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Bus conductors (also referred to as conductors, or clippies) were a common feature of many bus services across Europe until the late 1970s and early 1980s. The main reason two-person crews were needed was that most towns and cities used double-decker buses for urban services. Until the 1960s, all double deck vehicles were built with front-mounted engines and a "half-cab" design, such as the familiar
AEC Routemaster The AEC Routemaster is a front-engined double-decker bus that was designed by London Transport and built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and Park Royal Vehicles. The first prototype was completed in September 1954 and the last one ...
London bus. This layout totally separated the driver from the passenger saloons. The conductor communicated with the driver using a series of bell codes, such as two bells to start (the well-known "ding-ding"). Many half-cab double-deckers were boarded from an open platform at the rear, while others were equipped with a forward entrance and staircase and driver-operated doors. Each case required a conductor to collect fares and, especially on the rear-entrance design, supervise passenger loading and unloading. Some bus services in the late 1960s and early 1970s experimented with later-model forward entrance half-cab double-deckers—removing the conductor and having the driver sell tickets, as on the rear entrance buses that were common by that time. The hope was to have the benefits of one-person operation without the cost of replacing vehicles that still remaining service life. This idea was soon scrapped and the buses reverted to conventional conductor operation.


Demise

In the late-1950s, new double-decker bus designs appeared that provided higher capacity, with the engine compartment at the rear and the entrance door by the driver. From July 1966, UK transport regulations were changed to allow operation of urban double-deck buses by the driver only, who could now collect fares and supervise all passenger loading and unloading. Some municipal operators adopted rear-engine bus designs and "one-person operation" quickly, others more slowly. More conservative municipal operators continued to order new half-cab buses through the 1960s, but this type of vehicle ceased production in the UK by about 1970. This was accelerated by a UK Government grant that supported the purchase of "one person operated" vehicles, but was not available for purchase of traditional half-cab buses. Through the 1970s, the proportion of urban bus routes operated with conductors declined, as older vehicles were steadily replaced with new buses equipped for one-person operation, and operators grappled with staff shortages, rapidly increasing costs and falling usage. Hull Corporation Transport, an early pioneer in one-man-operation, became the first municipal bus company in Britain to phase out conductors in 1972.


Modern usage


China

Bus conductors are still existing on some articulated buses in
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
, such as route 1, 2, 5, 300, 347. However, these bus conductors do not take responsibilities to sell tickets, their duties are mostly supervising on-boarding passengers of fare collection like inserting note and coins, or card swiping.


Britain and Ireland

By the early 1980s, bus conductors were largely obsolete in all cities except
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
. Two-person crews continued to operate a number of bus routes in central London until late 2005, well beyond their demise in the rest of the country. This reprieve for conductors was due to continued use of the famous Routemaster bus. The Routemaster was purpose-built for London conditions and remained well suited to the busiest routes in the most congested parts of central London. This was because of its maneuverability, fast passenger loading/unloading capability, and fare collection by the conductor instead of the driver. The Routemaster construction was of high quality, the design robust, and mechanical and body parts could be easily rebuilt and refurbished. Importantly, the "traditional red bus" is also a unique tourism icon for London, instantly recognisable around the world. Though the majority of bus services in the London metropolis (and all routes outside the central area) have been operated by modern driver-only vehicles since the late 1980s, twenty regular routes retained Routemasters and their conductors. Between 2003 and 2005, all of these were progressively converted to
low-floor Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...
modern vehicles and one-person operation. The process was largely driven by political views on disability accessibility and was encouraged, to some extent, by the increase in litigious passengers claiming injuries due to the Routemaster's open rear platform. There were also increasingly frequent robberies and attacks on conductors, who could find themselves working in an isolated and vulnerable environment. The last regular Routemaster-operated service was on route 159 from
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to Streatham. Conductor operation finally ceased on the 159 on 9 December 2005. However, heritage bus routes utilising the Routemaster were introduced that year, these numbered route 9H and 15H. Route 9H was withdrawn in 2014, whilst route 15H was withdrawn at the end of the 2019 season, after having been reduced to summer weekends only. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, there was a revival in conductor operation on buses in the UK with the development of the FTR routes in
York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
,
Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...
and Swansea. As of 2020 however, these have all been withdrawn. Conductors also returned to London in 2012 with the introduction of the
New Routemaster The New Routemaster, originally referred to as the New Bus for London and colloquially as the Borismaster or Boris Bus, is a low-floor diesel double-decker bus operated in London, England. Designed by Heatherwick Studio and manufactured by W ...
. Some of the routes served by the New Routemaster did not have conductors, so the service were driver-only operated, in which the driver controlled the three doors of the bus. The role of the conductor was to ensure passengers validated their
Oyster card The Oyster card is a payment method for public transport in London (and certain areas around it) in England, United Kingdom. A standard Oyster card is a blue credit-card-sized stored-value contactless smart card. It is promoted by Transport ...
as they board the bus and supervised passengers using the open platform. These have since all been removed and buses now run one-person operation with the open platform closed out of use. Stagecoach Strathtay used conductors on
Tayway Tayway is a bus (and previously rail) service between Dundee and Arbroath in Scotland. The service started in November 1980 and was operated jointly by Tayside Regional Council, Northern Scottish and British Rail. It included an integrated ...
service 73 from Arbroath,
Carnoustie Carnoustie (; sco, Carnoustie, gd, Càrn Ùstaidh) is a town and former police burgh in the council area of Angus, Scotland. It is at the mouth of the Barry Burn on the North Sea coast. In the 2011 census, Carnoustie had a population of 1 ...
and
Monifieth Monifieth is a town and former police burgh in the council area of Angus, Scotland. It is situated on the north bank of the Firth of Tay on the east coast. In 2016, the population of Monifieth was estimated at 8,110, making it the fifth larges ...
to
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. In September 2020, however, Stagecoach announced their intention to withdraw their final conductors from this service resulting in 31 redundancies. The operator attributes this to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
and its resultant drive towards
contactless payment Contactless payment systems are credit cards and debit cards, key fobs, smart cards, or other devices, including smartphones and other mobile devices, that use radio-frequency identification (RFID) or near-field communication (NFC, e.g. Samsung ...
.
Quantock Motor Services Quantock Motor Services is a privately owned bus operator in Bishops Lydeard, Somerset, England. The company operates a substantial heritage fleet for private hire and on route 300. History Rexquote, a transport engineering business in Bish ...
in Somerset operates the service 400 'Exmoor Explorer' using crew-operated vintage open-top buses.


India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Qatar, and Sri Lanka

In India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Qatar, and Sri Lanka bus conductors are almost always present inside the buses throughout the journey. Government bus conductors may communicate with the driver via a bell, whistle, or by shouting, "right!" (''Aa right'' in south India). Private bus conductors use whistles or just shout to the driver. It is also common practice for conductors to clap their hand firmly on the outside of the bus as a signal to the driver that all passengers have boarded and the bus is good to go. Indian actor superstar Rajinikanth began acting in plays while working in the Bangalore Transport Service as a bus conductor.


Mauritius

Buses in Mauritius are operated with both a driver and a conductor. The bus conductor's job is mainly to collect money and hand out travel tickets to the passengers.


References

{{commons category, Bus conductors Bus terminology Transport occupations