Missed the Bus

The Hero, often an Unlucky Everydude, is relying on the bus/train/space shuttle to take him to his destination. In Fictionland, nine times out of ten he'll arrive too late. To rub some salt into the wound, he might get there just in time to see it leave.

In a mundane, slice-of-life series, it can mean as little as having to walk to work or school. In more dramatic works, it can have dire consequences, especially if The Hero is left stranded somewhere (or when).

A common variant is taking the wrong bus, which could get you just about anywhere.

All that matters is that the character misses his ride, no matter how hard he tries. Can also involve ensuing hilarity.

Not to be confused with Put on a Bus.

Anime

 * In Saki, the girls from Nodoka and Yuuki's old school try to reach the prefectural finals to cheer on their upperclasswomen. They miss the train, catch the train in the wrong direction, fall asleep in the train and miss their stop... and arrive at the finals just before Nodoka's turn to play. Which also means they missed Yuuki's turn for several hours.

Comic Books

 * In the Trinity comics, 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.

Film

 * Blind Chance is probably the Trope Codifier for "Character misses the bus, character's whole life is changed".
 * In one of his famous cameos, Alfred Hitchcock can be seen narrowly missing his bus in the establishing shots of North by Northwest.
 * Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius The Movie: 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.
 * The opening of the Spider-Man movie, has Peter Parker chasing a bus down the street. Even the bus driver is in on it, since he's chuckling along with the Jerkass students and gets annoyed when when Mary Jane asks him to knock it off.
 * The eponymous Watermelon Man "misses" the bus on purpose — he races it to work every day.
 * The film Sliding Doors is based on the difference it makes to this woman's life whether she gets or misses a Tube train.
 * In The Adjustment Bureau, Matt Damon was supposed to miss the bus. The problem lies in that he didn't.

Literature

 * In Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets, blocks Harry's access to Platform 9 3/4, causing him and Ron to miss the Hogwarts Express and take alternative transport. Hilarity Ensues.
 * The Graveyard Book: Scarlett ends up at the graveyard after missing her bus and taking the wrong one.

Live Action TV

 * Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide: One episode dealt with the theme of buses in which Cookie and several other students miss their bus and have to find other ways to get to school.
 * The Banana Splits had a sketch wherein they would run and shout, "Hold the bus!"
 * In the pilot episode of Smallville, Clark Kent misses the school bus, causing the other kids to laugh at him. He shrugs and uses his Super Speed to get to school first.
 * Power Rangers Lost Galaxy manages to combine Missed the Bus with Put on a Bus: Because actor Jason Narvy left the series to attend college, Skull sleeps in and misses the departure of Terra Venture.
 * The West Wing episodes 20 Hours in America have Josh, Toby and Donna miss the motorcade in Indiana, being stuck with a broken down truck, missing Air Force One due to time zone changes and getting on a train heading in the wrong direction, all so Donna can teach Josh and Toby a lesson about not losing touch with the real people they work for.

Music

 * The hip-hop duo Kris Kross had a song aptly titled "I Missed The Bus".
 * The Buzzcocks song "Something's Gone Wrong Again" includes the lines 'Nothing ever happens to people like us. 'Cept we miss the bus'.

Newspaper Comics

 * One of the many Running Gags in 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.
 * The title character of Crankshaft takes a sadistic pleasure in ditching kids when they're running to catch up to his school bus.

Stand-Up Comedy
"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."
 * Bob Newhart had a sketch on Bus Drivers' School, where the drivers go to learn how to pull out just in time.

Tabletop Games

 * One quest in Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 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.

Web Original

 * Cartoon Network once had a Cow and Chicken 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.

Western Animation

 * The SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Rock Bottom" has SpongeBob and Patrick board the wrong bus and end up in the eponymous town.
 * In the episode The Abrasive side Spongebob misses the bus by doing favors for people.
 * A recurring occurrence on The Simpsons is for Bart & Lisa to miss the school bus. Once Bart's missing the bus eventually led to him 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 Speed 2 with a bus instead of a boat.
 * 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.
 * Fairly Oddparents: "A Mile In My Shoes" starts with Timmy missing his bus walking all the way to school in the rain. Just the beginning of his bad day.
 * Mucha Lucha: It happened at least twice with the Three Mascaritas.
 * The first episode of My Dad the Rock Star 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.
 * One episode of The Flintstones had a bus stop being moved into another location, forcing Fred and some girls to chase after the bus. Wilma believed the girls were chasing Fred.
 * Mighty Mouse had an episode where he offered a ride to a student who missed the bus.
 * In the Family Guy 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 episde, "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!