Take the lane, be visible to the bus driver in their left mirror, and they should not
pull out , from their stop, when you are passing them .

If it's not safe to pass then cars will be backed up by the bus not pulling off to the right.

then I expect calls by the car people to the bus company will be made,
so bus drivers do pull well to the right side..

Be safe , even if you have to stop.

Typically if I'm in a down turn area a bus has no chance of keeping up with me over any distance. In an area with infrequent stops, lights, etc...he's going to get by me and keep the lead. There aren't many stretches where we take turns like that, but there are a couple - and my answer is to ride harder/faster through that stretch to get past the inconvenient, slow bugger.

On the one hand I think the "it's the builder, not the material" cliche is true...on the other, titanium is the perfect bike material. No scratches, no rust, light and with a pleasant flex when made well. I absolutely love titanium, especially for hard riding commuters.

FYI - vintage titanium bikes are, IMO, one of the best kept secrets in the cycling market - you usually get a LOT of bike for a bare bottom price and the ti stuff doesn't seem to keep its value well. It always looks good and you don't have to worry much about fatigue or how hard it was ridden.

Example - a De Rosa Titanio frame that cost $4,000 in 1996 is worth about the same on the used market as a Primato frame that cost $1,500. From a depreciation perspective, used ti is a steal and the stuff looks pretty much the same as it did new. I'm amazed that more people haven't figured out the value of used ti - but that just means more for me at a decent price point!

Great post. 100% agree with that sense of "urgency". Life is too short.

Pass the bus on the left. If you've been leap-frogging with it, the "operator" will keep an eye out for you in particular. They already check their mirrors before pulling out. These are professional drivers; they know what to look for.

Also, it is worth pointing out that buses don't just "jump out." Even when they do something sudden, it is much, much slower than a car doing the same thing.

Just try to pass as far to his left as possible. That seems safer to me than to risk hitting a pedestrian. Half the time, they have iPods on and are 90% oblivious to the world around them.

Good points. I'll keep that in mind next time. TY

It depends. In my case, there are certain spots that I know that if I pass a bus and go all out because of the traffic patterns, lights, and stop distribution, I'll lose him and won't see him again. Other spots, if I pass him, we're going to be leapfrogging for a mile or more. In those cases, I use an alternate route whenever possible (if that means moving one block over to a less trafficked road or taking a different route that's a bit longer or shorter than I'd planned) because I hate breathing in bus exhuast when I'm behind him and I've personally seen what happens when a bus and a bike collide (here's a hint the cyclist never wins). On pass or two back and forth is ok, after that I'm finding a different route or biding my time until he turns off.

This is fairly common scenario on my commute. I will pass the bus on the left if the bus gets to the stop just before me (because it's likely going to be letting on/off passengers hence stopping and I'll have plenty of time to get around it before it starts back up). If the bus gets to the stop way before me, I have time to see if it's letting on/off passengers. If not (or if it appears they've all gotten on/off and the doors have closed) and there's room on the right, I'll pass it on the right (being cautious for the unexpected last second dash). If there's no room on the right to pass or there are passengers still getting on/off, I'll try to pass on the left if I feel it's relatively safe. This is riskier and I have been caught out there a few times between lanes because the bus started off before I could get around. I also factor in the timing of the light (and i've gotten used to the timing of the lights on my commute). If I know I'm not going to beat the light anyway without sprinting (and I'm not going to sprint in this kind of situation), then i've got plenty of time anyway for the bus to do it's thing without me "losing time". I rarely wait for the bus - only when there's no room to go around on either side (I'll even go up on the sidewalk in those scenarios if it appears the bus won't be leaving soon). In rush hour traffic, I typically get ahead of the busses, not the other way around (so allowing the bus to go first would only lead to repeated scenarios over and over).

+1

I love my mirror for this, if I see the bus wanting to pull over, I move over to the left edge of the lane and let him. As you say, there are lots of people on the bus.

In regards to the OP's question - I call it "playing tag with the bus". I've tweaked some of my routes so it happens less (me taking a road sans buses), but it sounds like the OP is stuck taking roads with buses. I pass them on the left, even if I have to take the other lane to do it (always seems to happen on one-way streets).

Taking the sidewalk to pass them is dangerous. Sooner or later you'll hit a pedestrian and you might be as lucky as the person up-thread who had the police rule it the peds fault.

I've toyed with the idea of pulling over for however long it would take for me and the bus to get out of phase, but I have to admit I have yet to do this. If I don't pass them on the left, sometimes I wait behind them until they get underway again, but we end up with the same problem at the next stop.

My philosophy is never to antagonize the driver of a bus you may need to board one day. Miami-Dade had to build a special road for buses between Kendall and Homestead. It was mandated to include a MUP. The MUP is horrible. All the cyclists ride in the bus way. Some just don't get it. The bus drivers are county employees and have the right of way. Sheriff Deputies are county employees too. Those bus drivers see you every day. They are all keeping a dossier on you in their minds. It's their job. I'm aware of all this and act accordingly. That's my philosophy and I'm sticking to it.

I also try to see how many more passengers are waiting to get on the bus, and if there are 2 or more, I'll pass on the lane to his left. I would say to be in the lane to his left, because he wouldn't expect someone to be in the same lane as he is when he checks his mirror to pull out from the curb.