Londoners on the tube are not...

[blaeberry]

Living up to their stereotype. We are visiting London with our three primary aged kids travelling round by tube. Every tube train we have been on so far (over a dozen) we have had people offering us their seats, saying 'hello', helping us with directions, standing back to let my kids sit down. It might be obvious we are visitors but other than that there is nothing special about us. I thought Londoners on the tube were meant to be a grumpy lot but turns out they are nearly all very friendly.

I travel in London a lot and noticed a massive change on the tube pre and post 7/7 bombings to be honest. Obviously based only on my own experience but ive found people more willing to look up from their paper and interact since.

This is a nice thread! It makes me sad when people say that Londoners are rude (missing the irony of what a rude thing that is to say!). I always give up my seat / help people with bags / thank the bus driver.

hester A friend had an old lady do that to her recently. Old lady went mad because she refused to vacate the seat. Friend wasn't being a twat however, friend is disabled and needed the seat! I believe someone else offered her a seat in the end, but she didn't take it or the offer of assistance as she felt my friend should move . Apparently she got off the stop later too... Madness!

I don't often catch the bus but I always say thank you.

Tube is absolutely fine and majority of people are lovely even at rush hour there is a lot of helpful people about. There will be a few grumpy people about but the tube generally makes people grumpy. And I don't think most people purposely push, shove etc, its just such a crammed space and it's hard not too.

Both pregnancies if I have asked for a seat, most people will happily oblige.

'I always remember one time travelling from London to Manchester with 2 heavy suitases and a bag. I had to change 3 times on the underground and at every station someone would offer to help with my bags, one kind soul ended up carrying one up about 3 flights of stairs as an escalator was out of order. Once I got to Manchester, no one helped at all. Not one person batted an eyelid at me struggling away. So much for Notherners being more friendly/polite! (And I am a Northerner before the North/South debate starts!)'

Mileend I did this half a dozen times a year, with a baby, buggy and backpack. My experience was exactly the same each time. Loads of help in London, sod all in Manchester.

I think you'll find it different at rush hour.

One of the scarier things I've done in London was trying to shepherd two young children between Waterloo tube station and our mainline train during the peak of the rush hour - there are plenty of commuters who would actually prefer to walk through or over a young child than around them :-/

Admittedly we don't visit in rush hour but other travellers often offer the dc's seats on the tube or shuffle up so they can sit together.

I agree. I often travel to London with my elderly disabled Mum and dc one of whom has SN and i have never ever not had someone offer to help with bags on the tube or train stations. Every single time i have had buggies lifted, bags carried etc.

The only time i have had a bad travel experience was when i jumped on the bus in the middle doors (i had only ever been on the new ones were that was ok) and didn't realise it was not one and got publically bollocked and absoloutley screamed at by the driver.

Cheers Drive must be said when you get off the bus in Cardiff.

I love London, visit as often as I possibly can. I'm always conscious, as a tourist, of not travelling at peak times, and always always always make sure to keep to the correct side on the escalator, and just generally not getting in the way of people travelling for work, or whatever, because I am in no rush. Ive never encountered anyone rude, and the odd time I've had to ask someone working at the stations, about something, they have been more than helpful.

When I was pregnant and in pain I always got given a seat - and if noone offered I would ask and several people would stand.

I have never once struggled down the steps with my buggy without a kindly soul coming to help.

I think people go about their day and can't be friendly to everyone, but as soon as someone needs a hand kindness shines through.

I now make an extra special effort to pay it forward.

I once offered to help a man who was pulling two suitcases, when he came to a smallish flight of stairs, at a tube station.

He politely declined, and then I realised he was with a female partner, who was happily letting him do all the work.

Awkward!

I agree with most of what has been written here. Londoners are generally a fairly polite lot, but in a city of 10m there will always be exceptions.

I do wish tourists would be a little more considerate. I work near a major tourist attraction in a work area (St Paul's). Every day I get stuck behind groups slowly strolling blocking the entire pavement (foreign school groups are the worst), people mooching around blocking the door to my office and everyone takes photos from the back of the pavement (I duck or wait most of the time but there must be a couple of photos every day of me instead of the cathedral). I like that they are enjoying the city and I know I'm lucky to work in such a lovely place but a jot of awareness of what is going on around them wouldn't be bad.

Mistigri I'm a seasoned commuter and that would scare me, too. I think I would piggyback the smallest and get the biggest to hang on to my coat tails and make like an icebreaker, but it wouldn't be fun. Commuters just don't look below chest level.

Even for my 7yo, I still need to hold out my arm protectively so people don't run into her when it's busy.

I imagine that most commuters the word over are fairly grumpy whilst commuting. They, understandably, just want to get where they are going and are usually working to a deadline. Getting delayed behind a group of dithering "tourists" could make them miss oa train and be late.

Londoners are only really grumpy on the tube if you are not following the commuting rules (let people off the train first, move down the carriage, don't put your bags on the seat etc, etc).

I know some people moan about it, but it's a valuable form of social control which keeps London moving and running smoothly and helps everybody get where they need to go.

I've lived outside London for 10 years and I do miss it. I was trying to get on a relatively busy tram yesterday and even though there was loads of room inside all the people on there were just standing gormlessly looking at the people trying to get on and not moving down. Even when I got on, I managed to move a little further down, but it was pointless, because the next girl down just stood looking at the space and not moving into it, apparently incapable of making the link between the people who couldn't get on and the whacking great space in front of her.

They never, ever let people off the tram first and start trying to push on. And my personal bête noire is people who take literally one step off the tram, then stop and sort their bags and coat out right in front of the doors and all the other people who can't get off because they're in the way! How I miss being allowed to just shove them out of the way! They hold up trams, delay people and it's bloody infuriating. And it never stops, in London few people do it because they know they'll just be shoved out of the way.

A lot of people around here moan to me about how rude people are on the tube in London because if they try and get on before people get off they get pushed back out or if they won't move up the carriage people shove past them. And I'm like, 'Yes, they're being rude to you because you are being rude and inconsiderate to other people.

So I hope Londoner's keep on being grumpy, they're doing a great job.

And breeeeeathe. Can you tell I had a stressful commute this morning.

The commuter rules in London are the only way that millions of travellers in a short time-frame can keep flowing. So if you visit, you ought to be aware of them, if only by observing the behaviour of fellow passengers and emulating it.

booyaka totally correct. If we stopped following the rules, London would grind to a halt!!

I know it's unavoidable to travel with children during the rush hour but it can be frustrating when you miss a connection by 15sec because someone is standing in front of the barrier looking for their tickets etc.

Tourists can be incredibly inconsiderate but we live/work in an amazing place so easy come easy go blood pressure back to normal as I'm in work now

I think it depends when you're travelling. Outside of rush hour I would think that people in the tube are not in such a hurry and have more time for pleasantries. I regularly travel the tube in rush hour and although I've experienced no rudeness, it does tend to be every man or woman for themselves.

That was my experience in London aswell OP. In fact, DD seemed to attract a lot of lovely attention, although I'm not sure why. She's tiny for her age (104cms even though she's 6.5!) and had her hair in plaits at the time and wears lovely glasses.

Whenever we got on the tube people just started chatting to her and pretty much the whole carriage was looking at her and smiling. We got engaged in so much conversation with some very lovely people. It was DD's first trip to London and whenever anyone asks her what her favourite thing was, she says 'the tubes and the escalators', even Hamleys didn't come close to her experience of the tubes .

When I took my elderly mother on the tube people instantly offered her a seat.

I agree with everything that's been said. In my experience, tourists are ruder - I always think they've heard Londoners are rude and feel they have to outdo them (like the woman who shoved my 5-year-old into the road last week because he didn't start to cross fast enough - I was not happy!). Also the absolute worst I think are the Brits who aren't Londoners but think they know how it works - they're always the ones shoving to get on the tube or stopping to get their ticket out at the barrier.

How do you know a Londonder from someone else, particularly a commuter Kathy? I can spot a tourist but otherwise wouldn't know tbh.

I live in London and I thank the bus driver if we get the chance.

I will report back and tell people they are no being rude enough! Spoiling tourists experience of our culcha!