h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

For a short ride over 2-3 stops I might say "Bye" if there was no one else around and if I was passing the driver on getting off, but the last time I travelled by bus, I was alone on the bus, had told the driver where I wanted to get off, had stood up and rung the bell just before we got to the stop, and he still didn't stop and let me off until 2 stops past mine. Thanks? He was lucky I didn't complain to the municipal bus company.

Where my mother lives, the bus into town goes once a week. She used to take it, but my sister organises her a taxi now for her fortnightly hairdresser visits. The bus driver knew all his passengers, and she used to tell of the jolly ride with a handful of other bus-pass holders, where the driver stopped practically in front of their houses and not only at the designated stops. But they would all have been octogenarians and all well brought up, so I'm sure there was a general waving and some parting greetings when someone got off. I'll have to ask if they also thanked the driver, though. After all, as Bluebottle says, he was only doing his job.

By the same token, a waiter or waitress are "only doing their job" - but I still thank them if they have been polite, friendly and efficient.

Incidentally, anyone interested in the Beer & Bus Weekend, the website is: http://iwbeerandbuses.co.uk/home.php - my experience last year can be seen here: A87880062 You get a free pub crawl to 80+ pubs all around the Island on classic buses dating back to the 1930s. Great fun.

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I automatically say thank you to the driver, except once when the driver was very nasty to me for no reason. In Thurrock it is a tradition to say thank you to the bus driver.

I've noticed people thank the driver on our guided busway - you have to pass the driver to get off. I feel it's polite, but the degree of cheerfulness/enthusiasm I display varies according to how pleasant & helpful I think they've been.
It's similar to airplanes where the staff line up to see you off - it's courtesy to acknowledge they're there & at least smile & nod to them.

Why do people applaud when an aeroplane lands, yet don't when a hovercraft lands?

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Hovercraft dont fly as high as the average jet

Hovercraft fly at least as high as the height of a parked jet.

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There are eels in my hovercraft.

The pilot of a plane is someone whose skill helps ensure that everyone gets where they're going alive. That merits thanks, I think.

If a pilot is behind a sealed cockpit door, presumably he or she can't actually hear the so there seems little point in it. It's like on occasion I've been in cinemas where, at the end of the film, one or two people start applauding. Why? The filmmakers aren't here.

In any case, how is flying an aeroplane from A to B without killing everyone different from driving a , train, car ferry, hydrofoil, catamaran or hovercraft without crashing it?

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I was just about to mention the applause in the cinema thing. It's plain silly.

Also, I had a horrible apartment with horrible neighbors. And when our local basketball team was playing the Lakers for the championship, for a "threepeat", they would loudly cheer and applaud the plays. This was really annoying on the away games on Pacific time, running well past midnight.

"how is flying an aeroplane from A to B without killing everyone different from driving a bus , train, car ferry, hydrofoil, catamaran or hovercraft without crashing it?" [Bluebottle]

The scale of disaster resulting from a crash is different. Airplane crashes routinely have massive mortality. A bus crash, if it occurs at low speed, can have minimal injury and no deaths at all. But still I like the idea of thanking the driver/pilot. You got to your destination in one piece.

Do people applaud when an airplane lands?
I've never experienced that. I could understand if there's been some crisis narrowly averted, but not normally.

I guess thanking the driver of one's vehicle, if you pass them, is courteous, much the same as thanking a shopkeeper/clinician/hairdresser/deliveryman etc or applauding at the end of a show.

Ah, so what you're saying is that if more ferry journeys resulted in the pilot colliding at high speed with oil tankers (not that unlikely when there's an oil refinery in the comparatively narrow Southampton Water) and high death rates, more boat journeys would conclude with a ? Mind you, I do say to the cabin staff when disembarking as it is polite.

But perhaps it is because on some low-cost airlines, as soon as you land they play a loud fanfair and start congratulating themselves.

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Applauding in the theatre at the end of a show makes sense as they can hear you. Applauding or thanking someone who won't ever know one way or the other seems unlikely to achieve much.

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We all applaud when our train arrives at Waterloo on time.

Well, I think we do - I can't actually remember if it ever happened.

You must have been the only one onboard not to have fainted with the shock.

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Okay, if they are applauding themselves, it might be hard to add your congratulations. But I haven't encountered that scenario. Also, if I weren't on trips where I paid exorbitantly for a ticket, I'd be less likely to applaud. The pilot gets paid to fly a plane, so you could reason that, absent performance above and beyond the call of duty, nothing more is required of passengers,

But saying "Thank you" costs you nothing and takes a second or two. I don't want to split hairs....