‘We’ve lost a basic sense of politeness’: UK readers reveal daily reality of public transport

Andy Burnham has announced a campaign against nuisance behaviour on public transport, including “headphone dodgers” who play loud music.

“We’ve all been on the train when someone starts blasting music or videos from their phone,” Burnham said in a statement. “It gets on your nerves and can quickly spoil the journey.”

Six people share their views on Burnham’s new campaign and recount their experiences of antisocial behaviour on public transport.

‘It saddens me that we have lost a basic sense of politeness’

I live in London and commute daily on the tube. Even yesterday, sitting next to me was a guy playing videos out loud, which is the most common issue. I’m interested in what has caused a sudden change to our social contract that allows people the psychological safety to completely disregard others. It’s not top of the list of worst behaviour; it’s in the same bracket as leaning on poles so no one can hold them, leaving your bag on the only seat left, leaning your arm on the fold up chair, or man-spreading. It mostly saddens me that we have lost a basic sense of politeness.

I’m not sure Andy Burnham’s announcement will do anything. If you’re already playing very loud videos in public, presumably you don’t care very much about what you should be doing. You never really see police or “safety officers”, so who would enforce it? I’m glad they aren’t making the tube workers or bus drivers try to enforce it though; it would make their days hell. Claire, 41, London

‘Almost every bus or train journey has someone blaring music’

I get the train five nights a week to work and nine times out of 10, there is somebody taking phone calls on speakerphone, blasting videos or music, even in the so-called quiet carriage. Everyone’s too scared to ask them to move to a different carriage or turn it down, so it’s a regular occurrence. It makes my journey a nightmare. No one enforces anything. I doubt this new law will change this. It should include phone calls too and people putting calls on loudspeaker. It doesn’t go far enough. Margaret, 49, Weston-super-Mare

‘Commuters shouldn’t have to put up with it’

I think this is a great step to protect public spaces as shared spaces, and to show people the boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. The last time I asked somebody who was playing reels aloud to use their headphones I was called “a piece of shit” and decided not to ask anybody that again. But commuters shouldn’t have to put up with it. Of course, the question is whether and how this will be enforced consistently. Ben Ellis, 38, Edinburgh

‘I’m sick of being the bad guy who points it out’

I’ve always challenged this behaviour by asking people if they have headphones. If they say no, I ask if they can turn the sound off. Most of the time this is OK, but I have had repeated incidents where people refuse. I’m stubborn and confident, so I’ll explain that it is not normal or socially acceptable to subject other people to jarring video scrolling. Only once in this situation did a train guard ask someone playing football at full volume to turn it off. And I can’t blame them. You’d be arguing with idiots for 90% of your shift if you did.

I’m sick of being the bad guy who points it out. It seems like people of all ages have forgotten basic decency and consideration. I had a run-in with a teenage kid who was watching TikTok or something, and he said, “What do you mean? If you were watching Netflix on your phone, wouldn’t you have the volume on?” So there’s a range of understanding of what people think is appropriate behaviour in a public place. John, 43, Sheffield

‘Football fans on the trains can be difficult to deal with’

One of the bigger issues that never gets addressed is football fans on public transport. I’m a football fan myself, but fans on trains can be extremely offensive, oppressive, aggressive and difficult for people to deal with. One time that springs to mind was a bunch of fans on a two-carriage train. They were drinking, singing loud, offensive songs regardless of the fact that there were kids on the train, banging on the ceiling of the carriage, making a hell of a racket. There were no police or staff. There was a bunch of people waiting at the railway station at the other end, but it’s too late at that point.

It’s become almost like an accepted thing that if you go in on a train, this is what you have to put up with. I’m glad to see that [Burnham] recognises that behaviour on public transport is an issue that needs to be addressed. Do I think this will address it? Not at all. How do you get to someone on a train? Will this be app based? Only instant reporting and action will work, but how does that square with a public transport network with significant coverage gaps? Mike Hughes, 63, Tyldesley, Greater Manchester

‘It’ll end up like the law against hogging the middle lane on the motorway’

The Manchester Metrolink has no [regular] conductors, so antisocial behaviour goes unchecked. It happens to the extent that it deters me from travelling on buses and trams. Trains aren’t quite as bad, because if someone’s really annoying, one can leave one’s seat to go and seek out the train manager and tell them what seat the offender is sitting in. This is impossible on the Manchester trams, so what possible incentive do habitual offenders have to desist? I suppose, over time, the campaign might lead to gradual social change – so even just raising and highlighting the issues might result in attitudinal change. My main concern is that it’s going to be nigh on useless having a fining policy unless transport is policed. It’ll end up like the law against hogging the middle lane on the motorway. How many people have been pulled up and fined for that? How many people still do it? Linda, Manchester