An American tourist has shared a series of culture shocks they’ve experienced after moving to Australia, with our bus system apparently being too difficult to understand.
Sammy K, an exchange student in Sydney, shared several videos of her bus related mishaps, dubbing the system a “disaster”.
She captioned the video “American moment so sorry” before sharing her “luck” with getting on buses in Australia.
“It’s simply us versus the Australian bus system today,” she said in the video.
“First day studying abroad, the joys of travelling. We’ve been trying to catch this god damn bus for an hour.”
“First of all it wasn’t at the stop it was supposed to be out — we got directed to a different stop.”
“As we get there we literally walk up to the bus to get on. The bus driver will not look at us, will not open the door and drives away three minutes early before it even supposed to leave,” she explained.
“We wait for 20 minutes, our next bus does not even stop.”
The woman continues to document her misfortunes in several other videos, where she continues to miss every single bus she waits for.
“Bus four — us zero,” she comments on the situation, “One day I will figure it out but for now I will chronicle every time I miss it (the bus).”
A follow up video explained why the American tourist kept missing buses while in Australia.
“Me before I learned you have to signal for your bus to stop,” she wrote, with her mouth wide open from shock.
In Australia passengers must signal for a bus in order for it to stop.
Sammy’s videos have racked up thousands of views, starting a debate online.
“Some will pull over, but a lot don’t because people who aren’t catching the bus tend to linger around bus stops,” a person wrote.
“Nah as an Aussie I still sometimes expect it to just see me and stop and it doesn’t dw (don’t worry) girl,” another person chimed in.
“It clearly says in small print on the bottom right of the timetable ‘signal driver’ how do they expect people to see that.”
A third person wrote: “Listen I’ve been living in Sydney my entire life and I still struggle sometimes so don’t worry!”
While another proposed a reason as to why buses don’t stop: “Sometimes it’s cause they’re full and letting you on wouldn’t be safe.”
When waiting at designated bus stops for boarding, Aussies and tourists should hail (signal) the driver by waving or placing their hand directly out with the intention to make eye contact with the bus driver.
It is recommended to do so once the traveller sees the bus approaching.
Originally published as ‘Disaster’: American tourist shocked by Aussie bus system
