That's utterly ridiculous!
..how long before they go for the ultimate in stealth and turn the headlights off too?
Indeed.
I've recently heard from the county council and the bus company is now being watched, and I've been asked to report any and every bus seen that isn't displaying a route number, or when my local bus doesn't turn up (I can hear and see it pass my house).
The bus company was asked why it hadn't run a number of services and it came back to say a driver had called in sick, but has now given me and the council assurances it won't happen again and was a 'one off' (a lie, as it happened many times/days) but the council has stated that it expects them to run as they're part funded by the council. Inspectors will be (apparently) out to check for compliance in the weeks ahead.
Of course, the council might end up doing sod all (as I suspect) but I have noticed since being told this that all the buses seem to be running and showing the correct number front, side and back.
Maybe some desperate swapping around of buses and driver shifts to satisfy me perhaps?
Does this operator have electronic destination displays or traditional blinds? To be able to see what is showing when altering it from the inside you do need to turn the lights off, remembering to turn them on again afterwards. A distraction such as a passenger and regrettably gets forgotten. Some buses do seem rather dim inside, not helped by the anti glare light at the front.
There could be a multitude of reasons for a bus running through with 'Not in service' on the displays such as running set down only after disruption to make up time or coming out of service due to a fault with the vehicle or the driver needing to finish at the earliest opportunity, or route learning. Like all jobs there are a few who do not apply themselves fully as per your assumption.
Given the age of the bus in the video, it's probably blinds. And the drivers usually only ever set the front and maybe the side on these. The rear will be blank, a random number or something like 000.
They do have a number of buses with electronic boards. Some don't fit the windows properly so part of the number gets cut off. One has a display that scrolls backwards. Many are extremely faded and hard to read in bad weather or when the sun is strong.
These often don't have the rear dot matrix displays working, and sometimes the sides don't work either.
Uno HAS said it intends to get them all fixed/replaced 'at huge cost' so perhaps they are under increasing pressure from the authorities. For some time now, they've had an awful lot of buses going around - even fairly new ones they've obtained from ex-London use - with numbers on bits of paper. NOT acceptable.
The Not in Service thing is quite common. If I walk two stops on to have more buses to choose from, I am standing opposite the bus garage. As such, I see a LOT of buses coming out, and there are often buses leaving with not in service on the display. Now, many of these will be out of service until they start, but some of those start from my stop and I've had to tell the driver many times, who has said something along the lines of 'oops' and set it up there and then.
I've also missed a bus twice because of it, as I didn't flag it down and only after realised it was my bus. Now I have to wave at them, and if they stop they were meant to be in service. If they drive on, pointing up, they were genuinely out of service. It's like a fun game, I'd sooner not have to play.
Another thing I often 'have' to do is politely remind a driver that the destination on the board is the wrong one (i.e. the return route) and they comment on how nobody else seemed to notice. Usually it's obvious anyway given the direction of travel, but not at ALL locations where you have a stop that buses for either direction stop at.
I just think it needs a bit more practice for drivers to get used to setting and checking things correctly before every journey, as a train driver or pilot would do.
Finally, while you might not believe it, I am always as nice and polite as possible to drivers. I might be pointing out their errors, but they're usually apologetic and many then go on to tell me how 'well, it is Uno' and other jokes at the company expense. I bet staff morale is really high there!