Travelled by train last week for the first time in years - really wish I hadn't

[coffeerevelsrock]

What a depressing eye-opener. I wanted to do the right thing and use the car less and also going to a few different parts of London is obviously easier by public transport.

I was taken aback by the lack of mask wearing on the trains. Despite posters everywhere saying please wear them, pretty much all staff wearing them and announcements encouraging their use, only a handful of people in packed trains had them on. Even on the tubes it was a minority who had them on. Last time I went in the summer (travelled by car that time but used tfl once there) it was compulsory and almost 100% take up. Now that seems to have fizzled out.

Then, on the way home, the train was cancelled and our connection was packed as three earlier trains had also been cancelled. On the packed train, I asked someone to move a bag off a seat so ds or I could sit down and the woman glared and huffed and puffed before doing so. Just so rude. In the seat across the aisle I then had to ask a young lad to move over so one of us could use the empty seat he was next to. He did without the rudeness but tbh I don't know why he didn't just move anyway - he could see how packed t was. Then a woman opposite had bags on the seat, headphones in and was looking fixedly at her book. She blatantly ignored me when I asked her to move for my other ds/someone else. WTF? You're sitting on a packed train with a bag on the seat and you pretend not to notice people are going to have to stand for 40 mins + so your bag can have a seat or so you don't have to sit next to someone??

The whole experience made me think people in this country are fucking selfish. This was on a Sunday evening - god knows what it's like commuting.

Is it always this bad and why do we have such an issue with masks here?

I get on public transport daily and rarely see anyone wearing masks anymore but I don’t care as I don’t wear one either, no one is enforcing it so people don’t care.

Sadly lots are just selfish, bags don’t pay for seats

Same. I flew in from another country yesterday and I was absolutely horrified by what’s happening here (I took a train from the airport and hardly anyone was wearing a mask!).

Most of the rest of the world have got a lid on Covid (where I’m from, we are down to 100 cases in a population the size of London - not through lockdowns, but through universal mask wearing (including in schools) and excellent contract tracing) but everyone here seems to have given up.

I understand that all the lockdowns that have happened here have left people jaded, but the mask thing is SO easy and so effective at preventing spread, yet you have a looming winter NHS crisis and nobody seems to be doing anything to stop it!

Furthermore, countries (including mine probably) are going to start closing their borders to the U.K. soon, which is not going to help the British economy, or families like mine which are split across continents.

I do understand that nobody here can be bothered any more after what you’ve been through, and I totally understand that this virus can’t be suppressed completely, but everyone in Britain seems to be so individualist that not only are you walking into a winter health crisis, but in the longer term leaving economies with a much stronger sense of collective responsibility in a much stronger position and therefore leaving the U.K. in a weaker position overall.

It’s so depressing.

When I was on the tube 2 weeks ago, nearly everyone was in a mask. The rrain to London was a different matter, but it was pretty quiet and I'm not too bothered tbh.

I use the train and the tube all the time and you're right about masks, hardly anyone bothers now.

I have to say, I have never experienced or witnessed the huffing and puffing and glaring, when people are asked to move bags etc.

At worst they just move them without mumbling 'sorry'.

@Nsky

Sadly lots are just selfish, bags don’t pay for seats

This. I think we are a really selfish society in the UK. I think like posting on social media/ even mumsnet, people are less self conscious of being openly selfish as they see no accountability.

Keep challenging people, but do take a mini risk analysis in your head as you do so; unfortunately coupled with a more selfish society, I do think there are more aggressive reactions to challenge, with children I’m far more alert to this than I used to be.

It seems odd that you spotted such an amount of seat-hogging in a small area of the train, which makes me think it was not as 'packed' as you think. Were the aisles full of standing people? Could you move easily between carriages? Did you check the whole carriage for empty double seats or check another carriage?

I think the general social expectation on commuter trains is that you have to ask rather than the bag being moved by the owner or a person shifting from aisle to window seat. Why? I'm not sure, but that just seems to be the etiquette.

In my experience on truly 'packed' commuter trains where all floor space is occupied by standing people, you do get the she-baggers and man-spreaders who risk it, but will move when asked with no fuss - I suppose they just hope nobody will ask, but won't cause a fuss if they do. It is also not uncommon to ask someone sitting in an aisle seat if the window seat is free - usually they just have a preference to be in aisle seat and will happily move to let you sit.

All these stories and threads of people being selfish arseholes boils down to one thing:

The general public are awful, selfish arseholes

This is the answer to many many different threads

The bag thing isn’t new though.

It's shit. Masks should have been left compulsory as in the rest of the UK. If you ever needed evidence that the general public actually cannot be trusted to make safe decisions, it's the number of maskless idiots in public transport.

I wear masks if the carriage is busy and try and get trains at times they wont be

The same non mask wearing people who get on the bus with me are the same ones who then proceed to cough and splutter all over the place. You are correct OP, the selfishness and entitlement is rife in this country. Up here in Scotland there are signs everywhere asking folk to wear a mask. My impression is everyone thinks the pandemic is over. People listen to all the conspiracy theorist rubbish. One of the main reasons I came off Facebook is the absolute claptrap that people whom I thought were sensible spout. Goodness knows what other countries think of us. Ive accepted mask wearing, vaccination and hand washing are what we need to do and we need to get on with it. It's all we have got. If people are exempt that's different. I am a believer in freedom of choice, but, when you make a choice you live with the consequences.

In the early days as soon as you mentioned mask wearing g on here loads of people would jump o you and tell you to mind your own business. That's how we got here.

Pre covid I used trains regularly.
I would never put bags on seats and saw it as incredibly annoying even on quiet train.

I have been using the train occasionally post covid,
I’m a mask wearer and have been pleasantly surprise by how many people have continued to wear masks, although it definitely depends on the area.

However, I will not sit next to a stranger, I have been intentionally putting my bag on the seat next to me to ensure nobody chooses to sit there and avoiding travelling at busy times so that it’s not an issue.

I’ve even moved seats if someone has decided to sit in the seats in front or behind me on a quiet train.

If the train was so busy there were no spare seats (well I wouldn’t have gotten on it to begin with, and I would probably choose to get off the train if it became that busy mid journey) but I would prefer to stand rather that have a stranger sit next to me.

Our bus route still have signs up telling people not to sit with people not in their household and that masks are mandatory, so the busses aren’t an issue.

I travel on the tube or bus most days, and the majority of staff have stopped wearing masks, despite TFL saying this is still compulsory. If their own staff won’t follow the policy, why should I?

I agree about masks though

@catblanket

Same. I flew in from another country yesterday and I was absolutely horrified by what’s happening here (I took a train from the airport and hardly anyone was wearing a mask!).

Most of the rest of the world have got a lid on Covid (where I’m from, we are down to 100 cases in a population the size of London - not through lockdowns, but through universal mask wearing (including in schools) and excellent contract tracing) but everyone here seems to have given up.

I understand that all the lockdowns that have happened here have left people jaded, but the mask thing is SO easy and so effective at preventing spread, yet you have a looming winter NHS crisis and nobody seems to be doing anything to stop it!

Furthermore, countries (including mine probably) are going to start closing their borders to the U.K. soon, which is not going to help the British economy, or families like mine which are split across continents.

I do understand that nobody here can be bothered any more after what you’ve been through, and I totally understand that this virus can’t be suppressed completely, but everyone in Britain seems to be so individualist that not only are you walking into a winter health crisis, but in the longer term leaving economies with a much stronger sense of collective responsibility in a much stronger position and therefore leaving the U.K. in a weaker position overall.

It’s so depressing.

I bet "we" do considerably more testing than happens in "your"country. To put things in perspective there's around 740 people in hospital in England needing the most serious intensive treatments for covid...

It seems odd that you spotted such an amount of seat-hogging in a small area of the train, which makes me think it was not as 'packed' as you think. Were the aisles full of standing people? Could you move easily between carriages? Did you check the whole carriage for empty double seats or check another carriage?

Yes, it was weird! There were only 2 or 3 carriages and I arrived at a point with 3 spare seats near each other all blocked by bags/bodies and I couldn't move either forwards or backwards. at that point. I succeeded in freeing 2 of the seats but ds1 and several other people had to stand for the duration. I couldn't have gone looking elsewhere as the carriage was rammed as far as I could see - not surprising as there were 4 trains' worth of people on it. I guess we were lucky there were any seats.

I used to travel by train regularly and would always place my bag next to me and keep it there with eyes down at every stop! However, if it reached a point where there were clearly more people than seats then I would move it without being asked because, well, I'm not a total arsehole!

Where I commute, large city, not London, few people where masks. However, an etiquette has developed around seats, with it being accepted that you generally do not sit right next to anyone else. Occasionally on very busy trains people may do, but they always ask the existing occupant of the double seat if its OK. Knowing this, people do use the seat next to them for their bag. Pre covid bags on seats used to infuriate me, but its expected now on my train.

Wear not where!

@WomanStanleyWoman

I travel on the tube or bus most days, and the majority of staff have stopped wearing masks, despite TFL saying this is still compulsory. If their own staff won’t follow the policy, why should I?

But this is exactly the selfish childish attitude people are talking about.

They aren't wearing masks so why should I? What a selfish attitude.

No wonder cases are rising so quickly.

I would say 75% of people still wear masks on the tube.

I’m the same as you OP, I was totally shocked to be on a packed train and be the only one I could see wearing a mask. Our Covid cases are scarily high and it’s such a simple thing to do. I don’t understand people who can wear a mask not wearing one.

Well, you’re going to find rude selfish arseholes everywhere. On trains they put bags on seats, on the roads they will cut you up or tailgate you. Horses for courses, innit.

People are a bunch of fragile snowflakes who cannot cope with a bit of material (exemptions aside).