Moogie

I'm not vindictive or anything, but it seems quite poetic to have a school bus stuck behind me, waiting to pass after all the times I've been stuck behind them while driving.

donnamb 

I know what you mean.

tsl

Amazing! Around here, school buses are the arrogant bullies of the road.

If a mirror goes sailing past my head only inches away, it's bound to be a school bus. Usually once a year, a cyclist is killed beneath their wheels. They took a year off last year, so I'm being particularly careful this year--they have to make up for it.

ItsJustMe

My only problem with the school busses around here is that they're too timid. I had one that was going to turn right into the high school this morning; he hung behind me for about 1/4 mile. This was on a road with hardly any traffic and a dead turn lane in the middle (shared left-turn lane that is rarely used, and easy for people to use as a passing lane).

About 10 minutes earlier I had one hang behind me for about 300 feet because he had a stop to make just ahead.

centexwoody 

My route to work takes me past the high school where the big yellow buses arrogantely assume their size means they can drive anywhere they like - pulling out in front of me, turning in front of me, etc. When I've caught up to one of them, the toothless driver grinned and laughed when I asked about pulling out in front of cyclists.

At the end of my commute when I ride onto the college campus, the university shuttle buses are coming in on my route, me in the bike lane, them on the 2-lanes of the boulevard. At the stop sign where they must turn right, they've been pulling INTO the bike lane & blocking it while they turn. I banged on the side of one of them last week & yelled at the driver for being in MY / the BIKE LANE. He apologized & said his manager TOLD them to pull into the bike lane at that intersection to stop cyclists from coming up beside the buses. Turns out that a bus hit a bike several years ago when the (idiot) cyclist blew thru the stop sign, went straight & the bus turned right. So now all the buses swerve into the bike lane at the intersection.

I sent an e-mail to the campus transportation director asking if bus policy was actually to do this. There has been no response. But this morning I pulled up to that same campus stop sign & the bus was politely in its own lane. I turned right, the bus turned right & we all arrived safely.

ItsJustMe

Actually, given the lack of visibility, I can't say it's a completely dumb idea to have a bus take up the bike lane if they're turning right.
You'd have to be pretty stupid to actually want to pull up on the right of a bus that was turning right anyway, so I don't see what the harm is. I'd be hanging on his back corner until he completed his turn anyway.

Around here, the bike lane is between the RTOL and the straight lane. But you have the bad situation in shared RT/straight lanes.

Actually there are few bike lanes around here, and when they are there I stay out of them at intersections; they scare me. Semis, busses, construction equipment, etc don't scare me, but bike lanes I avoid when I'm at intersections.

bmclaughlin807

If you consider the bike lane just another traffic lane, the bus SHOULD do this. In some places it's the LAW. They're required to merge into the bike lane before turning. This especially puts the onus on them to make sure the bike lane is clear before merging into it to make a turn.

cwodave

Satan drives a school bus.

MrCjolsen

It helps to know the driver, their passengers and all the passenger's parents.