Passengers With Good Manners

[Segedunum]

The wind had no effect, was just the fact that it was making the train rather chilly that I closed the doors behind me. The doors were just inherently awkward without the need of mother nature [emoji14]

 

[Johnuk123]

I'll generally tell a couple of people standing at the wrong end of St Pancras high speed platforms that the train they want is up the other end - but would feel a bit too self conscious walking along and telling everyone! There are always tons of people who don't see the "Front Train" notification - maybe because it scrolls along the bottom of the screen or maybe just because they're not expecting it so just check destination and platform.

I did that once and was told by a woman that I was talking rubbish as "how can you have 2 trains in 1 platform"

 

[507021]

I was on a busy train from Manchester with my partner not so long ago and there were barely (if any) seats left on the crowded 156. After we got underway, a very kind gentleman gave up his seat so my girlfriend could sit down, despite both of us saying we didn't mind standing up and he found the seat first. Even with both of us saying it was fine, he insisted on letting her sit down. Thankfully however, he did accept our offer of a drink in the Wetherspoons on Great Charlotte Street so we could show our appreciation for his kind gesture.

Absolute gentleman.

 

[wimbledonpete]

I did that once and was told by a woman that I was talking rubbish as "how can you have 2 trains in 1 platform"

Oh dear lord - there's no helping some folk!

 

[samuelmorris]

I came up with a bit of a dilemma earlier this week regarding passenger etiquette and wonder what people think on the matter. I was travelling on c2c from Fenchurch Street to Upminster (before changing onto the Overground service to Romford where crowds became a non-issue) and carrying a couple of fairly large boxes. I arrived at the platform around 6 minutes before the train was due to leave - it was one of the metro style units with 2+2 seating and double-width central aisle. There were plenty of seats left as I arrived so I sat down, but since the luggage racks wouldn't fit either of the boxes I had to stack them on the seat next to me. A few people approached and asked for the seat over the course of the journey but when they saw what I was carrying, some of them immediately conceded, one or two others waited for me to try and squeeze all the boxes onto my lap but eventually gave up and let me have the pair of seats to myself.

My mentality on this was that I have travelled in standing space with such items on numerous occasions and in practice, it wastes more than 1 standing space, so to me blocking the seat was a net positive for capacity. I was in the seat before these people and since it was a metro service on that sort of style train, it's not as if I was hogging an unnecessary seat for hours on an express journey, but I did spend most of that leg of my journey wondering whether I was doing the right thing. Should I have vacated both the seats and stood in the way of others? I should point out, I would definitely have chosen that option had anybody more deserving of a seat (e.g. elderly / pregnant / disabled) approached but the only people that came up were young able-bodied people like myself. Perhaps I'm reading too much into it, but I'm just wondering what the consensus is on the 'right thing to do' under such circumstances...

 

[howittpie]

Saw plenty of today was aiming to travel on a service from Nottingham to London due to a signal failure we were advised to travel via Grantham. On arrival at Grantham plenty of us helping passengers across with there luggage which meant everyone boarded the tight connection. Even the train manager joined in after we had the usual announcment she said finally a warm welcome to passengers who have travelled across from Nottingham to join us apologies for the inconvenience but hope you enjoy your journey with us today.

 

[antharro]

I often make a point of closing doors on HSTs, usually at Paddington, and if I'm on one, closing the droplights once we're away. Unfortunately HSTs are not on any of my usual routes so this doesn't happen often!

 

[455driver]

Perhaps they are trying to work out how to open the door?

Is there an app for that then?
Otherwise why would they be staring at their phone?

Or perhaps they are assuming that the door will open for them, which in the 21st century is not an unreasonable assumption. And course all of this is happening whilst Mr Impatient is snapping away at them.

If they are unsure why would they need to be at the front of the queue to get off?
Surely the sensible option would be to let somebody else go first.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

May I have an extra point for shutting the droplight, also?

Very much so!

May I have two extra brownie points for letting the guard know that the bike compartment door on GWR HSTs is firmly closed, and he/she doesn't have to walk the length of the train to check on it?

 

[WelshBluebird]

If they are unsure why would they need to be at the front of the queue to get off?
Surely the sensible option would be to let somebody else go first.

And if there are not that many people getting off at that set of doors (not as uncommon as it sounds, especially on later night services further away from London)? In that case just happening to be at the front can and does easily happen.

 

[DeeGee]

How many trains doors open automatically in the UK ? I can think of TfL and Merseyrail.

Fortunately, outside of those areas 99.9% of people assume they need to take action to open a train door. If they didn't, there would be hell of a lot of overcarries.

Are these slam doors not ones for which there is no means of operation on the inside of the door? You have to drop a window and feel about for a handle.

Not super obvious then, if you've never seen them and maybe haven't seen the instructions.

 

[urbophile]

There are always tons of people who don't see the "Front Train" notification - maybe because it scrolls along the bottom of the screen or maybe just because they're not expecting it so just check destination and platform.

Plus 'front train' to many people is ambiguous. Does it mean 'the one just in front of you' or 'the one at the front of the platform'? And if the latter, which is the front of the platform, i.e.. which direction does it go? (You'd expect the answer to be obvious in the case of a terminus, but it's surprising how many people seem to expect the train to set off in the direction of the buffer stops.)

And when two trains are close together along a platform it's not always clear where one ends and the other begins. It's not as if they have an engine at the front or anything.

 

[dave87016]

Whenever I am on FOSW rover or alight a HST I give people time to board and alight then I walk down and making sure there are no late pax boarding or alighting then i slam the hst doors shut if staff are not close to the door and when the HST'S are late and guards see me closing doors and the train departs I find that most of them put their hand up or their thumb up in appreciation as they pass me

 

[nottinghamcity]

It is surprising how often I end up helping out once on a train, when someone boards, and immediately asks is this the train to Wolverhampton/Worcester/Leicester etc and I redirect them to where they should be. Usually A/B end issues.