on the parcel rack.

Unfortunately I think the bus that she was going to catch was a dual purpose RE instead of a Leyland National. The driver turned her away and said "I won't have my bus used as a furniture van." So I think our friend had to phone her husband to get him to come and pick her up, or get a taxi.

What she needed, was one of these:

00833 - NS 5452 - 20 Aug 1965

Explore Busman Extraordinaire's 89585 photos on Flickr!

www.flickr.com

00834 - NS 5452 - 20 Aug 1965

Explore Busman Extraordinaire's 89585 photos on Flickr!

www.flickr.com

Photographs show a specially bodied bus operated by Sutherland Transport & Trading Company in north-west Scotland featuring a passenger saloon at the front and a secure compartment at the rear - in this case for contracts to transport Royal Mail.

 

[Ken H]

I took a 4 foot house plant on a tram in Brussels.

But replying to the above, did any of the drivers attempt to charge you for bulky items?

This from Leeds City Transport 1973 timetable

 

[Ediswan]

As a driver I had no issue with people bringing boxed things on the bus, an unboxed TV isn't allowed for safety reasons

Is that a rule from when TVs had CRT tubes ? Breaking one of those was definitely a hazard (implosion). A modern TV screen does not have that risk. Are unboxed tablet computers allowed ?

 

[Baxenden Bank]

I took a 4 foot house plant on a tram in Brussels.

But replying to the above, did any of the drivers attempt to charge you for bulky items?

This from Leeds City Transport 1973 timetable

No charge levied on any of mine - and there were more occasions than those listed, that's just the more memorable ones. In the student example the driver jokingly said 50p [or whatever] for parcels as I struggled on, but I knew him.

Proper buses had proper luggage areas of course, under the stairs on rear entrance double deckers for example. Leyland Nationals had the basket racks over the seats, useful for school bags etc. Back in the day more people travelled by bus and the number of 'unusual loads' would be greater.

 

[AndrewE]

I remember a surreal trip on a Swansea double-decker when local kids kept boarding with surf-boards! Nobody turned a hair.
We were going to 3 Cliffs Bay (I think) to meet the friends we were staying with, who had gone on ahead with our children in their car.

 

[Eyersey468]

Is that a rule from when TVs had CRT tubes ? Breaking one of those was definitely a hazard (implosion). A modern TV screen does not have that risk. Are unboxed tablet computers allowed ?

I guess that is when the rule dates from and has never been changed I see no issue with an unboxed tablet computer

 

[RT4038]

Proper buses had proper luggage areas of course, under the stairs on rear entrance double deckers for example. Leyland Nationals had the basket racks over the seats, useful for school bags etc. Back in the day more people travelled by bus and the number of 'unusual loads' would be greater.

And every year the question of Xmas trees would rear its ugly had......

 

[Bletchleyite]

Is that a rule from when TVs had CRT tubes ? Breaking one of those was definitely a hazard (implosion). A modern TV screen does not have that risk. Are unboxed tablet computers allowed ?

Modern TVs still have a large glass screen which could cause injury if it broke (typically much larger than CRT days).

I have taken a tower style PC on a bus unpackaged but it was years ago (late 90s).

Best one I have seen (also late 90s) was a guy loading a sailing boat mast onto a bus at Caenarfon. He got on and laid it down the aisle as if it was the most normal thing in the world, with no objection from the driver.

I think you see a lot more "silly" stuff in London than elsewhere, partly as car ownership is lower but partly also because drivers tend not to get involved in things happening on board.

 

[randyrippley]

If you've ever seen how much damage an imploding CRT tube can do, you'd understand why an old TV wasn't allowed on the bus.
The glass travels at quite a speed and can cause severe cuts or blindness.
You really wouldn't want to run the risk of one being dropped or broken in a confined space, or in a crash

 

[wibble1989]

As long as the gangway / stairs and emergency exits are clear when it's stowed, crack on

 

[Geordie driver]

When I was a kid I used to buy old TVs from a shop that specialized in selling ex rental units, they weighed a ton (valve models) and I used to carry them home on the bus, never had a problem.

Once had a gang get on a bus I was driving with an entire tree, including the roots, that they had drunkenly pulled up and decided to take home with them. It was midnight on a Saturday, I kept my head down and kept going.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I've taken quite large IKEA flat-packs home on the bus before, not as crazy as some of the items listed above.

Best I've seen was a jazz quartet using the 71 from Surbiton to Kingston... along with their instruments in cases: two large saxophones; a small (by harp standards) harp; and a double bass!

 

[alxndr]

Earlier this week my partner and I got the bus from Ikea with two rucksacks, a pillow, a lightweight piece of board, and a boxed set of Alex desk drawers (package size 60 x 11 x 81 cm and 28 kg). The driver gave us a bit of a strange look, but there was no attempt to stop us.

We had more odd looks using a series of shopping trolleys get from Ikea, through Sainsburys, and across the rest of the retail park without taking any of them too far from home and having the wheel lock kick in.

 

[dazzler]

I've taken quite large IKEA flat-packs home on the bus before, not as crazy as some of the items listed above.

Best I've seen was a jazz quartet using the 71 from Surbiton to Kingston... along with their instruments in cases: two large saxophones; a small (by harp standards) harp; and a double bass!

I used to regularly take my tuba and sousaphone on buses - not both at the same time mind. Before the advent of wheelchair accessible buses with a nice wide doorway, it used to be "interesting" wriggling the tuba case through the doorway with a vertical handrail in the way!

 

[GusB]

I used to regularly take my tuba and sousaphone on buses - not both at the same time mind. Before the advent of wheelchair accessible buses with a nice wide doorway, it used to be "interesting" wriggling the tuba case through the doorway with a vertical handrail in the way!

My ex used to put buses and coaches into two categories: tuba-friendly and not tuba-friendly. The centre pole was definitely a problem when the instrument was in its hard case.

 

[londonbridge]

I’d had a new fence installed in my back garden, got on the bus with a large tub of fencelife/woodstain, driver argued I shouldn’t be bringing it on board, I pointed out it was brand new and sealed/unopened as I’d only just bought it, he eventually let me on but obviously wasn’t happy.

 

[lachlan]

A small TV would probably fit in a suitcase (I carried my 27 inch monitor this way, though I use a monitor arm which was detached) so if the driver is funny about it then hiding it in a case is an option.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I’d had a new fence installed in my back garden, got on the bus with a large tub of fencelife/woodstain, driver argued I shouldn’t be bringing it on board, I pointed out it was brand new and sealed/unopened as I’d only just bought it, he eventually let me on but obviously wasn’t happy.

Paint and similar definitely are not allowed due to the severe damage they can cause to the bus if they are dropped and burst open. Though as with most things there isn't exactly an X ray machine on board, so if you camouflage it sufficiently (e.g. in a supermarket carrier) nobody is going to know.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Paint and similar definitely are not allowed due to the severe damage they can cause to the bus if they are dropped and burst open. Though as with most things there isn't exactly an X ray machine on board, so if you camouflage it sufficiently (e.g. in a supermarket carrier) nobody is going to know.

Is the correct answer.

Apparently paint needs to be double protected, so sticking it in a bag meets the requirements. Not entirely sure how that prevents any accidental spillage seeping out though. The real test is are you going to hold on to it tightly [best on the floor and using your legs] or just sit it in the luggage rack or on the seat beside you to fall off if the bus brakes sharply or corners a bit fast. There was a case, some years ago now, about an elderly gentleman in Cardiff who was refused boarding and the official response was that if he had put it in a bag that would have been fine. Each company will have slightly different rules however.

I have probably done tubs of fence paint on the bus because they are quite heavy and too much to carry even though I live within walking distance of B & Q. 20L bags of compost was another regular item, if you sort of kung-fu it and fold it you can get it in one in those sack cloth shopping bags. The risk is liquid run-off through the air-holes in the bags. But I only bought in summer when it had dried out and therefore weighed much less!

The heaviest single item I can think of was a 20kg sack of concrete, which again fitted in a sack cloth shopping bag. On the walk from the store to the bus stop the bag started ripping. From the bus stop to home the bag shredded almost completely [and seemed heavier by the second] but I made it. Never again though as I've bought a collapsing sack trolley and trundle up the street with things like that.

 

[Glasgowbusguy]

I do seem to remember a bus firm in Glasgow getting in to trouble after allowing a cooker on board , iirc it was mccolls