Batman
Member
Here's a couple of things I've noticed recently about the way people behave on overcrowded trains and how you can tell experienced commuters from other travels.
Firstly, on an evening peak train where almost all passengers board at a single principle station, regular commuters instinctively avoid standing in front of the train doors once it has stopped in order to allow alighting passengers to leave the train. Therefore it's easy to tell infrequent travelers apart from regular ones.
Secondly, once boarding has started, there are always a small number of passengers who will walk towards to doors on the other side of the carriage and make no attempt to find a seat, even if they're the first to board at their set of doors. This is OK if only one or two people do that and you're boarding a train with wide door areas such as a 170, but when significant numbers of people do this, it blocks the isles so that passengers wishing to find a seat have to fight through a crowd. I've even seen people board crowded trains in the evening peak at Birmingham New Street just before the advertised departure time when the door area is packed to capacity with a look of disappointment on their face as the assume the train is full (hence why people are standing by the doors), only to realise seats are available a few minutes into the journey before any passengers have had the opportunity to leave at the next station.
Am I the only person who has noticed this?
And on my second point, do people think that some commuters have a habit of doing this either because they simply can't be bothered to look for a seat or because they see it as an act of selflessness and don't want to deprive other passengers of a seat?
Firstly, on an evening peak train where almost all passengers board at a single principle station, regular commuters instinctively avoid standing in front of the train doors once it has stopped in order to allow alighting passengers to leave the train. Therefore it's easy to tell infrequent travelers apart from regular ones.
Secondly, once boarding has started, there are always a small number of passengers who will walk towards to doors on the other side of the carriage and make no attempt to find a seat, even if they're the first to board at their set of doors. This is OK if only one or two people do that and you're boarding a train with wide door areas such as a 170, but when significant numbers of people do this, it blocks the isles so that passengers wishing to find a seat have to fight through a crowd. I've even seen people board crowded trains in the evening peak at Birmingham New Street just before the advertised departure time when the door area is packed to capacity with a look of disappointment on their face as the assume the train is full (hence why people are standing by the doors), only to realise seats are available a few minutes into the journey before any passengers have had the opportunity to leave at the next station.
Am I the only person who has noticed this?
And on my second point, do people think that some commuters have a habit of doing this either because they simply can't be bothered to look for a seat or because they see it as an act of selflessness and don't want to deprive other passengers of a seat?