I just have to rant about this for a minute. I was coming into work this morning on my usual route in the bike lane. I hear a loud engine revving up from behind me and speeding up. I turn my head to see this bus passing me on the left and coming inches away from me! To top it off he then slams on his breaks and pulls to the right to the bus stop!!! I have to quickly maneuver around him while looking to make sure there are no other cars in the adjacent lane! It pisses me off about his total disregard for safety...

Get the bus # and time? Report the driver for unsafe driving.

+1

The transit system and the school bus companies in my area are *very* responsive to this.

To balance, I also call them with the same information when a driver is particularly good to me.

There's a four-lane on a 5% grade hill nearby which has four intersections through it in less than a quarter-mile. Recently I hit every light on that hill. A bus driver pulled left then paced me all the way up, preventing other traffic from pulling in front of him and hence, into me. I've had issues with right hooks on that hill. He recognized the danger and maneuvered his bus to prevent that for me.

I thought that deserved an attaboy, so I called in. Needless to say, they were aghast when I told them I had the opposite of a complaint.

another +1

had this happen last week and really had to jam on the brakes. what are they feeding these guys? must be texting while driving?

I can sympathize- the shuttle buses at my college(UNM) have almost run me off the road several times this summer- I wonder if they do it on purpose or if they are just incredibly stupid.

I'm really only guessing here, but I suspect that they intentionally play chicken with bicyclists.

After all, they have to navigate a large bus through traffic with very tight timing. If they are more than 3 or 4 minutes behind they're going to have other drivers (who have to wait for their passengers) chewing on them. Repeat performances are likely to threaten their very jobs. I can sympathize with them on that. It's also easy to imagine that autos cause them trouble.

So now they come upon a bicycle. In some places, anyway, they're likely to come upon many in a given day. They're probably tempted to bully you into getting the heck out of the way.

Just to be clear, I don't sympathize with this. I'm only calling it as I see it.

If I'm correct, then this is a very good reason to report them. The ones who do this regularly and indifferently should be called on it, of course.

I've had this happen a couple of times, but I moved left in the lane as soon as the bus had passed in each instance.
Fortunately, the portion of my ride that has the heaviest bus traffic is only about 1/2 mile long, so I don't have to worry about an endless game of leapfrog.

Bus drivers, especially school bus drivers, suck. They are some of the worst, and scariest, drivers when it comes to cyclists.

My solution?

1) Get a mirror

2) Use it, and be very assertive about lane positioning.

In situations where the road width is less than ideal and there's opposite direction traffic approaching, if I see a bus overtaking me I often move to the middle of the lane, and indicate with a backward facing left palm that the bus driver will NOT be passing me.

Using a mirror, this is a routine maneuver. Without one, you're often surprised by the bus...as in the post that started this thread.

I hate getting surprised on the bike, and find that a mirror (the Take a Look), provides greatly enhanced situational awareness.

I'll chime in here: My experience dealing with buses along my route has been positive. They really seem to be aware. While using my mirror, I've seen the buses actually drift away from me ensuring there is enough room so as not to crush me into the asphalt. After the bus passes and pulls into the next bus stop,I see the driver actually checking to see if I'm there and allow me to ride by before he pulls away from the curb. I'm sure it helps that I use and wear the proper safety equipment so they can see me at 5:00 am. It also helps that I have a healthy respect for these rolling behemoths and yield the right away to them when it's appropriate.

Same thing happened to me this morning. After it stopped I passed it on the right in a two lane
road. The driver speeded up just enough to go neck and neck as she is honking at me.
Letting the cars from the previous light catch up to me in the left lane.
I became too busy to catch the bus number. Another day,same bat time, same bat channel
I'll get that ding bats' number to make it official.

Between a bus and the curb is where bad things happen. Why would you ever deliberately put yourself in that position?

It's illegal in this state to pass a bicycle then pull over and stop or make a right turn.

It's illegal in this province to open a car door in the path of a cyclist. That doesn't mean riding in door zones is safe or smart.

Heartily agreed! When I was in college I crossed the street as a pedestrian 15-20 times a day due to two major streets running through our campus. The absolute worst drivers were school bus drivers. Not only would they travel 25-30mph through 15mph school zones, but they would very rarely stop for pedestrians. (State law here requires vehicles to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks.)

Too broad a brush. My only problem with school bus drivers around where I live is that they're FAR too courteous. They'll follow behind me, blocking traffic for me, in a no-passing zone (double yellow) going up a hill, even though there's PLENTY of sightline to pass a cyclist chugging up a hill at 10 MPH, and the lane is wide enough to share anyway. I've had them stop in the middle of the road and try to get me to turn left in front of them, "being nice." I actually wish they'd stop being quite so nice, it's kind of weird.

I usuallly don't have problems with a bus. Some do tend to get pushy.

and ........................... **********?

Yeah buses can be a bother. They're often faster from A to B, but since they stop at B, I'm faster from A to C and every letter thereafter.

+100

Generally, VC take the lane zealots annoy me, but, sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

That being said, realize as has been mentioned, that they have a schedule to keep. Try to be cooperative. If you must take the lane, do so, but, it wouldn't hurt to hammer it a bit just to show the driver that you are aware you are slowing them, and you're trying to do something about it. And if taking the lane means you will hold him up a bit, why not back off a little wave him buy and maybe catch a few seconds of drafting. One of my favorite tactics is to try to time it so that I can get into his slipstream as he's pulling away from a stop. If you time it right, you can get a very easy 35-40 mph ride for awhile. Adds a bit of excitement to the ride home!!!

Buses here just pull into traffic without looking. They have yield signs on their left rear corner, which means they ALWAYS have the right of way. Breeds carelessness.

pubb

A bus nearly hit me one morrning when passing and moving towards the curb. I caught up with him at the stop light and banged on the door of the bus so I could tell him how he almost hit me. I had to yell through the door since he wouldn't open it, I was furious, I probably scared him too.