Transportation

On city buses and streetcars, you pulled a cord to request a stop.
Bus pull-cords
The cord caused a bell or buzzer to sound -- every time the cord was pulled.
Now we use "touch tape", which may ring a bell and light a "Stop requested" sign,
after which the bell won't sound anymore until after the doors are closed again.
Kinda takes away the opportunity for teenagers to be (as) obnoxious.

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There are 7 comments for this item.

Posted by MikeAAA at 5:26 am (PDT) on Fri August 23, 2019   
I moved to Las Vegas in 1998, and their transit system (didn't have to use it much) was pretty dated. I had to leave my car for service and wanted to go to a movie a couple of miles from the dealership while the car was being serviced. The dealership had a shuttle the took me to the movie.

When it was over, I got on a bus to come back to the dealership and the kind of dated bus got me there in about 15 minutes. There were lots of people on the bus getting on and off and it took a couple of minutes to notice that the bus had those cords to signal you wanted to get off. Took me a minute to figure out what they were for. But the bus was clean and got me where I needed to go.
Posted by paktype at 9:34 am (PST) on Thu January 25, 2018   
When I was a kid, the cord was usually pulled by multiple people to ensure that the driver knew they wanted to get off. Eventually the MTA installed a light hanging from the ceiling at the front of the bus that read "Stop Requested" after the first person pulled the cord. This way the driver wouldn't lose his mind and the cord and bell wouldn't break.
Posted by LoyalTubist at 8:47 pm (PDT) on Sat July 30, 2016   
We don't have anything on the city bus here. We simply shout, "Next stop, please!"
Posted by freddo30 at 10:17 am (PDT) on Thu March 24, 2016   
To my great delight the bus always stopped when I (age 3-5) pulled the cord. (of course only with mother's permission)
Just as great, our bus stop was at the fire station and I remember the fireman putting his boots on me (or me into his boots) and they actually had a dalmatian.
The downside was it meant a trip downtown to the cursed department stores to try on clothes, etc. although they still had elevators with a seated operator and wooden escalators.
Posted by Chuck Kopsho at 10:40 am (PST) on Mon February 10, 2014   
The transit buses here in San Diego always had the pull cords for as long as I can remember.
Posted by SUBSURF at 7:06 am (PDT) on Thu June 16, 2011   
Cords are returning. The newest buses in NYC have them. Transit agencys have finally realized the touch tape is more costly to maintain.
Posted by Former member at 3:43 pm (PST) on Tue March 2, 2010   
yeh i remember that went to high school everyday had to use it

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