Mind The Gap
When visiting a new country, using public transport is often
one of the first experiences of how the ‘rules’, procedures and culture of that
country differ from your own: where do I buy my ticket? Is it friendly to sit
next to someone or do people prefer their own space?
Generally in the
UK it is expected that you avoid eye contact with fellow passengers, don’t
speak and only sit next to someone on a bus or train if there aren’t any other
spare seats; people tend to like space and privacy if possible. Usual exceptions
to this are when you would be expected to be polite e.g. to say ‘excuse me’ to
get past someone, or to ask information about the bus/train e.g. is there a bus
due? Does this bus go to x/y/z? Liverpool is such a friendly city however you
will often find that these rules are ignored and the person next to you will
strike up a chatty conversation. Of course, being in Britain you will find a
high percentage of these conversations start off about the weather!
There are various other ‘rules’ on public transport: some
official and some ‘unwritten’ rules. It’s expected that if you’re sitting down
and an elderly person boards a bus that you offer your seat to them. There is sometimes
a little British uncertainty as to whether to offer your seat for fear of
offending the person: What if they’re not as old as they look? Will they think
I’m implying they’re really old and unstable?! People usually take it as a
friendly gesture. It’s not expected
but generally viewed as polite to offer your seat to pregnant women or people
who look like they could do with a helping hand e.g. using
a walking stick or struggling with lots of shopping bags. People who use a
wheelchair have priority in the designated spaces at the front of the bus where
the seats fold up.
As you will already know, us Brits like to queue. Queues for
public transport may take one of two forms...the traditional standing in a line
or the more confusing version: everyone stands around apparently in no
particular order BUT there is an
order because everyone keeps track of who was there before them and who arrives
after them. So if you arrive at a bus stop and there are already 3 people
waiting around and 2 arrive after you then usually – not always - this order is observed when boarding the bus. Sometimes, those with bus passes jump on
first as those who need to pay for a ticket take longer to board. There is less
order when waiting for a train, probably because there are usually more doors
and more people to keep track of. If it’s busy, passengers may attempt to predict
as the train is slowing down where the door will be once it comes to a halt so
that they can be first to rush forward. It’s expected that you stand at the
side of the doors to make space and wait for people to get off the train first
before boarding. Although passengers are often impatient to get on the train to
claim a good seat, a certain level of order and politeness is still maintained.
It’s very strange to think carefully about what you usually take
for granted and do out of habit as part of your culture. How do these British public
transport rules and examples of etiquette differ from those in your country? Do
these cultural practices seem odd to you? Are they very different to what you
are used to?
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