The desire to enhance the attractiveness of public transit services constitutes a factor of development as well as innovation in this field. Such a motivation is typically aimed at improving the performance of systems while holding costs under control. Against this backdrop, we have analyzed a docking assistance device installed on conventional articulated buses and placed into operation in two of France's metropolitan areas. This analysis has targeted the impact of such a system on the bus driving activity, in order to evaluate the extent to which the device actually provides assistance versus the constraints it is capable of introducing for the driver, along with the potential ensuing risks. Results reveal that both the system set-up conditions and environmental characteristics (in particular movements of the roadway's other vehicles and bus passengers) serve to determine the system's capacity to function as a real assistance tool or, on the other hand, to create an obstacle to implementing effective and safe driving techniques.