Does behaviour on our buses simply reflect the wider society? Or is anti-social behaviour magnified when people are within the confines of a metal box that’s outside most people’s gaze?
With the help of two bus drivers, two teenage girls, sundry TfL and police officials and one MP, BBC Radio Four looked at life on the top deck of London’s buses, particularly now that younger people travel free of charge. Independent minded? Forward thinkers? Risk takers? Or just a plain nuisance? Here are some views. They’re not unexpected. The reporter offered no conclusions as to how to improve matters other than a vague possibility of reintroducing conductors. Would that help?
- People used to get on a bus for safety, to get away from someone. The bus was seen as safe.
- Youngsters are always behaving badly on buses and it’s got worse over the last three years.
- Buses are public spaces, though there are no publicly accepted rules of behaviour.
- Girls are far ruder and loader than boys.
- Young people are only talking loudly when in a group. They just want to be heard over each other.
- Music is continually played out load.
- You must expect children travelling between 1500 and 1700 to let off steam.
- Buses are mobile youth clubs.
- Problems were less prevalent when young people had to pay.
- Service 43 (Friern Barnet-London Bridge) is the Party Route.
- The worst bus in London is the W3 (Northumberland Park-Finsbury Park)
- Even young people won’t go upstairs when they’re on their own.
- Adults still give drivers the most stress, like refusing to pay, even in using the emergency exits most.
- Some older people can be as rude to young people as the other way round.
- Children have always been boisterous throughout the generations
- There’s no respect any more.
- Young people are victims as well as perpetrators.
- No one will do anything about the problems they see. They are afraid of attack.
- Drivers should have weapons and sprays.
- To sit at the back of a bus is to enter a piranha pool where threats are all about you.
- Conductors made a difference, as they would clip [trouble makers]around the ear.
- During the last financial year, there were 15 crimes on London’s buses per million passenger journeys.
- Official figures represent only reported crimes.
2 comments:
Conductors clipping people around the ear? Not since the middle of the 20th Century... if they'd tried it in the 21st they'd have been sacked, charged with assault then no doubt sued for causing their probably deserving victim mental distress.
Thankfully don't live in London but in Manchester (south east) I sit on the top deck of certain services most days of the week daytime and night time. Can't really say there are many problems - I would guess that only 2-3% of the teenagers that use the bus are an annoyance - loud music first, smoking second. And it probably speaks to society as a whole that they are the ones who tend to lack basic social skills and are probably unaware of their surroundings. I think that sorting out the other obious problems in their lives would make them better citizens.
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