I knew I'd have a late start today. I couldn't sleep last night and when I woke up at 7am (after snoozing for about 50 minutes) I was moving very slowly.
I also knew I wouldn't likely get to school until 10am, so I figured I'd have to be in my office until at least 6 if not 7pm.

So, might as well make this a bus day.

I'd forgotten that today is a local holiday in Aberdeen.

What this holiday is celebrating, I don't know...but sure. Holiday.

Which means holiday bus service.

The 1/2 bus service is meant to run every 10 minutes. They are never correct in running time to the printed schedules. This doesn't matter when they are on regular schedule. If you miss one, within at least 15 minutes, you'll be on your way.

On holiday service, they run every half hour.

By a feat of luck, I arrived at the bus stop only 5 minutes before the bus was to arrive.

So, I wait.

And wait.

Aaaaannd...wait.

20 minutes after the printed time for the bus to arrive, finally it pulls up. I'm irritated, but I can deal with it.

The 1/2 bus is the most frequently used bus service in Aberdeen. Even at off hours there are at least 7 people on each bus. (Unlike other services which carry no one at off peak on occasion.)
I know that there are many things that can get the bus off schedule.
1) Traffic.
2) Unexpected large numbers of people getting on/off.
3) Riders with out of the ordinary circumstances (prams, wheelchairs, non-English speaking foreigners, those needing instruction about how to pay or where the bus goes).
4) Bus breakdown.
5) New driver/errors en route.

Now, with the 6 bus, most of those reasons can be ruled out. There isn't a lot of traffic on the 6 service route, there is rarely more than 4 people getting on/off, and it's an out of the way route, so the only out of the ordinary circumstance would be prams/wheelchairs (and some of the buses they use aren't equipped for either on the 6 service, so there's rarely any of that sort of thing).
I've not yet seen the 6 breakdown, though it's possible with lots of the older buses making the route, but I have seen drivers forget where the route should go.

With the 1/2 buses, all can apply. Holburn, Union, and King streets are the busiest in Aberdeen, both for cars and people taking buses. The buses are equipped for prams/wheelchairs and they route is better marked for tourist use, so delays are likely.

Therefore, I get aggravated when the 6 bus is 20 minutes off schedule, but I can live with the 1/2 being that far off. Especially when there are only 2 buses an hour. That increases the delays involved with reasons 2 and 3.

So, when the bus arrived, I'd spent the waiting time reading the library book that needs returned today and wasn't fussed about the delay.

At the Castlegate stop, a man got on the bus and spent 2 minutes (I checked :) ) berating the driver for being late.

You'll never read this, Mr. Man, but realize that it's people like you who make the bus even later. Cut the driver some slack.

Just get on, sit down, and shut up. If you have a complaint, that's what the First office is for. Maybe they'll even think you're funny there.

Or not.