The people on the bus are ... of diverse personalities

Forward-minded people tend to sit at the front of the top deck, according to Dr Tom Fawcett of Salford University, the independent-minded in the middle and those with a rebellious streak at the rear.

He came to his conclusions after watching people on hour-long bus trips between Bolton and Manchester.

His research would appear to indicate that companies which spend large amounts on psychometric tests to ensure they recruit the right people are wasting their money.

All they need to do is jump onto public transport.

Dr Fawcett, a lecturer on mental toughness who has helped train Olympic athletes, said there were definite patterns in people's behaviour depending on where they sat.

He said: "With something as habitual as getting on a bus people may find it surprising that their choice of seat can actually reveal aspects of their personality."

He concluded that bus passengers fell into seven distinct groups.

Those at the front on the top deck are generally forward thinkers and those at the back are rebellious types who do not like their personal space being invaded, he found.

Sitting in the middle are independent thinkers - usually younger to middle-aged passengers more likely to read a newspaper or listen to a personal music player.

On the bottom deck at the front tend to be gregarious meeters-and-greeters while those in the middle are "strong communicators". Travellers who automatically head for the rear downstairs are said to be risk-takers who like to sit on elevated seats because it makes them feel important.

He defined a final group as chameleons - travellers who do not care where they sit because they feel they can fit in anywhere.

He did not say what happened to forward thinkers on a single-decker bus - presumably they wait for a double-decker.

Dr Fawcett said the study was an "observational" one.

He said: "It was carried out as an observational survey - we noted people's body language and whether there was any interaction with other passengers, if they were sociable or withdrawn or even anti-social."

Buses have long been thought of as vehicles for social observation and not only a means of getting from A to B.

The 19th century journalist Walter Bagehot, who edited The Economist, coined the phrase "the bald-headed man at the back of the Clapham omnibus" to describe a normal Londoner.

The phrase was later used in legal cases to describe what a hypothetical, reasonably intelligent, middle-of-the-road person might think.

Later Loelia Ponsonby, the third wife of the Second Duke of Westminster, stigmatised those who have to use them by saying that "a man who, beyond the age of 30, finds himself on a bus can count himself as a failure."

Political legend wrongly attributed the quotation to Lady Thatcher.

Despite the subsequent damage to their reputation, our affection for these mobile communities remains strong, to the exasperation of the likes of motoring journalist Jeremy Clarkson.

Boris Johnson's nostalgic election pledge to bring back the traditional Routemaster models in a modern form, and banish Ken Livingstone's bendy-buses "to an airport in Scandivania", arguably helped him become mayor of London.