Bus conductor

[2] In the late 1950s, new double-decker bus designs appeared in the United Kingdom that provided higher capacity, with the engine compartment at the rear and the entrance door by the driver.

From July 1966, United Kingdom transport regulations were changed to allow the operation of urban double-deck buses by the driver only, who could now collect fares and supervise all passenger loading and unloading.

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.

The main reason two-person crews were needed was that most towns and cities used double-decker buses for urban services.

In remote areas where these buses served such as in rural Ireland, conductors also had the responsibility of handling mail and passengers' luggage between stops.

[11] 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.

[citation needed] 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 United Kingdom.

The first one-person operated bus services in Dublin would commence 18 years later than planned on 9 March 1986 after CIÉ and the unions reached a settlement backed by the Labour Court in January 1986.

In retaliation, Southampton Citybus brought in ex-London Routemasters with a crew of conductors, these arrangements lasting until autumn 1989.

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.

[24] 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, Leeds and Swansea.

[27] In Brazil, the importance of public transportation in everyday life makes conductors essential to facilitating a passenger's schedule.

[28][7] In India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Qatar, and Sri Lanka bus conductors are almost always present inside the buses throughout the journey.

[citation needed] Buses in specifically Kolkata are "staffed by two conductors...[who] operate at the front and rear doors of the bus.

"[6] Indian actor Rajinikanth began acting in plays while working in the Bangalore Transport Service as a bus conductor.

Traditional British open-platform AEC Routemaster bus in 2005, operated with a conductor
In the post- World War II decades, some countries introduced seated conductors. On this double-decker bus —which operated in Vienna , Austria from the early 1960s—passengers boarded at the rear, passed the conductor and exited through the middle or front doors.
Bus conductor in Seoul , 1976