... to be baffled why so many people stand up on public transport?

[ImJustMadAboutSaffron]

When there are several seats available? It's mainly younger people and teenagers. I'm hardly old myself only 42 but I think it's weird.

Nothing to do with covid, been happening for years.

Is it uncool to sit down?

[Cherryana]

My hip - standing is a much more comfortable position. I am 44 and you wouldn’t peg me as having hip issues because as long as I am moving I walk normally. Inside I am in chronic pain.

[x2boys]

@Brendabigbaps

When you’ve seen people poo and pee on a bus seat you tend to stand up on all public transport!

What kind of kind of buses do you get😱

[CrustyFlake]

It would have to be a very long journey for me to feel like I needed to sit down. I don't have physical health problems and I am not old. Standing for 20 minutes is fine.

Plus, if it gets busy, you will be able to depart more quickly from a standing position, than if you were sitting down.

[limitedperiodonly]

@SlipperyLizard

I usually stand on the tube when I’m in London (don’t live there) as I’m always slightly anxious that if I sit down it will get busy & I’ll struggle to get off at my stop. Bit silly really, as I don’t do that on trains.

That's not so silly @SlipperyLizard. It's happened to me once. It was just once out of thousands of tube journeys but it's a thing. It was the Jubilee Line between Southwark and Canary Wharf which is incredibly busy from 5.30pm to 7.30pm - like every bit of space taken up by bodies busy.

I didn't even have a seat but was holding on to the pole in the central bit of the carriage by the double doors so you think it would be easy to get off. They opened and I couldn't move and then more people started cramming on. I should have shouted and pushed but I was too polite. The next thing I knew the doors had closed. I am more assertive now and insist on standing by the doors even if people demand I move up and tut when I say no.

Even before then I had recurring anxiety dreams about reaching my stop and suddenly realising I had loads of bags and not being able to gather them up in time. I never thought it would come true.

[Brendabigbaps]

@x2boys

What kind of kind of buses do you get😱

I don’t if I can avoid it! When I was younger my bus route went through a highly deprived area.

none of these people actually made it obvious they were going to the toilet, it was probably more a case of soiling themselves and leaving the evidence behind.

[Fastandlupine]

So poor people piss and shit on buses?

[pippetypopperty]

I cba getting up and down if I'm not going to be on the train for a long time. Okay can stand nearer the exit and get off the scummy public transport we have in the U.K. quicker.

[pippetypopperty]

Also not okay!

[Fastandlupine]

'Scummy'? What public transport are you using?

[OneTC]

Got on a late night bus one and everyone was crammed down the front, bit drunk, walk on, go past the traumatised looking people huddled by the front door and someone had laid a shit on the back seat and the bus must have done a sudden manoeuvre mid shit because there was a bum print in it skidding it across the whole back seat.

I went and huddled with the others

[x2boys]

@Brendabigbaps

I don’t if I can avoid it! When I was younger my bus route went through a highly deprived area.

none of these people actually made it obvious they were going to the toilet, it was probably more a case of soiling themselves and leaving the evidence behind.

Well I can't say that's been my experience, I was a bus user for years and also live in a deprived area ,most people cam manage to control their bladder and bowels ,we do have toilets.

[x2boys]

@pippetypopperty

I cba getting up and down if I'm not going to be on the train for a long time. Okay can stand nearer the exit and get off the scummy public transport we have in the U.K. quicker.

What type are you using ,in my area buses have vastly improved over the years and even have air conditioning and WiFi

[pippetypopperty]

Tube and trains. Air con and wifi ain't going to improve the smelly gross people that apparently have never heard of deodorant or basic social manners.

[limitedperiodonly]

I love London buses and recommend central routes to tourists over the tube because they are a free tour ride.

I prefer to sit down because it's more stable. I've never noticed people pooing on seats but I am willing, well not exactly willing, to believe it happens.

More common is people putting their muddy feet on the seats that are arranged in double benches of two facing each other. I always stand if I there is visible mud. Of course it could be shit but I prefer not to think about that.

My favourite seat is the single one on the left hand side of the driver. It has an uninterrupted view of the windscreen and is slightly behind the driver so while you are pretending to drive the bus you can compare your technique to that of a professional.

Everyone knows the best seats are the ones at the front row on the top deck. But I'm not as young as I used to be and I worry about barrelling towards the stairs, falling down them and probably not even making it before the doors close.

[Brendabigbaps]

@x2boys

Well I can't say that's been my experience, I was a bus user for years and also live in a deprived area ,most people cam manage to control their bladder and bowels ,we do have toilets.

Check your attitude. Its been my experience 3 times. We all have different experiences, all are valid!

[Florenz]

I hate the people that stand at the front of the bus and talk to the driver.

[honeyytoast]

Sometimes I simply can’t be bothered to sit down even though that sounds stupid.

but the other day I was on a mainly empty Metropolitan train and this guy stood up stock still for about 40 mins without moving lol

[happyinherts]

Too many people sit on the outer aisle end of a bus seat, but their bag / belongings on the other half of it, blocking you from sitting down. I'd rather stand than ask them to move. Sad, I know.

[LikeAStar1994]

What's it got to do with you? I just stare out the window and mind my own business.

I'd recommend it.

[Meadowbreeze]

I have a sedentary job. By the time I get on the tube/bus I've been sitting all day so I stand.

[Lcb123]

Because sitting down is so unhealthy and we all do it too much! I’d only sit down if going 20 mins plus

[KatherineJaneway]

It always pisses me off when people stand in the aisle of a tube (between the seats) rather than sit down. You then have to battle past them to get out. Just sit down!

[mrshoho]

A quick tube ride means there's no point in sitting down.

Also why does LT continue with cloth seating? It gives me the creeps not knowing what's lurking. At least with plastic it could be sprayed/disinfected.

[TheYearOfSmallThings]

My brother prefers not to sit because he believes people who use public transport (apart from him) are smelly and incontinent. In particular he will never sit in the end seats that are marked "Please give this seat up to an elderly or disabled person" because he thinks those seats are probably the worst.

[limitedperiodonly]

It's a myth allegedly put about by Margaret Thatcher* that only poor people and losers travel on buses. I don't want to boast but I am reasonably well off and a modest success in life and I use them all the time and at various times a day in different locations. Apart from the odd encounter with the unwashed and antisocial which could happen any where unless you want to stay indoors your entire life most people are normal. My wide experience of travelling on them is as valid as the next person's.

Case in point. My husband and I were once returning from a night out and caught a bus. We were trying to flag down a black cab so were congratulating ourselves on the money we'd saved because the bus goes to the end of our street.

It standing room only (so no shit-on-seat issues to consider) and a bit rowdy. But everyone was good natured and not smelly and we'd had a drink ourselves and try not to be judgmental about our fellow human beings on public transport or anywhere.

My husband looks like a mid-ranking Hollywood star. I'd say better but that is because I am a loyal wife. Suddenly a group of girls shouted: "It's Hollywood Star's Name." My husband said "No, but I do look a bit like him." Then we entered that scene from Life Of Brian where Brian tries to explain he is not Jesus only for the people to shout: "Only the true Messiah denies his divinity."

The only way to get them to shut up was for my husband to pretend to be the Hollywood star and pose for selfies with the girls and some other people who had now become interested and similarly convinced.

He accepted all their compliments and they waved at us when we got off. We were thinking what Hollywood Star would be doing on a bus when he could be riding in a limousine snorting coke off a hooker's tits but you never know, do you?

• I don't think it was Margaret Thatcher who said that nasty thing about people on buses but it was the kind of thing she would have said so people believe it.