Today I was on a 176 from Waterloo which unexpectedly terminated at Dulwich Library.
The driver chose to communicate this message by turning the lights on and off a few times.
Having recently learnt (after living in London for several years) that this is not just an electrical fault, but is in fact bus driver code for 'bus terminating here for no apparent reason', I was able to tell a confused old lady and family that they needed to get off.
Am I the only one puzzled and annoyed by this bizzare and utterly unprofessional behaviour?
Why, oh why, can't the driver just tell the passengers over the intercom what's happening and why?
And while we're on the topic, why do buses suddenly terminate at Dulwich Library at all?
My guess is that at certain busy times there are so many passengers wanting to get on a bus from central London that if the bus company sends half of the buses (which are about half empty by the time they reach Dulwich Library) back into central London, they can shift more passengers overall, and this is actually quite a sensible and efficient system.
But why, oh why, don't they make any effort whatsoever to explain this to angry passengers?