Traffic & Transport
‘It’s a big loss’: what happens when a beautiful village loses its bus route? | Public transport
It’s early April and the sun is shining over Mousehole, Cornwall, as an older couple trudge up the hill to their nearest bus stop before sinking into two of the plastic chairs that have been lined up on the side of the road. Until recently, buses would come right to the centre of the fishing village, the couple are soon explaining to a pair of Australian tourists also waiting for the bus. But when the bus route was taken over by the Go-Ahead transport group in February, the small, ice-cream-van-like buses that had been used by the previous bus company, First Bus, were swapped for full-size buses – some of them double deckers – that wouldn’t be safe to drive through Mousehole’s narrow streets. So the route, which has been taking passengers down to the harbour since the 1920s, was cut short, and now ends at the edge of the village.
You don’t have to spend long in Mousehole, described as “the loveliest village in England” by the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, to learn of residents’ dismay over this change. “Save Our Stop” flyers have been stuck in the windows of houses and businesses, while a banner adorns the railing next to where the old stop used to be, inviting passersby to sign the petition to have it reinstated and “make Mousehole accessible to all again” – a petition that now has more than 5,000 signatures.
For now, residents are trying to make the best of the situation, and have tied garden chairs to the railings near the new stop with rope (to stop them from being swept away by a gust of coastal wind). “We call it the oxygen station,” 83-year-old Judy O’Shea tells me, since the village’s elderly residents, who make up approximately 40% of Mousehole’s population, often need to catch their breath after walking from the centre or the west side of the village. It’s not a long walk, but it’s uphill, and there aren’t pavements.
“For me, it’s out of the question,” says O’Shea, who has lived in Mousehole for the last 54 years – she’s got arthritis and uses a stick to walk. Since she doesn’t currently have a car, she had been using the small bus at least three times a week, “so it’s a big loss”. When a friend picked up her and her husband to take them to a hospital appointment earlier in the week, “we were really excited” just to get out of the house, she says.
Another Mousehole resident, Hannah Devenney, tells a similar story. The 50-year-old’s whole family has been affected: from her children, who used to catch the bus on their own but whom she doesn’t want walking up a road with no pavements, to her disabled mother and her stepfather who has emphysema. Devenney’s own health issues – she has spinal arthritis – have meant that she has gone from catching the bus “most days” to almost never. “I’ve probably used it twice since it’s moved,” she says. “It’s getting quite hard for me to walk,” so she has switched from shopping in person to online orders, she explains. “It’s made me feel more isolated.”
Mousehole might seem like a lovely place to be isolated, with its tiny harbour lined with stone cottages – but, as Devenney explains, “There’s no cash machine in the village.” Nor is there a pharmacy, or a food shop other than a high-end deli. A round trip to nearby Penzance in a taxi costs approximately £35, she says.
The loss of the bus stop is “another example of hollowing out Mousehole”, says Tim Pullen, 67, who also lives in the area. “Another thing that makes it more difficult for people to live here full-time. It’s becoming a sort of shell holiday village.” When he first moved to Cornwall in 1998, Mousehole had its own butcher, post office and general store. “That’s all gone now,” he says. He and his neighbours “have accepted” the cut in the service from three buses an hour down to two. “Obviously, it’s very seasonal here,” he says, so he understands why compromises have to be made. But the harbour bus stop is worth fighting for, he thinks: “It’s a lifeline for people in the village.”
Buses aren’t a statutory entitlement, but, as the Mousehole case illustrates, cuts to services can incite strong public feeling. Bus stops are “a shop window for public transport”, says Michael Solomon Williams, head of external affairs at the Campaign for Better Transport. That means that when a stop is taken away, or the frequency is reduced – or even if the stop itself isn’t well maintained and fails to provide up-to-date information – people develop a negative opinion of the public transport system, and stop using it, exacerbating the problem further.
The current system clearly isn’t working well enough: almost a fifth of England’s rural bus services were cut in the past five years, it was revealed in June, and even London has lost 40 bus routes in the last two years.
“Money within the bus industry is getting shorter and shorter,” says Richard Stevens, managing director for Go South West, who made the decision to change the Mousehole route. Patronage “hasn’t recovered to pre-Covid levels”, he adds, “but also the way buses are funded has changed. When the government introduced the £2 flat fare, they capped the amount of revenue that a bus operator can charge. It’s now gone up to £3, but even that change from £2 to £3 triggered further passenger decline nationally.”
Operating costs for bus companies have gone up, as have living costs for passengers. “It’s not a healthy place to be,” Stevens says. “I’ve been arguing that funding needs to be weighted to rural areas for social inclusion. But at the moment, the way the reimbursement is calculated tends to favour high-density urban areas and longer routes.” With fuel prices increasing due to the war in Iran, it is becoming increasingly difficult for bus companies to make any money while ticket prices are capped as they are, he says. “It’s really, really challenging.”
The decision to change the Mousehole route, which also stops at the fishing port Newlyn, “was not done through ignorance”, says Stevens. He’s a former bus driver himself and the Mousehole route was one of the first he ever drove. But though he cares about keeping Cornwall accessible, the previous provider, First Bus, “landed themselves in a loss-making situation”, he says. Cornwall council subsidises approximately half of the bus services in the county, but the Mousehole route falls into the other half – the more well-used half that, pre-Covid at least, was deemed profitable enough to be run as a commercial service. “No bus company’s getting rich these days with current funding models, so while I am a stable company, I couldn’t afford to take on the kind of losses that they were incurring,” Stevens says.
“There isn’t a bus that is small enough to navigate Mousehole, that’s big enough to be commercially sustainable for the whole route, and that’s the conundrum,” he says. After attending a meeting with more than 100 residents to discuss the issue, Stevens says he committed to looking into the possibility of a medium-sized bus that could be driven safely through Mousehole’s streets but also fit enough passengers on board to turn a profit. “I’ll have a look at it, but I’m not hopeful we can do that,” he says.
With the very small buses, “people were being left behind” as buses filled up too quickly, he adds. While the Save Our Stop campaigners dispute this – none of them had ever seen people being left waiting at bus stops – local Liberal Democrat councillor Thalia Marrington says constituents had mentioned to her that they hadn’t been able to board the bus. And Roger French, who writes about public transport on his blog BusAndTrainUser, says when he rode on the old bus last summer, it was “full up when we left Penzance”. Though passengers were squeezed on along the route, they were standing right up to the front of the bus, which “wasn’t particularly safe in my judgment”, French says.
The blogger also questions the safety of the new large buses, which still have to navigate narrow coastal roads, despite not travelling all the way down to the harbour. “I personally have some concerns at the reversing arrangement that the poor drivers have to do to turn the bus round,” he says. Before the minibus-sized buses, the route was serviced by a bus “that was a bit bigger than a minibus, but not quite as big as a single deck”, French says – a size that might be a good option for this route to return to, he thinks.
For now though, while it’s “so sad” to see the end of the “absolutely idyllic” bus stop in the harbour, he thinks it’s “worth persevering with the new arrangement … and seeing how the residents feel after a while”.
“There’s never enough money for the best possible rural bus network that you could ever hope to have,” French says. His view is that Cornwall council has done relatively well in terms of government funding: between 2022 and 2025, it has been awarded £13.3m to improve bus services.
Nationwide, the £3bn investment in buses promised by Boris Johnson’s Bus Back Better plan shrank to £1.4bn in 2022. A total of £2.1bn in bus service improvement plan money from successive governments was eventually allotted, and Labour promised its own £3bn boost to buses at the end of last year. Funding alone is not enough, though – it must also be allocated carefully, French says. As someone who spends his “whole life travelling around the country on buses” and generally comes away “very positive”, sometimes he sees a “waste of public funding going into services that don’t stand any chance of success”.
Marrington, who represents Mousehole, Newlyn and St Buryan, says she “would like government ministers to come and see for themselves what rural transport actually looks like and the challenges we face here”. Many services “cost more to run across large, sparsely populated areas like Cornwall” – yet current funding doesn’t reflect that, she feels. “Our communities deserve a decent, reliable public transport system, and I will continue to stand up for that,” she says – although she notes that she doesn’t have “a lot of power” to influence the Mousehole bus stop issue in particular, since the route is not one of the council-subsidised ones. That hasn’t stopped some of the campaigners directing blame her way, though – and it has become “quite personal at times”, the councillor, who lives in Mousehole, says.
She hopes the residents will be receptive to alternative solutions to bridge the gap for those who have difficulty getting to the new bus stop. “I’ve been looking at community-based ideas, like car-sharing schemes, which the council is promoting in this area, and looking at areas where they have sorted out their own community volunteer-based transport solutions,” she says. But is it fair for buses to be replaced by community-run services? Solomon Williams of the Campaign for Better Transport does give some credit to central government because, when it comes to buses, “the direction of travel is generally good”, he thinks – Labour has changed the service funding from a competitive bidding model to allocation based on need.
More needs to be done to improve bus services across the UK, because “transport connectivity creates opportunity”, he says. “It connects people to jobs and opportunities and economic growth. So the more bus or train connectivity you have, the wealthier a community is going to be, the better it will be for quality of life and economic chances for people living in those areas.”
The Campaign for Better Transport’s 2021 report on “left behind” neighbourhoods found that in many areas where car ownership is lowest, public transport provision is also low. “So it’s kind of a vicious cycle. And therefore, they’re more isolated,” Solomon Williams says. “It exacerbates economic inequality. What we need to see is a balancing out of that.”
He is encouraged by the Mousehole residents’ action, though he also appreciates the difficult decision-making faced by bus companies and local authorities. “It’s fantastic to see how much people care about their bus stops,” he says. “When the response is so clear from the community, they need to look again at what’s possible.”
Traffic & Transport
Gatwick airport to open second runway after legal challenge fails | Gatwick airport
Gatwick airport is to start development of its second runway after campaigners lost a legal challenge to the plans.
The court of appeal on Tuesday dismissed a bid by local campaign groups to challenge an earlier high court ruling that the scheme could proceed.
The £2.2bn project, approved by the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, in September, will allow about 100,000 more flights a year to use Britain’s second busiest airport.
Pierre-Hugues Schmit, the Gatwick chief executive, said the airport was “very pleased that this ruling brings to an end an eight-year planning and legal process which has carefully tested and scrutinised every aspect of our expansion plans on multiple occasions”.
The plans will involve the West Sussex airport slightly repositioning its emergency runway and using it routinely for short-haul passenger aircraft. It is now among the busiest single-runway airports in the world, but hopes to have the second runway in operation as early as 2030.
The government declared the court ruling a “major milestone for Gatwick and for local communities”.
Alexander said: “Around 13 million more passengers and 100,000 more flights will give holidaymakers greater choice and strengthen global links to help make the UK one of the most attractive places in the world to invest.
“We’ll back expansion that supports growth and our climate goals. To drive forward sustainable change, we’re also investing more than £219m for green fuel production to cut emissions from flying and secure the future of aviation.”
Campaigners had sought a judicial review of the Department for Transport’s decision to approve the plans, arguing that the government did not properly assess the scheme’s climate impact.
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One of the applicants, Peter Barclay, the chair of Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign, said he was disappointed with the ruling but added: “It is time for governments to wake up and realise that saying yes to the expansion of any and every airport will not kickstart the economy … It will further lock in aviation’s climate, noise and air pollution impacts, increase congestion on roads and public transport and blight local communities.”
Meanwhile, Luton Rising, the council-owned company behind Luton airport, announced that all legal challenges to its expansion plans had now been cleared. The supreme court has dismissed any final possibility of appealing a high court ruling last November upholding Alexander’s signoff on plans to increase the airport’s annual capacity from 19 million to 32 million passengers by the mid-2040s.
The airport owner said it would create up to 11,000 new jobs and generate up to an additional £1.5bn in annual economic activity, and pledged strict controls on noise and carbon emissions, air quality and surface access to the airport.
Traffic & Transport
A rail nightmare: what it’s like on England’s busiest commuter-only train | Rail transport
The 5.46pm train from London Euston to Crewe is the low point of Nikhil Patel’s week. “I’ve never gotten a seat. I always stand up even when I get here early,” says the 22-year-old, struggling to keep his balance while the gangway underneath sways from side to side.
Painfully for Patel, who is commuting back and forth to the capital for a computer science internship, it’s the first leg of a three-hour journey home to Walsall. He grabs the back of a chair to remain steady but says he’s just thankful that the train has left on time – and that it’s even on the move at all.
“There’s been a couple of times where everyone’s boarded and then the train’s been cancelled and we all had to get off,” he says. On another occasion, his journey home took five hours because this service was delayed, meaning he missed a connecting train.
This rush-hour service, operated by London Northwestern Railway (LNR), is the busiest commuter-only journey in England and Wales, according to figures by the Department for Transport.
Overall, it’s the second busiest commute, the No 1 being a morning Thameslink service from Bedford to Three Bridges – which passes through three international hubs: St Pancras International, and Luton and Gatwick airports.
We decided to join commuters getting the packed, two-hour-plus service on Thursday evening. According to the DfT, the service had a load factor – how many people are on a train compared with its maximum capacity – of 170% when the analysis was carried out last autumn. LNR says the number of seats on the service has increased from 460 to 812 since the data was gathered.
There is the familiar scrum moving towards the train after the platform is announced, an infamous tradition at Euston station. At first it seems as if this crop of commuters has lucked out, as it isn’t overly busy. But as the clock approaches 5.46pm, the carriages begin to heave with people.
Some fan themselves to keep the summer heat at bay. When the train is finally on the move, most gangways are cluttered with unlucky commuters unable to snag a seat. Some stand but others sit, bearing the rough and tumble of the shifting metal surface underneath.
Among them is Daniel Garrill, 23, who regularly gets this service. “I know I’m going to be sitting in some dodgy spot,” the data analyst says, having never got a seat during the week.
He travels between London and Manchester at least twice a week, meaning he has to bring a suitcase – which is tricky because there’s “nowhere to put your bag either”. He has to keep fiddling with his luggage to ensure it doesn’t escape down the carriage.
On the other side of the gangway is Akshay Vaghela, 31, who is commuting to Rugby. He says he is forced to stand half the time, and more often than not is “resigned to finding a seat on the floor”. This train is particularly busy because it is cheaper than the shorter Avanti service also heading to Crewe.
“I’ve gotten used to it because I know what booking this service means. It’s a free-for-all for the seats, otherwise you’re standing,” he says. Despite the train being kitted out with air conditioning, Vaghela says it’s still “stuffy, hot and sweaty” because there are so many people on it. “Unless you’ve got water, you’re struggling until you get home,” he says.
There is a chance things might not stay this way. Andy Burnham, newly installed as prime minister, has had rail operators in his sights for a while, making headlines for calling out poor performers while mayor of Greater Manchester.
He has previously said nationalising railways is a “no brainer” and launched the Bee Network as mayor, which brought privatised bus and tram networks into the local government’s control and capped fares at £2. Rail services across Greater Manchester will start to join the network by the end of the year.
He faced a rude reminder of the state of our railways last month. After his election as MP for Makerfield, he took a 10.54am Avanti West Coast train from Manchester to Euston. The service was delayed by 21 minutes, making him eligible to claim compensation.
The transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, has also faced a bumpy train journey, saying she sat on the floor of a packed service from London Paddington to her constituency in Swindon.
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Burnham hinted in May that there could be a swifter move towards rail renationalisation – a number of operators were brought under state control while Keir Starmer was prime minister – saying it would “reduce train fares and make them affordable to people again”.
Vaghela is optimistic that Burnham will enforce some change. He says “priority routes like this one which connect main parts of the country should be looked at”, especially because “everyone’s paying the same price and some people get seats and others don’t, there’s a disparity there”.
As we advance further down the carriages, we squeeze past commuters packed together by the platform doors, sidestep buggies and grab on to windows, poles or even fellow passengers to avoid tumbling to the floor.
Standing among a group of commuters in a packed gangway is retiree Andy Simms, 65. He has a lucky escape, only having to bear the service for half an hour. He’s getting off at the first stop: Milton Keynes Central.
Simms isn’t too bothered about the packed train. “It’s fine but busy,” he says, though he admits: “If you’re doing this every day it must be very annoying, especially if you’re paying for a season ticket.”
Overall, he thinks trains are better than he remembers. “Things used to be a lot worse on trains back in my youth. It was scruffy, dirty and violent,” he says.
On the prospect of Burnham making changes to the rail system, he’d rather he keep his focus elsewhere. “I think social care is more important than train journeys. I’d rather he fix that than this,” he says, while holding on to a pole behind for balance.
An LNR spokesperson said: “Our services to and from Euston are extremely popular, which is why we have made a major £1bn investment in new trains to provide extra space for our customers.
“Since this data was gathered we have added hundreds of extra seats to this particular service, increasing its capacity by 77% and significantly reducing its load factor to provide more comfortable journeys for passengers.”
Traffic & Transport
The ultimate guide to travel etiquette: how to handle 36 tricky situations, from manspreaders to smelly armpits | Social etiquette
Public transport can be a hot, noisy, cramped and stressful environment – and that’s before you add in people with pungent food, questionable hygiene and giant backpacks. Most of us know the general rules – though we don’t all follow them – about letting people off first, not putting bags on seats, where to stand on escalators and offering your seat to others. But what about the vaguer conventions? How can you avoid chatty passengers? Or manspreaders? Is it sometimes OK to put your feet on the seats? (Spoiler: it’s not.) Here, three etiquette experts show us the way to public transport propriety.
How to use a seat
Who should I offer my seat to?
In principle, the answer is simple: anyone who needs it more than you do. “The reality is harder,” says Rupert Wesson, director of etiquette advisers Debrett’s, when trying to ascertain who that might be. If it’s a harassed parent with a baby or toddler, that’s obvious. But is that woman over there actually pregnant? Might that older person be appalled to be considered too frail to stand? “Nobody should be offended by being offered a seat – it’s a nice thing to do – but nevertheless you need to exercise a little caution,” says Wesson. Weigh it up, and offer discreetly. “Don’t make a big show about it – just try to catch somebody’s eye. You can do it without speaking.”
If you’re not sure, should you stand up, as if you’re pretending to get off, and hope the person takes your seat? “The danger is that somebody who doesn’t need it jumps in, so I try to be a bit more targeted,” says Wesson. “I’ll stand up, but not move out of the way straight away, just so that I know the person who might need it has caught my eye or my movement.” The idea of offering women a seat, mainly because of the assumption they are too delicate to stand, is “an old-fashioned concept. I know some people who will always do it, but the world has moved on from doing that by default.”
The most important step in ascertaining whether someone might need a seat, though, is getting off your phone and looking around at your fellow humans. “Checking in as people are getting on board is the critical thing,” says Wesson.
Can I put my feet on the seat?
Absolutely not, says Laura Akano, etiquette coach and founder of Polished Manners. “It’s a public space you’re sharing with other people, and you really should treat it with respect. You think that’s OK – to put [your shoes] on a seat that somebody else is going to sit on?” What if you think your shoes are clean enough? “They won’t be because you’ve been walking around,” says Akano, adding that it’s just as bad when people take their shoes off and put stockinged or bare feet on seats. “It’s not an extension of your sitting room. It’s just inappropriate behaviour in a public place.”
Can I always take the aisle seat?
Yes, but be alert and prepared to move to allow someone else to get to the window seat. “It’s an awful lot easier for you to jump into the window seat, rather than have people scramble over you,” says Wesson. But he points out that if the bus or train isn’t busy, and you’re making a short journey, then there is no real issue.
Can I sit at a four-seat train table if I’m on my own?
Of course. But if a group gets on, it would be considerate to offer to move. “You don’t have to, but it’s a nice thing to do,” says Wesson. Otherwise, “If you need to work and have your laptop out [on the table], then so be it.”
Can I ask someone to move so that I can sit next to my friend/partner?
“If you really can’t cope without sitting next to them, then yes, that would be fine,” says William Hanson, etiquette expert and director of the English Manner. “Although it depends on how busy it is. You also need to be aware that they may say no, and that’s their right.” If you’re aware of a couple being separated by your seat choice, should you move? “If there is a comparable seat, and they ask nicely, then yes,” says Hanson. “But sometimes I’ve had it where people come over and go, ‘Sorry, I want to sit next to my girlfriend’, rather than, ‘Would you consider moving?’ I think it would depend on how they ask.”
If I’m sitting in one of the prime front seats at the top of a doubledecker bus, do I have to give it up for children?
How generous are you feeling? “If they were to come to me politely and say, ‘Could we maybe swap seats with you?’ then I would,” says Akano. But beware of making assumptions. “I wouldn’t automatically think: ‘Because they’re children, they would prefer to sit here.’”
Is it unforgivably rude to move away from a stranger once more seats become available?
No, says Wesson. “It feels a bit weird when a train suddenly empties and everybody gets off, and then there’s just the two of you sat together. It’s always nice to spread out, and no, you don’t need to explain what you’re doing.”
Can I recline my seat on a plane?
If the seat reclines then it’s fair game, even on a short daytime flight, and even if the person behind you is silently seething. Don’t do it during food or drinks service, though. And if you do it, do it slowly. “It’s worth checking who’s behind you and what’s going on before you dip the seat back,” says Wesson. “Make sure you’re not going to skittle somebody’s drinks all over their lap.”
Is it acceptable to take up two seats on a bus or train if you have a huge suitcase and there’s nowhere else to put it?
“Sometimes there’s no choice, sadly,” says Wesson. “You’ve got to block something, and it’s either an aisle or a seat, so better to block a seat.” But he adds that the scenario is rare – there’s usually something you can do, and other people who can help you lift luggage on to a rack. “We can usually find ways of making things work, with a bit of polite collaboration.”
Travelling with children and pets
Is it OK to let my dog sit on a seat?
No, says Hanson. It is potentially tolerable if the dog sits on a mat or blanket on a seat, but “not during busy periods”. And many people, including those with severe allergies, would consider this unacceptable.
How much should children be allowed to roam on a plane or a train?
This is tricky, says Wesson. Some people may think it’s sweet, “as a child goes around talking to everybody in the train carriage. I have seen that, and it’s delightful, and shakes everybody out of whichever world they’re in.” And sometimes an energetic preschooler allowed to go on a walkabout is better for everyone than a bored and screeching one confined to their seat. But remember: nobody thinks your child is as adorable as you do. “People are often trying to work or relax on a train, so do try to keep your child from disturbing them,” says Wesson. Wandering around occasionally is fine but be mindful of “the noise and chaos that accompanies it”.
On personal space and other bodily matters
Can I lean, louchely, on a pole on a bus or train?
“It’s not very elegant, but it’s fine,” says Hanson. That is, if the bus or train is relatively empty; otherwise, move out of the way so people can use it to hold on to.
What if I accidentally make skin contact with a stranger?
Obviously immediately move back. “Say sorry to the person that you have inadvertently touched, whether you know them or not,” says Hanson. Could you just ignore it? Yes, he says. “If it was fleeting and they don’t seem to have noticed, I think you could probably get away with it, but even just a hand gesture to say sorry is better than nothing.”
Who gets the armrest?
On a plane, the general rule seems to be the person in a middle seat of three gets both armrests. On a bus or train, Hanson advises to view it as “an elbow rest, not an armrest”. That way, both of you could probably use it.
If somebody in the next seat is snoring and dribbling on me, can I wake them up?
Dribbling, yes; snoring, no. Neither are deliberate, hopefully, but only one really adversely affects you. Hanson advises: “I would touch their elbow or their shoulder and say: ‘I’m so sorry, but you were dribbling on me.’ Keep it factual. Laugh it off if needs be. They’ll probably be absolutely mortified. Say: ‘Oh, it’s not a problem. I just thought I’d step in now before I’m drenched.’” With snoring, he says, “there’s not a lot you can do”.
Can you ever be too sweaty to use public transport?
Look, it’s not illegal but this comes under consideration for others and context. We all need to get around. Drenched with club sweat on a night bus? Probably fine, given the potential state of the other passengers. Travelling at rush hour after your morning gym session? Not ideal. “If there is a place for you to shower or freshen up before you get on public transport, I think that is a courtesy for others, particularly at busy periods,” says Hanson.
How do I deal with manspreading?
Don’t manspread back, says Hanson, “because two wrongs don’t make a right, whether you are a man, or however you identify. But if you need to adjust yourself slightly pointedly, then that normally does the trick.” He adds: “Obviously, don’t use your hands to touch somebody’s leg but you could slightly push against it [with your knee] if you feel emboldened. If you feel comfortable enough, you could always be quite passive aggressive and say something like: ‘Oh, I’m so sorry – am I taking up too much space?’” The general leg aperture rule is “nothing bigger than a tennis ball in between your knees”.
Can I apply makeup on public transport?
Hanson used to say absolutely not, but he’s softened. A quick lipstick refresh, or an elegant pat with a powder compact is “probably OK but starting-from-scratch makeup, I would say not – and this is not exclusive to women”. Akano is in agreement about the full face of makeup. “Ideally, you shouldn’t be doing that in a public space, whether on public transport or anywhere else in public,” she says. “I know some people say: ‘I don’t have the time before I leave home.’ Why don’t you wake up 10 or 15 minutes earlier to give yourself time?”
What about doing my hair?
No, says Hanson. “General grooming in public is to be kept to an absolute minimum, and I think brushing hair is too much.”
Or my nails?
“No, you shouldn’t be doing that in public,” says Akano. “These are private things and not something that other people should have to witness. You should have done them before you left home.” As for people who clip their toenails on public transport: “They deserve to be sent to a different planet,” says Hanson.
Can I apply sunscreen?
If you really have to – and even then, it should be the minimum amount you need, and ideally not a whole-body dose. It’s fine, says Akano, if “it is a cream or lotion that you can just put a little bit of in your hands, but if it’s a spray, then you’re most likely going to affect other people. It’s really about consideration and awareness of your environment and the people around you.”
Can I get changed in a train carriage?
“Absolutely not,” says Hanson. “You can remove some clothes – you could take off a hat, scarf, gloves or even a jumper. But beyond that, no. Small modifications, fine, but not big modifications.” Taking shoes or sandals off is also “a complete no”.
What should I do if I think I’m about to be sick?
Easy (in theory). “Go to the loo as quickly as possible,” says Hanson, “and hope that you are not sick anywhere other than the loo.”
Can I hold on to the overhead bar or strap if I’m wearing a sleeveless top?
How is your underarm hygiene? “If you know that it’s not good, then it’s not advisable,” says Akano. Even if you are impeccably clean and fragrant, bare armpits at eye level on busy trains and buses is not particularly pleasant, she adds. “If you’re quite tall, and there are shorter people around you, then that would not be a good experience for them. If you don’t have a choice, then I guess there’s nothing to do because safety is more important. But it’s not something I would necessarily do.”
Eating and drinking
Can I drink alcohol, even discreetly?
It depends, says Wesson. In some places, such as London and New York, drinking alcohol on public transport is forbidden. “But on the train I catch to London, they come round with a trolley full of the stuff.” If you are going to enjoy your can of beer or mini bottle of wine, make sure you’re not inconveniencing anyone. “Be conscious that if you’re travelling with somebody else, and you’re both having a drink, the chances are you’re going to be a bit louder because that’s what booze does to us all,” says Wesson.
Can I eat?
On a packed commuter train: “Nothing bigger than a Polo mint,” says Hanson. “Most public transport is riddled with germs, so why do you want to be eating anything in that environment?” On a longer train or coach journey, food is acceptable but nothing “that you’re going to be able to smell halfway down the carriage”. Hot food, and especially the aromas from fast food, can be particularly offensive, but so can a salad nicoise. “An orange or a tangerine is one of the most antisocial things to eat,” points out Hanson.
The social contract
Should I have my ticket/passport/payment method ready?
You know the bus is coming, or you’re about to have your passport checked, so make sure whatever it is you need is in your hand. “That way, you don’t hold up a queue of people,” says Akano. “The bus comes, and that’s when some people start rummaging in their bag to get their card, or whatever it is they’re going to use. It’s the same thing with the barriers at the train stations.” Worse still is when you don’t move out of the way while you search for what you need. “Then we all stand there waiting for you.”
Is it acceptable to have loud conversations on your phone, or on speakerphone?
“Speakerphone, absolutely not,” says Wesson. “Nobody needs to hear both sides of the conversation.” A loud phone conversation is inconsiderate, but sometimes unavoidable. On a train, says Wesson, “You can always stand up and go into the bit between the carriages if needs be.” Ideally, phone calls should be quiet and quick.
Can I open the window?
Yes, but it’s polite to ask first, says Wesson. “Nine times out of 10, everyone will say: ‘Thank goodness for that.’” It also establishes some communality, he says, “so that if it becomes a problem for somebody, they can say: ‘Look, I’m absolutely perishing. Would it be possible to close it for a bit? What does everybody else think?’ It then doesn’t become about one person.” He adds: “Just doing it unilaterally is rarely the right thing to do.” It’s the same with anything else that affects others, such as blinds.
How can I ask someone to use headphones?
Hanson has a new way he’s so far only tried once. “You say: ‘Excuse me – I don’t think your headphones are connecting.’ When they go: ‘Oh no, I don’t have headphones’, you go, ‘Ah, that’ll be why.’ It’s so passive aggressive, which a lot of British etiquette is.” If they’re using headphones and it’s still so loud you can hear it, you might just have to try to ignore it. “I probably would move,” says Hanson.
Should I give money to people begging on trains?
As long as it’s not illegal in whichever country you’re in, “and if you feel comfortable doing it and you’d like to do it, then yes”, says Hanson. If you don’t want to, it’s rude to pretend to be engrossed in your phone. “Smile at them. They’re a human being.”
Can I sing football songs in a big drunken pack? I’ll take out all the bad language
Akano isn’t a fan of this behaviour. “It can be quite rowdy, especially if people have been drinking, and it gets uncomfortable,” she says. “I have experienced it enough times, and usually I move carriages, or sometimes I’ve decided to alight and wait for another train.” People chatting about the match is fine, “but you start singing, and there’s a whole element of chaos and unrest. I feel that is inappropriate because you’re not the only ones there. Show some consideration for other passengers.”
Can I peruse the book/paper/phone screen of someone next to me?
That one is never OK, says Wesson. “We have such private information on our devices these days, and also you might end up seeing or reading something you didn’t want to.” How about giving someone the answer to the crossword they’re doing? Absolutely not, says Akano. “They are minding their own business and you should mind your own business as well,” she says. “You never know who you’re dealing with. Someone might say: ‘Did I ask for your help?’ I would make a conscious effort to not look.”
My train is cancelled and everyone’s stranded. Should I offer to share a taxi with fellow passengers?
Consider vulnerability, including your own. “Personally, I wouldn’t,” says Akano. “My take on that is to do with safety, being a woman. It’s happened to me before – I got stuck, in the evening, and we didn’t know when the train tracks might be clear. There were a few people trying to book taxis, and one or two offered me a ride, and I thought, ‘No, I don’t know these people – they’re strangers’, so I didn’t take it.” It does depend on the situation, though, she says – if there is someone you feel more comfortable sharing with, perhaps a mother with small children, things might be different.
Should I wake a stranger up if I think they’re about to miss their stop?
This one takes some judgment, says Wesson. But if you absolutely know that it’s their stop – you had a chat earlier, or you overheard them buying their ticket – you should probably wake them up. “I have friends who fall asleep on trains quite regularly,” he adds, “and the cost of their taxi journeys is enormous and far exceeds the train tickets. I think my advice would be yes.” A gentle nudge in good time should be enough.
And finally, how do I get out of talking to a chatty stranger on a long journey?
Respond politely at first, says Akano. “Then, if you really don’t want to chat, we all have our phones now, or you might have a book on you. Get it out so they can see that’s the end of the conversation. I think when you do that, most people will tend to hold back on chatting.” If they’re oblivious to all hints, you may just have to pretend it’s your stop and move to another carriage.
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