Etiquette on overcrowded trains

[calc7]

How short is too short for someone to stand? For example from Lodnon Victoria - Clapham would you sit even if there are loads of seats?

Probably. You never know what might happen...

 

[londonbridge]

How short is too short for someone to stand? For example from Lodnon Victoria - Clapham would you sit even if there are loads of seats?

Usually if I'm making an Underground journey of only a few minutes or two-three stops I'll stand-for instance if I go Victoria-Oxford Circus.

Took part in last years London Marathon and after finishing and warming down I made my way to the tube to go home,was only going two stops,tube was full and a bloke started shouting 'come on,somebody give this man a seat',despite my insistence that I didn't want one!

 

[table38]

...'come on,somebody give this man a seat',despite my insistence that I didn't want one!

I remember offering a lady with a walking stick a seat but she said because of her condition, it was more comfortable for her to stand!

(She was very nice about it though, so at least I wouldn't feel less likely to offer again in a similar situation in the future)

 

[island]

How short is too short for someone to stand? For example from Lodnon Victoria - Clapham would you sit even if there are loads of seats?

Given that trains to Clapham leave from Leeds, not Victoria, I can only answer this in theory, but my general standing limit with seats available is around two stops on a suburban service, or a bit under ten minutes. Longer if there are only middle seats though.

 

[maniacmartin]

Given that trains to Clapham leave from Leeds, not Victoria, I can only answer this in theory, but my general standing limit with seats available is around two stops on a suburban service, or a bit under ten minutes. Longer if there are only middle seats though.

I think GodAtum meant to say Clapham Junction...

 

[LE Greys]

How short is too short for someone to stand? For example from Lodnon Victoria - Clapham would you sit even if there are loads of seats?

With my leg, I'd sit if it was Stourbridge Junction-Stourbridge Town.

 

[big_dirt]

On an overcrowded train, I never take a seat as they become available. As a thirty-something able-bodied male there is always someone more deserving than me.

My pet hate is when people stand politely aside to let the alighting passengers off and then start to board. At that point someone is trying to get off 10 seconds later than everyone else.

Other peeves, when you get to a platform and a train is waiting to depart and the person in front, always a woman, gets on and just stops dead in front of the door. Once in the past my momentum carried me in to one woman's back and she gave me a hell of a ticking off. This was on the Victoria Line.

On my daily commute on Thameslink, I am lucky that the majority of travellers don't understand a declassified first class service and, while I don't get a seat, there is more breathing space in the first class carriage.

And a bit of etiquette at a busy station should be "If you don't understand technology then stay away from the TVM and go to a ticket counter instead!"

 

[stut]

Oh, another one that annoys me...

If someone gets off a packed-to-the-gunwales train to let other off, let them back on before you pile in yourself!

Additionally, if you're waiting in a busy crowd to board a train, and it doesn't stop quite where you expected, don't walk backwards blindly towards the doors, there will be someone in "your" way.

Another fun one is when you have to push past people to get on the train, because they're all waiting for a different one. Yes, I know it's going to Aldgate, so am I!

 

[island]

And a bit of etiquette at a busy station should be "If you don't understand technology then stay away from the TVM and go to a ticket counter instead!"

I wholeheartedly agree, but someone will be along shortly to point out that the ticket counter has probably been closed due to cutbacks.

 

[transmanche]

Cardiff Trolleybuses were designed that way with a conventional platform and stairs at the rear and another set of stairs at the front leading to a power operated sliding door. Passengers entered at the rear and exited at the front. Simples.

Thankfully nearly all London buses still operate a similar system: get on at the front, get off in the middle.

 

[LE Greys]

The problem with getting on slightly early is that one doesn't always notice somebody who is a bit late, then (having stood aside) one steps forwards, and so does everybody behind, so it is impossible to step back again. Having been effectively shoved off when trapped against a door, having to get back on again can be a bit awkward as well. The moral of the story may be 'Travel on the rush hour Tube at your peril!'.

Thankfully nearly all London buses still operate a similar system: get on at the front, get off in the middle.

Same with the artics in Aberdeen, but that is universally ignored.

 

[chuckles1066]

Thankfully nearly all London buses still operate a similar system: get on at the front, get off in the middle.

Alas, as a rail newbie back in the winter of 2010/11, I mooted such a suggestion to cut down on the time trains were sat idle waiting for the sweaty masses to embark/disembark.

One door per carriage for boarding, the other for alighting.

My post and the responses are probably archived here.....they make sombre reading......people wouldn't understand the concept, they'd refuse to comply with it......all good stuff.

 

[reb0118]

I think GodAtum meant to say Clapham Junction...

Clapham was a junction is the dim & distant past

 

[ert47]

I agree with skimbleshanks the railway cat that this is most annoying. It is prevelent on buses/tube/trains I'm London. I did in fact assume it was people who didn't want to sit in the seats due to perceived germ/hygiene reasons?

As Im in my mid-20, I generally stand and rarely sit as I tend not to be going too far. As my station is usually the first stop from London, I aim to stand nearish the door to get out the station at the other end as fast as possible - I dislike walking slow.

Thankfully nearly all London buses still operate a similar system: get on at the front, get off in the middle.

Or get in at the front, and then congregate around the exit.