To not be surprised people don’t want to use public transport

[PublicTransportNightmare]

I know it’s a bank holiday today and people want to enjoy themselves but is there any wonder why people dont want to take public transport? I was on the train today as I decided to take my kids to the beach and the behaviour of the other passengers was just awful.

Firstly on the way there we are sat down together and a group of about 10 teenage boys get on and literally sat directly behind us for the whole journey they were swearing, fighting, throwing things, lifting up the train seats, vaping, and just generally being extremely loud. We wanted to move but at this point the train had got pretty busy so we tried to ignore them but eventually moved when they smashed a bottle. Go into the next carriage where some seats had become free. Then some teenage girls singing the entire journey with their phone on loud speaker but that seemed pretty tame in comparison so we decided to just stay there.

On the way back train much emptier but a group got on at some point in the journey then as they went to get off one of them who was clearly drunk fell onto me. Also people just blocking the aisle with their feet up on the seats (one woman with no shoes on!) aibu to say it’s not surprising people don’t want to use public transport? I know we’ve probably just been unlucky but this was really off putting.

It's grim

I was planning to do a few weekends away this summer. I only did one in the end. Mostly because I just cannot face the journey on public transport. And I can no longer drive.

I think I'll just wait until I can go on quieter days. No way would I go on a bank holiday but I do have the option to avoid that.

ditto day trips. There are a lot that I would like to do in theory, but in practice I just can't face it.

I have reached the point where I will ask people on trains to use headphones.

How do they react when you ask them to use headphones?

Honestly don’t fancy getting a punch there was about 6 girls and me alone with my children.

Public transport has become a bit of a free for all since covid. For quite a long time nobody who had any access to a car used it . Obviously there are lots of people who don't have access to a car who are perfectly well behaved. But during the whole covid time I noticed a high proportion of my fellow passengers were drunk/strung out/socially challenged, and all the "normies" had gone to ground. That was the point where what was acceptable behaviour on public transport changed, and there wasn't enough of a critical mass of other passengers to challenge it. Now there are more people using it again, but the social boundaries have been pushed out of whack and it'll take a while to get them back.

Why didn't you call/text the British Transport Police?
The recorded message "If you see something that doesn't look right, text the British Transport Police on 61016" is played repeatedly all the time.
They were trashing the train.
You should have contacted BTP.

And have them know it was me and attack me? I don’t think so. There was staff on the train that didn’t even say anything.

There's a text message service so you don't need to actually call.
How would they have known it was you?

I am surprised the on board staff didn't do anything.
I would report that to the train company personally.

Not sure this just a public transport thing though....
Feral gangs of teenagers and drunks falling about the place also describes alot of High St's on an average weekend!

@HauntedBungalow I don't have any hope of the social boundaries coming back. Unless the behavioural control
experts want to put some effort in to something useful for a change.

I think they've been pretty poor for probably a while. Certainly predates Covid. I'm not 100% sure because I used to drive where possible, but with some journeys, if it was quicker by train, I would do that.

But they have now got much worse. I think when you add in over population, the number of carriages on trains has been reduced, it seems much more noticeable.

@PublicTransportNightmare I totally understand why you wouldn't want to say anything. Many years ago I was on an underground train where some lads were messing about play fighting, but with no regard for the fact that they kept landing near a lady with a toddler in a buggy. She was clearly upset and intimidated.

I went to them and told them to stop - they were very apologetic and they stopped.

But now in 2025, I would really struggle to do that. I'd probably now try and help the lady move out of the way.

Because we were the only ones sat near them people were actively avoiding sitting in the seats near them even though they were empty and the train was quite busy.

You said you moved carriages away from them. You could have contacted BTP then.
Behaviour like this won't stop unless people call the police.
If we all just sit back and let this anti social behaviour happen then it's never going to stop is it?

Thank you. We were scared to move at first as we worried they would know we were moving because of them. There was no free seats though so we had planned to stand by the doors in the next carriage just to get away.

Pretty well! I'm always polite & friendly, I've asked teenagers, young men, not-so-young men and an older woman. The only one who reacted badly was the older woman (she really didn't like being asked!) Everyone else has been great about it.

I'm early 30s, god knows what shit I won't take in 20 years time 😂

Well I didn’t, just like no one else did. Sounds like you are just trying to have a pop!

Although like I said there was a member of staff on the train who chose to ignore them.

Apologies for sounding harsh. I understand you were probably scared. I am a regular public transport user and I witness much anti social crap going on.
Someone (not just you) should have called the police though.
Unfortunately no one did so this behaviour will carry on.
Definitely report the staff to the train company though. They should have done something.

I don't think they were having a pop at you

We use public transport all the time as we have no car and we've done day trips almost every weekend over the summer. It's been fine tbh, I've not noticed anyone playing music out loud but then it doesn't bother me too much in any case, I've certainly not seen any violence. The worst aspect is poor service and not enough services running so the trains are overcrowded, but that's down to the companies not the passengers. Still, I have fond memories of using trains in late 2020 when we'd have the entire carriage to ourselves.

We will agree to disagree

I didn't intend to. What I said came out badly.
I apologise for sounding harsh towards you.
💐

In theory I'm really pro public transport. In reality I'm finding it increasingly difficult to use because it's becoming more and more unpleasant to use.

It's definitely linked to the absolute collapse of people's ability to behave in a polite and civilised way in public situations.

In my local area the fact the bus service frequency has been cut back to a ridiculously inadequate level means the buses are so much busier and that much more unpleasant to use. But having said that as an older person I feel a lot safer on the bus than I do using the local train service. I'll only use the train if I really have no choice because I find them so intimidating.

Interestingly earlier today I was reading a report on recently released statistics which show the marked increase in anti social incidents at airports - including incidents of sexual assaults. They are linking this increase unequivocally to the availability of alcohol at airports and drunkeness.
Really depressing.

I don't drive so use buses and trains a lot. I find most other passengers are fine.

If you get a group, they can be a bit loud but people in groups tend to be louder than people in 2s or 3s - not just on public transport but pretty much anywhere. I like peace and quiet but you're not going to get that when you're surrounded by other people.

People using devices without headphones can be annoying. If it's bothering me then I'll say something and I find people are generally apologetic.

I’m shocked that no one ie staff, did anything about a smashed bottle, so presumably glass everywhere. The worst I’ve found on seats and tables on the trains local to me (including on a line popular for day trips to the beach and a bit rough) are old drink cans, a bit of graffiti and used make up wipe. All grim none particularly dangerous like broken glass. I’d absolutely report that. The girls singing loudly is frankly just put up with. They’re unlikely to punch you in the face for asking them to stop though.