How to catch a bus

If you read the Twitter feed of local operators like Stagecoach East Scotland it may seem like a lot of buses are delayed by mechanical problems or roadworks, or they just don't turn up, or they speed past waiting passengers...

In reality problems only happen with a tiny proportion of journeys - but it is worth being prepared for when things do go wrong.

• look the timetable up on the operator's own website

• don't rely on other websites that may be out of date - even bustimes.org  and Traveline Scotland  and even "95 Crail Bus" can be wrong!

• don't rely on printed timetables - they may be out of date - especially since Covid as operators seem to have stopped distributing printed timetables

• don't rely on what it says on notices on the bus stop - when Covid happened bus times changed frequently and local councils who are responsible for the signs at bus stops couldn't keep up with the changes - if you are lucky the bus stop tells you to look on the internet - if you are unlucky it has an out of date timetable that will cause confusion - Fife Council have put new timetables on bus stops since the timetable changes of 7th November 2022 but it's always worth checking the date on any notice on the bus stop before relying on it

• do you need to catch an earlier bus to make sure you get where you are going in time

• is there a later bus that you can catch if the bus you want is missing

Try not to rely on catching the first bus of the day - that is the one where they are most likely to discover problems with the bus and have to organise a replacement vehicle.

Try not to rely on catching the last bus of the day - if things go wrong with this one there isn't a later one you could catch instead.

Stagecoach suggest that you should get to your departure stop around 5 minutes before the scheduled bus time. Some long distance operators such as Megabus or Scottish Citylink suggest even longer - 10 or 15 minutes ahead of your departure time.

In some of the larger bus stations it can take that long to find the stance where your bus departs.

Buses can depart early - though it is more common for them to depart late. If you get chance, observe buses ahead of needing to catch one to see how early and how late they can be. (What happened to my bus? can be useful in seeing what happened to previous buses up to as much as a year ago...)

In Fife if your bus stop has the letters "TP" in black on a yellow background somewhere on the Bus Stop sign facing the bus driver then it is a "Timing Point" and if the bus is early the driver should wait until the timetabled departure time. But even here this depends on what time it says on the driver's watch or other time source - with modern buses with electronic ticket machines talking to central computers the time the driver knows can be very accurate, but things can go wrong.

In big cities there can be several bus stops near each other and your bus will only stop at one of them - make sure you are waiting at the right one. You can typically use Google Maps, or  similar online mapping site to find which bus stops are associated with which bus route - bus operators like Stagecoach often have similar online maps - but I find https://bustimes.org/ a useful resource for checking exactly which bus uses which stop - especially useful in big bus stations like Glasgow Buchanan: https://bustimes.org/stops/60903720 

Express and Limited Stop buses stop in even fewer places and you need to be even more careful about where you catch them.

But in rural areas you may find that there are no actual bus stop signs and buses operate a "hail and ride" system - you stand by the road in a place that is safe for the bus to stop - and when you see the bus approach you hold out your arm horizontally towards the road to indicate that you want to catch the bus. The driver will usually signal with indicator lights that the bus is pulling in to stop and you can lower your arm. You may find that one local route is prepared to do "hail and ride" but longer distance services on the same road only stop at marked stops?

In many areas there can be a number of different bus routes calling at the same stop - so it is still important to put out your arm to indicate that you want the bus you have seen and you are not waiting for a different service. Occasionally you will be waiting at a "Compulsory Stop" where all buses are supposed to stop and you don't need to put your hand out - but it's safer to treat all stops as a "Request Stop" and put your hand out to indicate your intention to the driver.

If it's wet or dark you can understand that the bus driver might not see your arm easily - so if you are planning to travel when it's dark or bad weather then it's probably a good idea to wear bright clothing such as a "High Viz" jacket. 

In general make sure you wear appropriate clothing for the weather - because if it's wet you are going to need to stand waiting at the bus stop making yourself obvious - because if not then that's when the bus will likely speed past the stop while you are hiding in the bus shelter...

On busy routes the bus might be full already and speed past you waiting at the stop no matter how madly you wave your arm! If you think this is likely to happen on your route, consider walking to a different bus stop earlier or later on the route where you might have more chance of getting on (to the bus stop before one that a lot of people get on at, or to one where a lot of people usually get off - if there is such a thing).

In most cases you will get a ticket on the bus from the driver:

Modern ticket machines are "contactless" - so the simplest way to get a ticket is to place your Pass or Credit/Debit card against the appropriate spot on the ticket machine as you ask the driver for the destination and or ticket type that you want.

Again, preparation is key, knowing where you are going and what ticket you want can save a lot of time.

If you are paying by cash the procedure is similar - but you need to beware that some operators don't give change, so in those cases it's handy to have a pile of small change in your pocket to make up the fare... ticket prices can usually be found online: https://www.travelinescotland.com/ can be a good source of single ticket prices.

Stagecoach have a web page where you can select the type of ticket to find its price - try starting at: https://www.stagecoachbus.com/regionaltickets/east-scotland/st-andrews-cupar-and-the-east-neuk/dayrider

But if you have a smartphone and plan to do multiple journeys where you have to pay for tickets then buying tickets on the bus operator's App in advance may be the way to go - beware that Apps are not 100% reliable and if they suddenly don't show the ticket you have already paid for then you may have to pay your fare again on the bus and retain your ticket to claim a refund from the App support team later - things are a lot easier if you have a Pass or a paper ticket... Make sure you take a note of the App support team's contact details in case you have problems.

And some types of tickets (like the One Ticket) and some bus operators (like Megabus) prefer you to buy your ticket in advance, which you show to the driver on boarding.

Special events like the 150th British Golf Open have demonstrated that they can cause major disruption to bus services - so if you know of an event that's happening during your planned journey then you may want to adjust your route to avoid the event location. And you may need to plan to travel earlier or later in the day to make sure you get to your destination in time and avoid the problems of full or late running buses.

• Your bus operator will announce any problems it knows about in advance - Stagecoach East Scotland announcements are at: https://www.stagecoachbus.com/regional-service-updates/east-scotland

• Your local council will similarly make announcements in advance - Fife Council notices are at: https://www.fife.gov.uk/kb/docs/articles/roads,-travel-and-parking/roads-and-pavements/legal-ordersnotices/temporary-restrictions-and-closures - there is a shorter page link at http://www.fife.gov.uk/notices but you then have to navigate menus to find the Temporary Restrictions and Closures page

• There's also a Scottish Roadworks website at: https://www.roadworksscotland.org/ - which coordinates listings of all roadworks from telecoms, gas, water and power contractors - but it's not always very accurate either in position of roadworks or dates

Beware that emergency roadworks often happen without notice.

Even planned roadworks can happen earlier or later than planned.

Assume the worst case! We have had a number of recent examples where the widely publicised dates for roadworks turned out to be incorrect and the roadworks and diversion continued well after the published completion date. On other occasions weather conditions have delayed the completion of roadworks.

Bus drivers try their best, but they don't always know the latest state of the roadworks ahead of them and may follow a planned diversion even when the roadworks are not happening - or may try to follow the normal route when the obstruction is still in place - they may have started their shift some hours ago and may not have the advantage of the local knowledge that you have or the news you have heard.

The routes that buses follow may vary from bus to bus through the timetable as drivers start their shift with one idea about what's happening and then change their ideas based on what they see on the route or what other drivers tell them - two successive buses may follow different routes - don't expect that once the road opens (or closes) that all buses will follow the same route.

It is usually the case that buses are not allowed to stop to let passengers on or off anywhere that is not on their scheduled route! (This is down to the laws around registered bus services!)

So, if you think there is a possibility that a route diversion away from your departure bus stop might happen because of real or planned roadworks - it is best to aim to catch your bus away from the diverted section of the route - walk, cycle or get a lift in a car to before or after the diversion so that either way whether the bus follows the diversion or its normal route you can still catch it!

It's easier when travelling to somewhere that might have roadworks - you may have the opportunity to see which route the bus is taking before deciding where to get off - but you need to be prepared for the driver not being allowed to let you get off the bus anywhere on the diversion route. So, you may want to decide if it's better to get off before the start of the diversion or after the end?

Stagecoach have a standard emergency plan that comes into play if the Tay Bridge is closed for an extended length of time.

One service per hour will depart St Andrews to travel the long way round across the Friarton Bridge near Perth and along the A90 to Dundee.

Usually, but not always, the bus will stop near Cupar railway station to allow the transfer of passengers between this emergency service and the express routes to and from Edinburgh and Glasgow via Glenrothes - or a change to travelling by train.

Similarly one service per hour will depart Dundee Bus Station and travel the reverse route via the A90 and Friarton Bridge to Cupar railway station and St Andrews.

The times that this emergency service runs are chosen depending on when the bridge closure happens - the full journey between St Andrews and Dundee is likely to take about 90 minutes.

Other route 99 buses will provide a shuttle service between St Andrews and Forgan roundabout via Leuchars. Other buses to Dundee will also stop short of the Tay Bridge and turn around. Any buses trapped on the Dundee side of the Tay Bridge when the closure happens may either make their way back to their normal route via the A90 and the Friarton Bridge, or may stay on the Dundee side of the river - depending on when the bridge is expected to reopen and where the bus driver is in their allowed driving hours.

Covid is still causing issues with driver availability and is still worrying many bus passengers - and Influenza caused as many people as Covid to be in hospital during the winter of 2022/2023:

• For the latest news on bus cancellations it helps to check Stagecoach East Scotland's Twitter feed - if there are a lot of cancellations they may also be listed on: https://www.stagecoachbus.com/regional-service-updates/east-scotland

• Respect other people's desire for space and safety - sit away from other people - they may be nervous about people sitting too close

• It's no longer a legal requirement, but it helps to reassure others if you wear a face covering - doing so helps to trap any virus particles that you breathe out and also any virus particles in the air that you breathe in

• Make sure your face covering covers both your nose and mouth

• Open windows to keep a good airflow - there are often handles on the tops of opening windows that you pull inwards - they can be quite stiff

• On coaches there can be overhead vents that you need to open/switch on - but on some coaches they are controlled by the driver - test this out and see what you can do to ensure a reasonable airflow through the bus that helps to circulate air and flush any virus particles through the system - you may have to wait until the bus sets off for these controls to work...

• Respect other people's desire for good ventilation 

This bit may seem obvious, but here are some thoughts anyway:

• If you are getting off anywhere other than the terminus someone needs to press one of the STOP buttons on the bus which ring a bell and light a sign at the front of the passenger compartment that says "Stopping"

• If someone else has already pressed the button for your stop, you don't need to press it again

• In an urban situation where bus stops follow quickly one after another you will find that as soon as the bus sets off from one stop someone presses the button for the next stop

• In a more rural situation you don't need to press the button until the bus is approaching the desired bus stop giving a reasonable distance for the driver to stop the bus gently

• Officially you don't need to get up from your seat until the bus has come to a halt - but it may help to indicate your intention to get off if you stand up and make yourself obvious to the driver in the mirror

• If you are getting off at a rural "hail & ride" stop that's not a common place for the bus to stop then you probably need to walk forward to the driver's cab and describe to the driver where you would like to get off

• On a coach style bus (typically used on express routes) you may find that there are not many STOP buttons so if you want to get off at an intermediate bus stop you may need to make sure that you sit near to one of the buttons so it's easy to reach when you get near to your destination

• You shouldn't need to press the STOP button to get a bus to stop at its terminus or at a Bus Station

A lot of what's on this web site is about making journeys that involve changing buses and making swift changes between buses.

But if you can plan your journey so that you have plenty of time to change buses it will make for a more relaxing journey especially if your first bus starts running late...

If one of the buses you are catching is more frequent than the other - for example the 99 between St Andrews and Dundee can run every 10 minutes during the day but the 95 between St Andrews and Crail runs hourly at best - then it's easy to plan for missing the earliest timetabled connections and to give yourself an extra 10 minutes (in this case) to allow for a late first bus and for finding your connecting bus.

But here are some general thoughts:

• Identify the bus stops you want to change at using online maps and street views

• Is there a choice of places to change - is one easier than another for any reason?

• If you are changing somewhere rural could you be waiting a long while if you miss your connection - is it better to catch a slower route that has you changing at a Bus Station?

• Is there a slower route that's direct or involves fewer or easier changes?

• If you are changing at a Bus Station there can be maps of bus stations that are useful, such as: https://levenbus.eastne.uk/bus-stations-interchanges for Bus Stations in Fife

• In a Bus Station be prepared for your bus to depart from a nearby stance rather than its proper stance if the Bus Station is busy

• Plan what to do if you do miss a connection - is there a cafe nearby if you have to wait an hour?

If you are a pessimist and you expect there to be a problem with every bus you catch then you need to plan to catch the bus before the one you need... and make sure there is a later bus on the way back than the one you expect to be ready to catch.

And that means that if you have to change buses on route you have to be there in time to catch the earlier bus.

If you have to change multiple times then this pessimism can soon add up to needing to set off hours early!

Finding the route that requires fewest changes or involves buses which run most frequently can help with this.

The tips on pages such as our Edinburgh and Glasgow crib sheets are designed for people who might want to make quick changes to speed their journeys - but they can also help the pessimist in all of us by showing how frequently another bus or alternative route is available - so maybe you only need to set off 15 or 30 minutes early to give yourself the confidence that you still have options to get to your destination in time?

Set your phone up to access information about the bus routes you want to travel on:

• Follow the Twitter feed of your bus operator so you get the news about problems as soon as possible

• Download the bus operator's App so you can see expected bus arrival times and such like

• Find the right pages on https://bustimes.org/ for your chosen routes and bus stops and bookmark useful pages including a local map page

• If you are getting too many pop-up adverts that are slowing down your smartphone think about using an advertisement blocking browser - my current favourite is Firefox Focus - or if you are looking for email and search privacy try the DuckDuckGo App

• Make sure your phone battery is well charged before a long journey as you cannot guarantee that you will be able to recharge it on the bus

• Make sure you have plenty of data left on your account as you cannot rely on getting free Wi-Fi on the bus - Stagecoach have switched off their Wi-Fi during Covid!

• A common problem is the "phantom bus" - it appears on the smartphone App with an expected time at your stop which counts down to its arrival - then as the time arrives it disappears from the App but the bus doesn't arrive. (The same problem applies on electronic displays at bus stops.) This can be caused by a number of things:

• There may be a bus on the way but it has been delayed between the last point at which it reported back to the central computer and your stop

• There may still be a bus on the way but it isn't reporting its position and the App was guessing what was happening from the timetable

• The bus may have been diverted off the route by a problem such as a vehicle blocking the road and may have missed your stop

• There may not even have been a bus - it was all an attempted guess from the timetable about a bus which never started its journey

• Another problem comes from buses reporting the wrong route number - in North East Fife since the recent timetable change there were initially a number of X60 buses reported as X58 or vice versa - only the bus position or time tells you that the reported route number is wrong - other routes have similar problems - sometimes you need to be "psychic" to work out what's really happening...

• Stay at the bus stop, because the most likely thing is that the bus has been slightly delayed

• Check alternative sources on your smartphone - the operator twitter feed - the https://bustimes.org/ local map that you have bookmarked - it might show your bus getting closer or speeding away having missed your stop - or approaching with the wrong route number...

• But if there is no sign of your bus on the map it may still be on its way - just not reporting its position

• How long are you prepared to wait?

• Have you got an alternative route you could try? - For example, walking to a different bus stop to try a different route or walking to a more popular bus stop that it's harder for the bus to bypass.

• If it's a Stagecoach bus that's missing and it's between 8am and 6pm Monday to Friday or 9am-5pm Saturday and Sunday then you could try phoning the Stagecoach contact centre on 0345 241 8000 to see if they know what the problem is...

• If there is a bus journey that you need to get right at some future date then try it out in advance

• Particularly in the case of under-22s (or over-60s) where you have a concessionary bus pass it can be reassuring and free to try out all or part of your journey in advance

• Beware that timetables may be different on schooldays and special school services might not be running on your trial journey

• But it will still help in getting used to where the stops are, how to catch the bus, how to use the ticket machine and such like

• If your journey involves changing buses perhaps you just want to travel from home to the change point, observe how and when your second bus arrives, and then return home on your original bus route - whatever you do it all helps in gaining confidence to travel by bus

• Use the ideas on our What happened to my bus? page to see how well the bus did for arrival times over recent weeks...

If you need to pay for your bus journey then it's worth looking at our Tickets page for ideas on local tickets around Fife

Stagecoach recently simplified their ticket range - they removed most return tickets and promoted their DayRider tickets instead - these tickets are actually good value - often cheaper than the equivalent return ticket would have been - they give the freedom to travel as many times as you like and change buses as often as you like during the day of issue (which is typically defined as running from 4am on the first day to 4am the next day).

• Just show the ticket to each driver as you get on the bus so they can check it covers the correct area - you may need to state your destination

• If there are problems with the bus - or there's a choice of bus route - you can get off a bus that has problems and catch a different bus without any extra cost

If your travel is all after 6pm it's also worth knowing about Stagecoach Nightrider - unlimited travel throughout Fife and Tayside (on Stagecoach buses) after 6pm for £3.50.  Other operators often have similar offers.

If you are going somewhere before 6pm but travelling back after 6pm it can sometimes be cheapest to buy a single ticket for the outward journey and then a Nightrider for getting home!