Turnaround point

The place where a bus that has reached the terminus changes direction and waits until its next departure. Unlike a depot it does no storage or maintenance; it exists so that services can turn around safely at the end of a route and head back.

What a turnaround point is

A turnaround point is the place where a bus that has reached the terminus changes direction and waits until its next departure. A bus, unlike a train, cannot shift its driving position to the other end, so the end of a route needs somewhere the whole vehicle can safely be turned around. Where turning on the road itself is awkward, a dedicated lot is laid out for swinging the bus about, and the driver's short break and the wait until departure time are taken here as well. Where the terminus of a route is placed depends in part on whether such a turnaround space can be secured, which means the shapes you see at the ends of a route map have their reasons.

It makes sense of the scene at the terminus

Know this word and you can start reading the meaning of what you see near the end of a route. If, having stepped off the bus at the terminus, you notice several buses standing in a row on a lot a little way off, that is a turnaround point. The place where you got off is often some distance from the boarding point for the journey back, and it is easy to be left wondering where to catch the return bus; but knowing how turnaround points work, you can reason that the departure boarding point must be elsewhere and go looking for the signs. That is how you avoid the mistake of waiting on at the alighting spot and missing your bus home.

Buses waiting at a turnaround point may also be sitting there with their doors shut until departure time. Not moving does not mean the service is canceled: when the hour comes the bus will pull up at the boarding point and start carrying passengers, so rather than panicking, check the timetable and the boarding point signs. Worth remembering too is that passengers usually cannot enter the grounds of a turnaround point, and that boarding and alighting always take place at the boarding point along the road.

How it differs from a depot

A turnaround point and a depot are both places where buses stand, but their roles differ. A depot is a base that handles storage, inspection and maintenance, and buses come home to it once the day's work is done. A turnaround point, on the other hand, is somewhere a bus merely turns and waits partway through its working day, with no maintenance function at all. By analogy, the depot is the house and the turnaround point is a waiting area at the turning point. Draw that distinction and the movements of buses at the end of a route fall neatly into place.