Situation: Turning right at an intersection on a green light. I am in the curb lane. There is a stopped black car directly in front of me, and then a large TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) bus, also stopped, in front of him, in the bus turnout lane. There are 6 people at the curb waiting to board the bus. The black car also wants to turn right at the intersection. I approach at about 40 kph, ready to make the right turn.
Outcome: The bus starts to turn right just as I start my right turn. It does not let passengers on. As a large vehicle it turns wide, using both lanes after the right turn, and therefore blocking the other lane, the one I was going to turn into. I am forced to stop in the intersection. Once the bus has turned the black car follows. I am forced to stop in the middle of my right turn and in the middle of the intersection. Luckily there is no traffic going straight behind me and there is no traffic turning left from the opposite direction. I follow the black car and complete my right turn.
Observation: The bus was “out of service” and would not stop for passengers. This is very rare on this stretch of road. This is not displayed on the bus so that I could see, either from the back or from the left side of the bus. The bus stopped at the intersection, even though we had a green light, in order to allow people to cross the road. This was obscured from my view by the body of the bus. I am sure the large bus, with its huge blind spots, combined with the small area of my motorcycle, did not see me at all.
Conclusion: I was impatient and my actions could have seen me bite pavement. It would have been more prudent to wait my turn, especially on a motorcycle. The events with the bus, while rare, can and did happen. There was no fault on the part of the bus or car. Next time I will wait my turn. A public bus is a large vehicle with large blind spots. It cannot see you on a motorcycle, so give it wide berth and stay well back.