History Main / MissedTheBus

* ''WebVideo/NotJustBikes'': In a video reminiscing about his hometown he talks about just how inconvenient missing the bus was given how infrequent the service was set up to be, if taking the bus to work missing a bus ensured you were late because of how long it would take to wait for the next one.

* One of the many {{Running Gag}}s in ''ComicStrip/{{Blondie}}'' is Dagwood running after the bus when he goes to work. Recently, he switched to a car pool... which he misses just as often.

* Inverted in ''Film/TheAdjustmentBureau''. Matt Damon's character was ''supposed'' to miss the bus. The problem lies in that he ''didn't''.

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* In the ''Trinity'' comics, [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Clark Kent]] notes that the trains in Metropolis are always on time -- and that he makes a point of missing his train at least three times a week. Why? Because nobody would ever associate a guy who can't catch the morning train with a hero who's faster than a speeding bullet.

* The film ''Film/SlidingDoors'' is based on the difference it makes to this woman's life whether she gets or misses a Tube train.
* Inverted in ''Film/TheAdjustmentBureau''. Matt Damon's character was ''supposed'' to miss the bus. The problem lies in that he ''didn't''.
* ''Film/TommyBoy'' opens with [[AMinorKidroduction a young Tommy Callahan]] missing his school bus (and being mocked by [[VitriolicBestBuds his friend Richard Hayden]]), before [[AgeCut switching to the adult Tommy]] missing the bus as a college student.

* ''Literature/TheGraveyardBook'': Scarlett ends up at the graveyard after missing her bus and taking the wrong one.

* ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'' manages to combine MissedTheBus with PutOnABus: Because actor Jason Narvy left the series to attend college, [[ThoseTwoGuys Skull]] sleeps in and misses the departure of Terra Venture.

* In episode "Lucky Penny" of ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', Ted missed a plane to Chicago for a super important job interview. He thought it was his destiny to make it and get his dream job. He and Robin contemplate what lead to them missing that flight. Had Ted got that job, he would have had to eventually relocate to Chicago. This way he stayed in New York and met his future wife.
* In the ''Series/KeepingUpAppearances'' episode "Sea Fever," Hyacinth and Richard miss the departure of the [=QE2=], due to Hyacinth's poor directions when trying to avoid congestion on the motorway. She even runs up to the dock as the ship is leaving and shouts for it to stop.
* ''Series/GrangeHill'': The original opening titles (which resemble a comic strip) begin with a girl running after a bus as it pulls away, meaning she will be late for school.

* The Music/{{Buzzcocks}} song "Something's Gone Wrong Again" includes the lines 'Nothing ever happens to people like us. 'Cept we miss the bus'.
* The Music/{{Arctic Monkeys}}' Mardy Bum includes the lines "And yeah I'm sorry I was late / But I missed the train and then the traffic was a state"

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBananaSplits'' had a sketch wherein they would run and shout, "Hold the bus!"

[[folder:Stand Up Comedy]]
* Creator/BobNewhart is convinced there's a school where bus drivers learn to purposely close the doors and pull out just as someone is running to catch the bus. Pulling out just slowly enough to give them the false hope they can catch it is even better.
-->''Notice how he slammed the door right in her face that time? That's going to take a little practice, but before long you'll all have the hang of it.''
[[/folder]]

* ''[[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown]]'', or at least the revival.

* ''VideoGame/CrashTwinsanity'' invokes this when Crash Bandicoot ties a blimp owned by [[BigBad Cortex]] to a school bus for use as an anchor, but it floats away anyway.
-->'''Cortex:''' My airship! Without it, ''we're stranded''! (Tie it to something secure, I said.) Hurry [[DaddysLittleVillain Nina]], or you'll miss the bus.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
** The episode "Rock Bottom" has [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick board the wrong bus and end up in the eponymous town. Then when [=SpongeBob=] tries to leave, he keeps missing the bus. Over and over.
** In the episode "The Abrasive Side", Spongebob misses the bus by doing favors for people.
* A recurring occurrence on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', especially for Bart & Lisa to miss the school bus.
** The early version of the series' intro had Bart steal the sign from a bus stop while riding by on his skateboard, resulting in the bus passing right by the waiting crowd of people standing there, forcing them all to chase after it.
** Once Bart's missing the bus eventually led to him [[ItMakesSenseInContext being tried as the head of the Springfield Mafia]].
** Marge once tried to catch up with the bus. Otto the bus driver thought Marge was trying to race him and Milhouse commented it looked like ''[[Film/Speed2CruiseControl Speed 2]]'' with [[Film/{{Speed}} a bus]] instead of a boat.
** In "Trilogy of Error", Lisa misses the bus to school on the day of the science fair. She desperately tries to get to school to show her project and keeps failing.

* ''WesternAnimation/MuchaLucha'': It happened at least twice with the Three Mascaritas.
* The first episode of ''WesternAnimation/MyDadTheRockStar'' featured Willy missing the bus on the first day of class. However, since he still hadn't been registered as a student, he probably wouldn't have been allowed in.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Road to Rhode Island", Brian and Stewie's cross-country adventure begins with the two of them missing their flight home because someone stole their bags (and their tickets). The later spiritual successor episode, "Road to Europe", has a strange variation of this: they fail to get ''off'' the plane before it takes off, AND ''it isn't even the right plane!''

* WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes: ''8-Ball Bunny'' begins with an ice show packing up and leaving an engagement in the big city. A beat or so after the trucks head off, a performing penguin rushes out from the stage entrance and tries to catch them.
* ''WesternAnimation/AroundTheWorldWithWillyFog'': As in the [[Literature/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays original novel]], Fog and his companions arrive in New York too late to catch the ship on which they planned to sail to England. However, unlike their counterparts in the novel (who arrive forty-five minutes after the ship has sailed) they reach the dock just in time to see the ship pulling out to sea.

* The main character of ''The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight'' misses her flight by four minutes and has to wait multiple hours for the next one. As a result, she meets the love of her life who also has to catch the flight she is waiting for.

* The first episode of ''WesternAnimation/MyDadTheRockStar'' featured Willy mising the bus on the first day of class. However, since he still hadn't been registered as a student, he probably wouldn't have been allowed in.

** Episode "Trilogy of Errors" has Lisa miss a bus to school on the day of science fair. She's desperately trying to get to school to show her project and keeps failing.

* Bob Newhart had a sketch on Bus Drivers' School, where the drivers go to learn how to pull out just in time.
-->"Notice how he slammed the door right in her face that time? That's going to take a little practice, but before long you'll all have the hang of it."

* ''WesternAnimation/JimmyNeutronBoyGenius TheMovie'': Jimmy misses the school bus, which gives him the perfect opportunity to test out his new bubble transport system, which doesn't work out well.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Creator/CartoonNetwork once had a ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'' game where Cow and Chicken had to make it to the school bus on time and avoid entering a bus that had the Red Guy for a driver.

* One quest in ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'' has you chased by a werewolf and just missing a tram that would have taken you to safety. It's four minutes before the tram will be back, and in the meantime, the werewolf is still chasing you.

* In ''VideoGame/ShogoMobileArmorDivision'', Sanjuro tries to catch a train to cross Maritropa to meet with Kura, but he ends up missing it and having to take an alternate route. [[spoiler:By the time he reaches her, the CMC has closed in and captured her]]

Can be avoided by RacingTheTrain. Not to be confused with PutOnABus or WithAFootOnTheBus, very different tropes.

* ''Film/TommyBoy'' opens with [[AMinorKidtroduction a young Tommy Callahan]] missing his school bus (and being mocked by [[VitriolicBestBuds his friend Richard Hayden]]), before [[AgeCut switching to the adult Tommy]] missing the bus as a college student.