I've got one with the pull lanyard which was installed by the shop. The did it differently than I thought they would. Instead of leaving the end free to be pulled like you're describing, they used the loop on the end to fasten the end of the lanyard with a metal loop (like you'd use to fasten a cable to sheet metal) to the bottom of the bus near the edge of the bus.
Instead of pulling the little loop, which is difficult to do with gloves, I just grab the lanyard itself and pull sideways. Works better than pulling on the little loop - we had that on our first bus and it was more difficult to get a good grip on.
