I don’t know about you but I catch public transport every day. Sometimes this is an uninteresting, banal experience. Other times it’s the most frustrating experience in the known universe. Let’s talk about public transport. Let’s share our terrifying stories. Let’s talk about the people that annoy us.
Things that annoy me:
— People who put their bags on their seat on busy trains.
— People who make you climb over them because they want the aisle seat.
— People who talk really loudly on the phone at like 7am.
I’ve recently moved house and now I have to get a bus into work. Strangely the atmosphere is slightly different. It seems nicer. People queue to get on the bus and the rules are respected. BUS PEOPLE>TRAIN PEOPLE.
Anyway let’s talk Public Transport. Anyone got any weird stories?
Comments
147 responses to “Off Topic: Public Transport”
There used to be a dude who threw poo at people in the mornings around burwood station and the trains that go through there…
I now take the train super early so I don’t know if he’s still around…
And nobody decked the filthy c*nt?
People, especially in the morning seem to be non-confrontational, most of us just ran away to other carriages. I for sure didnt wanna go anywhere near that douchebag…
I like the prime real estate by the door on trains even if there’s seventeen seats available. The train fills up soon enough and I’m way more comfortable standing in my cosy place by the door than sitting with weird strangers.
Very different on the bus. It’s frustrating when folks do that because there’s not enough room to get around them, they’re just getting in everyone’s way. On the train, at least you can go stand up against the opposite door to the open one so there’s a path.
I’ll even press the button on a train for people, cause I’m a gentleman. 😛
I try to be the last person on the train most of the time so I can get that sweet door corner spot. 🙂
Yeah, but do you stand in the exit door during peak and not get out of the way when the train arrives in a station, because that shit is annoying!
I stand in the corner out of the way of the door.
I do the same, of course making sure im not in the way of ppl getting in and out. But I find myself getting unjustifiably mad at other ppl who do the same thing, like in my mind “NO! This is my thing! I wanna be the first off at my stop!” in glorious hypocritical fashion lol….
I’m the same way. I prefer to stand anyway so it works out nicely. Plus I know when the platform switches sides so I can usually work a nice place out of the way up the back by standing in the doorway on the first two stations. I have to get out of the way so people can get on/off twice, but from there out I can just lean back and relax.
Personally the thing that bugs me is the way passangers stop moving and clump together. It takes like one person standing at the bottom of the esculator at Flinders St Station to cause a shoulder to shoulder pile up when there’s plenty of room like 5m further down the platform. The same thing happens on the train. Someone will get on, see there isn’t a seat, then stand there blocking the isle. The section with the door fills up and they’ll stand there oblivious to the fact they could create a ton of room by taking a few steps back down the isle.
Man, one of the best things I ever did was work it so I didn’t have to travel in peak hour. =)
There was a couple having sex on a grey rattler coming back from Circular Quay one Friday night. They were so damn loud, too.
I read on the bus every day. Love my little kobo e-reader.
My pet peeve is people who swing their legs around to let you get past instead of just getting up and out of the way.
Also people talking on the bus, not because it’s rude, but because it distracts me from reading a LOT and I can’t tune it out.
People on the aisle seat who swing their legs are the god damn worse. Just, how the fuck are people on the inside suppose to get out? The rest of your body is still in the way!! Then it becomes a question of crotch versus buttocks… Like why would you subject yourself to that? I’m a skinny person so I somehow manage, but god have mercy on regular sized people. It’s like, standing is the hardest thing in the world or something..
Depends which way they swing. I swing my legs out into the aisle and then back in so they can get past. It’s not like I’m stupid enough to do the swinging then expect you to magically get past the aisle I’ve just blocked with my legs 😛
I give them crotch. Every time.
How is standing better than moving your legs. If you move your legs then the walk way is clear. If they stand then they are in the middle of the walk way. Or if you are saying they should stand and then move into the centre passage they are then blocking everybody.
Getting up on to the aisle is what I was suggesting yes. The space between rows on buses isn’t exactly plentiful (and extends to Brisbane trains). Oh, and this actually happens when the buses aren’t full with people standing. Full buses I understand, but “normal” passenger numbers? -_-
They’re only blocking everybody temporarily in order to let the window-seat person get out. After that person is out, the aisle-sitter can sit back down and there’s minimal disruption. It’s the smoothest way to do things. If you just try to cram yourself into your seat to allow someone to get past you, it’s harder and slower for them to get out. I honestly haven’t seen anyone even try that, in recent times.
I catch the train for about 45 minutes each way. The worrrrrst thing; people’s B.O. I can handle someone hogging the seats, or being noisy (even in the dang quiet carriages), but you cannot escape smell! There is nothing worse.
I personally brush my teeth before leaving work in the afternoon, and put on deodorant when I’m waiting for the train, but I’m very cautious, I guess. I don’t want to be the smelly person.
Yeah my number one peeve! Some people STINK at 7:30am of curry or BO. Seriously bad. And these people are heading into the CBD presumably for office work. I’d hate to work in their office.
So glad I don’t have to take public transportation. I need occasionally need to travel for work too.
Rural Vline trains. There’s certain trains that you can hire a seat for but what is annoying is people who don’t hire for a specific seat get crammed into 2 carriages. Not good when the footy is on.
I only have to travel 5 stops for my train journey each day so I don’t know that it’s long enough to comment on.
Train rides with @dc are fun though. Ya’ll should get a DC wherever you live.
Now available on the Ipswich/Caboolture lines for all your DCing needs.
*note: do not talk to DC on train. Or make eye contact. or sit next to.
Oh lord, we might catch the same train!
Caboolture is possibly sister town with frankston in the terms of behavior, how do I know, went there 2 years ago, 1 of the places there was a 16 hour pub, best to be avoided if you are on public transport
Definitely used to have Adventures on that line when I lived farther out.
Certainly a lot of security guards moseying about that train come nightfall. I appreciate this.
People playing music at ridiculous volumes through crappy headphones that do nothing for noise isolation is a pet peeve of mine but my own non sucky headphones solve that problem for me mostly.
The thing that annoys me to this day and is still a problem every.@#%.day is people breaking the rule.
The rule is the same for trains, buses, elevators too 😉
When the doors open let people get off the bus/train etc before you start steam rolling the doorway. Fark people!
It’s the old apple earphones mostly. Crappy earphones that do nothing to insulate the sound.
I hate people who go on public transport and complain about other people’s noise. Seriously if noise bothers you so much, buy a $25 pair of Sennheisers or similar and wear them for the noise isolation it offers (approximately 25db or more). Don’t even have to listen to music.
Better still, go to your local chemist warehouse and buy foam or silicon hearing protectors for $3 and put them to good use.
Why waste energy being angry at our noisy modern society when it is YOU who has a problem with it. Fix it.
Because they’re the ones being jerks.
Because it can be a quieter society with a little something called respect. Catch a train in Japan and it’s completely the opposite: no loud conversations, noone mucking around, people listening to music do so quietly. People respect the other passengers by not being obnoxious and inconsiderate and “too loud? your problem, not mine”.
Makes for a better trip and better society.
I traveled in Japan with a friend of a friend who was “that inconsiderate guy” on Shinkansens and subways. I told him many times how disrespectful it is (particularly in Japan) but his attitude was, more or less, “they’ll get over it”. Was morbidly embarrassed every time but there was no way the average Japanese commuter was going to do anything but silently tolerate it.
Thing is, one day you’ll come across someone that won’t tolerate it and things’ll get really awkward
When it’s too bright you wear sunglasses, when you don’t want to see something, close your eyes. If you don’t wan to smell something breath through your mouth of cover your nose. When you don’t want to taste something, spit it out. Why then must everyone else shut up when you have a problem with the sound?
For the record I hate noisy people on the train but I’ve travelled on Cityfail for 15 years with sound isolating earphones and I’ve never had a problem, not once. I can’t hear them. In fact I’d argue to say my daily commute is very quiet and peaceful. An oasis of calmness in fact, one of the only times during the day that I can totally zone out and be at peace with the world. Truly. That’s because I can’t hear anything.
Instead of making it a crusade against the world, why not just fix the problem yourself and be in audio bliss while you’re at it? Why be mad? Be happy, cost is only a few dollars!
If your answer is you couldn’t be bothered to use earphones, but you can be bothered to get angry every day, twice a day at people for being people, then I say you are a hypocrite.
The sun doesn’t respond to public opinion, so we protect ourselves from it. Ditto for rain. Odours and bad tastes we respond by removing ourselves from their vicinity, because we have no other option. We do all this because we can’t compromise or appeal to empathy when it comes to rain, sun, pee-smells or liquorice.
People, however, have the capability of empathy, so we have the option of politely asking them to be considerate of other passengers, which is especially valuable if we have no option of finding another seat out of earshot. Loud people aren’t a force of nature – they’re people. They’re just unaware of (or flat-out heedless of) how much it bothers those around them.
Empathy??? what is this Empathy you speak of? So you go on internet forums and complain in the vain hope that these empathic, loud, heedless people will take notice and change their mind?
Er, might wanna re-read the first paragraph:
Oh, no. If I wanted them to notice, and thought it’d do any good, I’d go up to them and politely ask them to keep the noise down, as I said. However, I can count the number of times it’s worked on one hand, so I no longer bother. Like you, I retreat into the comfort of my music.
I’m not a crusader, merely someone that would prefer to have the option of reading in peace and quiet during my commute. I’d rather not have to have my music at full volume to drown out other people just so I can read without distraction – the music in and of itself is somewhat of a distraction, anyway, so it almost defeats the point.
Anyway, I was pointing out why we consider appealing or complaining valid for this situation, and why we don’t complain to the sun when we get sunburnt. I can count the number of times asking a group of loud people to be more considerate has worked on one hand; however, I can count the number of times asking the rain to stop has worked on no hands.
I hate the people that queue up dead smack centre in front of the train doors (usually also the last people to queue, cutting in front of everyone ; another pet peeve), then get upset when the people getting off the train are barging into them.
My weird story is how In Japan or Switzerland I can put a blindfold on me and just step out according to the second hand ticking over.
Firstly yes, Bus people for some reason are better than Train/Tram people!
My biggest pet peeve is people talking loudly on phones. It makes me realise why in Japan it’s banned on the Shinkansen and very much frowned upon on the metro lines.
What I used to LOVE about public transport was the ability to draw for 40mins uninterrupted when I used to live in brissy. Would try to sketch a few pootraits in 15mins or so on the way to and from Uni. Nowadays I live a 10min walk from work so there’s not much need for PT!
Hah Pootraits… I meant portraits or did I….
I think we found that excrement-flinging miscreant mentioned in the first comment.
SHHH don’t tell them :B
In my old job I used to drive to work. Since I started working in the CBD, I get the bus to work every day, and I’ve got to say it beats driving to and from work by miles. Basically gives me half an hour each morning and afternoon to do some reading, and most of the time it’s nice and quiet and I get on the bus near enough to the start of the route that I always get a seat.
Dislikes are mainly noisy people… occasionally there’s this woman on the bus on the way home who just gets on her phone and starts talking (read “bellowing at the top of her lungs”) to… somebody. “I’M ON THE BUS NOW. I’M ON THE WAY HOME. I’LL BE THERE SOON. ARE WE GOING TO (do something) WITH (somebody) ?” etc etc. But I just know that if I punched her right in the mouth that somehow it would be ME who came out of it looking like the bad guy.
Also, people who listen to music and extreme volume through earphones that are so leaky they might as well be just playing it through the speaker. Then there are the (thankfully rare) people who DO just play their music/video through the speakers because they don’t have or don’t want to use earphones.
Used to catch a train and tram into work every day since I moved to melbourne. Then I moved to the stop that’s just outside zone 1 and it doubled my costs … So i went and bought a motorbike and it’s costing my much less. Plus I get to shout nyoom as I go down streets
Queensland Rail, worst run company, charge you a bloody fortune to ride there shit-house trains.
Always late/delayed/cancelled, use 3 carriage trains during peak hour, but use 6 car trains between 7pm and midnight because apparently that’s a good fucken idea.
The costs for QR are insane. Wasn’t there a poll recently, and we have one of the worst, but most expensive, public transport in the world? Like, top 10 bad. Like, only riding outside of bus in India is worse?
Yes, public transport in Brisbane costs you an arm and then a leg for the return. This is a metaphorical fact.
Yeah we were the 3rd most expensive city in the world in 2012 I think. We have dropped slightly since then.
Also, I had a Translink card with a hairline fracture in it due to aged plastic or something… they refused to replace the card and I had to spend another $10 “deposit”.
Also… public transport is worse the further out from the city that you go. In my area(Sandgate), there was a gap between buses at night of 1.5 hours, 1hr between buses on the weekends, and the last bus on Sunday finished at like 7pm or something. Not the best deal for the 3rd most expensive city in the world… I just drive everywhere.
Devil’s advocate style, maybe those 6 Car trains late are heading to their resting places so that they can be used for the reverse journey in the morning?
ahh but if that was the case, why are the morning trains all 3 cars?
I can’t vouch for your personal travel routes but at my travel times in the morning (between 7:20 and 7:45) there’s only 2 services I can think of that are 3 car. A 3-car Cleveland and a 3-car Park Road. The other services (including a couple Roma St) are 6 car.
Holy shit QLD Transport prices are insane! INSAAAAAAAAAAANE!!!
What really pisses me off about bus riders, is when the bus is filling up and the people standing don’t move to the back of the bus. Getting angry, just thinking about this.
I’ve seen some strange people on public transport. One was a male transvestite who’d hopped on to the busy morning train at King Cross. He/she was alone and stood in the middle of a very tightly packed carriage. He/she yelled out “OMG this isn’t gum in my hair, this is cum.”
I used to take trains, now take buses. The pros of constantly having 4G internet access on buses, outweighs the pros of speedier train travel for me. Bussing also cheaper.
I used to catch the bus and those people would annoy the crap out of me. It’s like nobody is capable of standing past the back exit door and so the bus driver thinks there’s no more space and stops picking people up.
We’ve had some pretty good ones of those recently where the bus driver has told the folks getting on, “Wait while we make room,” and looked meaningfully to the people up close, who’ve then turned around and sent that body-language message all the way to the back.
I’ve seen this happen as well. Sometimes the bus driver has to get a bit more straight forward and/or yelly with people to pay attention. I’ve also seen when the bus driver doesn’t seem to gaf and just tell people there’s no more space and drive on.
Hahahaha, this is me.
But screw sitting under the window. They always have the air conditioning on Arctic, and that’s where the majority of it goes. I’m not sitting under that for the whole trip, and the aisle seat is the furthest from its chilly blasts. I’d sit in the seat up the back but there’s usually someone already where when I get on.
Well, I don’t actually make anyone climb over me. I’m happy to get up and step into the aisle to let them in, that’s an acceptable cost to me for getting to sit where I want. Less of a problem these days since I don’t seem to be able to sleep through the trip as easily as I used to…
We would work quite well together, because I love that air-con blasting onto my head and my preference is always for window so I can lean on it to rest.
Lounging insouciantly is my comfort zone.
I’ve got myself sorted so that I can get a slight slouch, arms folded and head down, and be perfectly comfortable enough to have a free-standing nap without side support.
…
You could say it took a bit of training to achieve.
Lol.
YOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUU!
Fat people who take up more than 1 seat and spill over into your space but I have a mild claustrophobia when people impinge on my personal space so maybe it’s just me.
As a larger gent, I apologise. I, unlike a lot of others of my ilk, give a rat’s arse and I try and keep myself as contained as possible to one seat. That being said, I do try and gravitate to the 1 person seats, even though I don’t really fit into them to stop someone else being uncomfortable.
I used to catch a bus between QVB and Waterloo, where this dude would get on blasting Urban shit out of his crappy phone and he’d sing along to it, thinking he had ‘game’, but he just looked/sounded like an idiot.
He would give his seat to other people though, so I never had the heart to tell him to shut up.
Public transport is the worst. I gave up and bought a bike, which gets me to and from work in half the time, and at whatever time I want it to.
It’s also way cheaper. Even if I were to buy a brand new, good quality bike every year I would still be saving money.
-Straight to the back of the bus.
-Avoid eye contact
-Headphones in
-Game on phone / surf the net
Saw these two guys at the station. One of them was abusing the other calling him a “ciggie butt brain”.
#NoSwearSeptember
it’s a thing!
I bet it was because he pocketed his lighter…
I used to like being able to catch a rural train in Victoria and enjoy a quiet beer or glass of vino at the end of the day. Then all of the drunk arseholes that were on the train with their BYO pre-mixed bourban cans would get abusive and violent towards other people/conductors/children and now alcohol is banned.
A few weeks ago I was on a train from Berlin to Frankfurt. There was a nice dining cart with table service and it was full of people of all ages sitting around chatting while the adults enjoyed a few drinks. Such a different vibe when you take alcohol abuse out of the equation.
This is why we can’t have nice things, Australia.
Public transport nightmare is any public transport that connects to frankghanistan, frankston to people not native to the mornington penisula, as a certain percentage of them are to be avoided on public transports that comes from the once peaceful village that it once was in the 50’s, now a hub to people you want to avoid if you are on public transport. What’s that you say, you say it is peaceful now, but if you want to catch public transport with any connection to that place, here are some things to consider from someone who has repeatedly caught a train from there.
1. Gunshop near train station
2. The radius of how many cars have to long term park for people who wants to catch a train from there covers the local library carpark to the local cinema car park
3. The size of the station’s carpark is small
4. Best time to avoid catching transport from there is the weekend
I’m on the Frankston line but get off a couple stops before Frankston itself. I train to and from work at peak hours and it’s fine during those times. Agree with you about weekends though, that’s when you get the ‘interesting’ characters.
Actually, you get those any time you travel the line in non-peak hours. I sat listening to some colourful conversations between ex cons the other day when I got off work early.
I’ve caught the train a few times, often people you think may rob or stab you.
To be clear, I only ever caught it to then head down the mornington peninsula.
One time some girl who was a bit over weight got on. There was some douche bag wearing one of those horribly tracksuits brands only poor people and derros buy. He was there with a guy and a girl derro. He just spent the whole ride harrassing the poor lady. ‘You’re beautiful, come and sit with me.’ Until she got off the train crying.
It was one of those times where you wish you could intervene, but the worry of it not then going well for you and everyone was too high.
I am fairly certain that the males who get on the same train as me must have the largest testicles on Earth. Either that or they are trying to compensate, considering the way they sit.
I’m gonna guess it’s about leg-room. I’m not ultra-tall at 6′ neat, so I don’t know how anyone even taller survives, but for me most bus seats give the choice of sitting with your legs apart or your knees up around your ears. I choose apart. Which is why I vastly prefer not sitting next to someone.
I’d love to think so, but this is just as common in the side-by-side seats next to the door as well. Also, when I’m sitting in the standard seating with seats in front of me (I’m 6’3) I find it easy enough to keep both knees within a relatively close proximity of one another.
I can totally understand buses though. Those seats are made for midgets.
Not much taller than you (6’4″) but it’s all about standing if the train is packed. Much easier than trying to contort and fit before my knees start to ache and shake.
Take the train and sometimes a bus to work everyday. About a 1 hour trip door to door.
Apart from the usual things like people being inconsiderate a-holes its the fact the whole system seems to break down when there is a bit of rain or the temperature exceeds 30 degrees.
Adds heaps of time to my travels and crams more a-holes onto the trains.
Some of the worst things that have happened in regards to people have been:
1) Guy on morning train just ups and vomits all over the floor pretty much at the start of the line. Then people getting on dont seem to see vomit on the floor so step through it traipsing it all through the carriage.
2) Junkie trying to get rid of a used needle by kicking it along the floor, almost into a girls calf.
3) Bunch of drunk kids riding between the carriages, tagging, drinking, smoking, spraying beer everywhere, saying inappropriate things to women on the train. Eventually they started threatening people so someone pressed the emergency button then bailed because they started getting in his face. Had to wait at a stop for half an hour while cops came. I had to take over the emergency button duty while they continually tried to bait me… idiots.
Apart from that I like taking PT, it could be cheaper (I live out in zone 2 of melbourne) but I wouldn’t want to drive. I drove when there was scheduled works on our line and when I went in and left early it was ok… but when you go in at normal peak times and leave at peak hour… it takes like 2.5 hours to get home. Plus you have to be concentrating on other peoples driving and cant just zone out like on PT.
Most annoying people:
* guys who dress like Deadpool and brandish all their fake weapons in public – cover them up, you moron
* I kept seeing this old lady every week for awhile who would take up 5 seats by carrying shopping (three disabled/elderly/pram spot chairs and the two just behind them) – I suspect she was moving house by public transport
Most annoyingly entertaining people:
* anyone who sings along to their music while having the headphones on
bloody deadpool man. menace to society.
I travel between Newcastle and the Central Coast every day on the train. One pet peeve would have to be ‘Quiet Carriages’. They are supposed to be quiet. There is nothing more annoying than having to listen to 50-60 yr olds bitching about work on the way home from work. They know damn well what a quiet carriage means.
Also what also annoys me are the ‘Twelvies’ that run up and down the carriages yelling at their lad mates to follow. Where are the train police when you need them. I swear 50 percent of the people who are on my regular train do not buy their tickets and proceed to be loud and obnoxious.
One other thing. It may just be a pet peeve, but I get on the train quite early when there are quite a few seats available to sit in. I ask myself, why do people feel the need to choose the seat either directly behind me, or straight in front of me. And the smell……oh god the smell…
I wish Adelaide has quiet carriages.
The last train I took had a shrieking baby on it for the entire 45 minute journey. I was desperately rummaging through my bag trying to find my headphones and block the noise but I had forgotten them.
I live in Melbourne and take the Frankston line, 45 – 60 mins each way depending on whether or not I get the express. The worst thing is the boguns and ex-jail birds who for some reason always have so much to say despite saying nothing substantial at all.
Everyone else knows the unwritten train etiquette – get on, take your seat/stand in your spot, be quiet and enjoy your downtime with a book, music (with appropriate volume) or your phone. I have gotten so used to this routine that I don’t know if I’d like to change it anymore.
Only one pet peeve. People who climb over you rather than simply asking for you to get out of the way. Like physical body contact is somehow preferable to a simple request.
This doubles, when they do it to disembark at a stop that i was going to get out at anyway. People so impatient AND uncommunicative that they will push past you before the door opens, when they could have asked and disembarked in an orderly fashion.
Dumb
Once when the train lines were down on a Saturday night I got a rail bus with a bunch of rowdy drunken folks. Always fun. Except this time the driver put on James Taylor’s Carolina on my Mind. The bus went completely silent and all the drunken folks listened peacefully. It made me laugh like an idiot for some reason. I wasn’t drunk.
They were probably worried about getting turned upon by one of their own.
Cautionary tale for the ages.
I’m putting this story in something.
It’s too good.
-one woman everyday on my train ride to work clips her nails, does her makeup, eats an apple LOUDLY then talks on the phone LOUDLY too.
-women who BATHE in perfume. its hard to breathe when this is the case. one woman does it at work too and comes into my office for 5 mins and i need to open a window for the rest of the day.
-one time i got caught with a ticket that was 5 mins past its use by date. ticket inspectors litterally grabbed me and pulled me off the train, handed me a $250 fine then had the balls to turn around to me and say ‘if you give me $300 right now i can make this all go away’ i said a few expletives, cops were called, he got arrested and i won $2000 in the court case that followed.
How did you prove the guy tried to get you to bribe him? Or they didn’t need proof?
while he was taking my details i pretended to screw around on my phone and turned the voice recording on. when the cops came i let the female listen, and she went over and told him i had him saying it. its a good tip to do, i think
LPT: Get a voice recorder on phone
Most phones have video recording built in, I’d just use that
This is the best story ever.
In no particular order, my list of PT hatred:
– Bags on seats
– Schoolkids sitting in the priority seats, or sitting when older people have to stand (In my day!)
– Loud talkers
– People not moving out of the way of the doors.
– People who refuse to move from aisle seats. Leg swivellers.
– People eating on PT, especially pungent food.
– People who leave their food scraps or coffee cups on / in between seat.
– People tray to take up more than one seat on the back seat of the bus when it’s packed.
– People who lurk near the back door of the bus, and not moving beyond.
– People who don’t keep to their seat area and make unnecessary physical contact.
Anyway, I’m clearly a grumpy old f*ck. End rant.
Well I’m in Melbourne, our public transport is terrible.
Myki is terrible. On trams you can now pay on the spot fines, you still can’t buy a ticket or top up your myki.
Melbourne where if there’s a lot of rain or it’s really hot the trains don’t work.
Melbourne where your train is cancelled at the last minute. Yet another minute later an empty train goes by. Which begs the question, ‘how did they not know the train was cancelled when it must have been cancelled for at least 30 or more minutes going past stations further up the line. Where you also know it was cancelled because a delay made it with in 10-15 minutes of the next train and that is seen as too efficient to have trains run so quickly together.
Melbourne where you train is either early or late but never on time.
Melbourne, when there were trains running more frequently in the 1930s than the present day.
Melbourne where the PT is designed only to go in and out of the city. Somewhere can be a 10-15 minute drive, but to catch public transport there you have to spent 45 or more minutes going into the city and back out.
Melbourne where they funnel the trains into the city to ensure a delay on one line delays several other train lines. A operating fault and not the way the system was designed to run, yet despite this being well known, they won’t change it.
Melbourne the only city in the world where they split trains, change drivers at the central, busiest station to ensure delays and trains don’t run smoothly.
Melbourne, where there’s always weird stains on the train seats.
Melbourne, where they spend millions redoing a central station and dont address it’s major design flaw. Where it’s built back to front so regional trains are on the inside, meaning they have to cut across multiple metropolitan train line tracks to get in or out, shutting down that part of the network, delaying every train line and limiting how often services can run.
Melbourne, where the main station has signs on the wall that say, ‘do not spit’ which are covered in spit.
Outer east of melbourne, where you pay for your myki AND $1 to get picked up from your house and taken to the station.
I didn’t mind the myki much when I used it at PAX. It’s pretty much the same as Brisbane’s ‘Go Card’, only you really need to rub the terminal with the card to get it to work.
On the plus side, the prices are basically metro/regional at reasonable/reasonable prices. Unlike Brisbane’s where every 500m you move from concentric rings around the CBD equals and extra two bucks on your ticket price.
It actually used to be a $5 fee for failing to touch off on your exit terminal. Then they realized that everyone who travelled more than twenty minutes out of the CBD was failing to touch off because the fucking penalty fine was CHEAPER THAN A STANDARD TICKET.
So what’d they do? Increase the fee. Motherfuckers.
My favourite thing is how QR justifies the late running of its trains by saying that anything up to 4 minutes late is still on time. When I need to make connections to the equally awful bus system, those 4 minutes are vital.
My other favourite thing is the joke that is the “Quiet Carriage”. They’re anything but quiet these days. /grumble
I swear in Melbourne it used to be with in 6 or 8 minutes.
So then they’d have posters, ‘99% of trains on time’ and you just rolled your eyes.
Something i loved in Japan, there was an announcement apologising for the train running late by 6 Second…. 6 seconds.. and they had to announce an apology.. was one of the highlights of my holiday.
Yah a 2 minute delay on express was broadcast all over the station, every sign flashing like mad.
If you’ve ever used Japanese trains, nothing will ever be as good. Their drivers are timed by the milliseconds.
Back in the 2000’s, CityRail used to judge ‘on time’ as +/- 10 minutes of the advertised time.
I hate everyone and everything that gets on the train with me. my train, my seat, my space……..GET AWAY FROM ME, SHUT UP, SIT STILL, STOP FIDGETING, TURN THAT MUSIC DOWN AND FOR F**KS SAKE BLOW YOUR GOD DAMNED NOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@markserrels Be warned about buses! They’re only good based on the suburb you’re in. I used to catch one dulwich hill and I swear every other day there used to be some idiot shouting racist obscenities out the whole bus ride and they’d be speaking to no one in particular! Just screaming out crap for a good 40minutes =,=
Also, the time you get your transport.
On the route I take, if I leave before 7:30, I’ll probably get to work at 8:00.
If I leave at 7:45, I’ll get to work between 8:30 and 9.
It’s actually possible to leave at 8:30 and get there around the same time as leaving at 7:45. Fucking peak hour.
I take great joy in telling those people hogging seats with their bags/belongings/leg to move their shits and taking up their precious space.
things that annoy me:
* public transport
It annoys me when during peak hour, people who get a to a two or three seater row first will sit in the aisle seat instead of scooching to the window. And then they act all annoyed because they have to move when somebody wants to get in to the empty seats that they’re blocking.
I’m pretty sure they do it because they know most of the time people won’t try and sit next to them (especially if they’re in a two seater). But seriously, you’re on a train at peak hour. People are going to want to sit next to you. You’re going to have to get up anyway – might as well save everybody time and effort and scooch over to the window seat in the first place. >:c
I’ll sit under the window when they turn the AC down.
On all the trains I’ve gotten lately the AC has either been turned onto warm, making it way too hot in the packed carriage, and then they realise about 2 stops before I have to get off that it’s too hot and you hear the air con start. OR I get the old rattler trains with no air con at all. :C
Mine are weird. I get on in the morning and the carriage is warm. But the AC is clearly on cold, and by the time I get into the city it’s super chilly even though it’s packed full of bodies. Though it’s not even just the fact that it’s cold, it’s that it’s up too strong and there’s too much air gushing out at you. It’s uncomfortable.
I have a fat ass and wide shoulders so I try and use the aisle as much as possible to avoid getting chronic back and shoulder pain from scrunching up to avoid taking up other peoples space. I do move without an prompting when people want a seat though, and I make sure half my cheek is off the aisle seat so I’m not invading too much. I wish other people were as considerate as I am 😛
I wish public transport was an option where I live, anywhere outside of the capital cities is either non-existent or too expensive.
Guy with long legs here.
I need that aisle seat so I can at least have one knee slightly off into the aisle space so my legs don’t completely cramp up. That’s why you have to step over me (although I do stand up to let the person through in this situation. I am not an ogre).
Luckily I do not take public transport very often.
Stand up and get off your ass… then sit back down.
I clearly wrote that this is what I do.
You’re right, Mark.
BUS PEOPLE>TRAIN PEOPLE
However:
BUS
I’ve edited this post 3 times. I now give up lol
They got rid of the window seat/aisle seat distinction on the trains in Perth by switching to a single row of seats down the sides of the carriage. It reduces the total amount of seating slightly, but there is a lot more room to stand in the centre.
I don’t really have a complaint about the buses or trains themselves, but I wish they ran more often. I also wish the current state government hadn’t lied about their intentions to build a rail link to the airport.
My last experience with public transport was catching the train from Muswellbrook (Hunter Valley, NSW) to Sydney as I was on the way to the airport. It’s about a 4.5 hour trip with a changeover at Hamilton (Newcastle). So I get on the train at like 10AM, due to arrive in Sydney about 2:30PM or something. A couple of kids (12 or 13 maybe) get on the next stop and are sculling bourbon and cokes, on the train. AT 10:30 IN THE GODDAMN MORNING, 12 or 13 YEARS OLD!!
They’re being drunk, loud, obnoxious and most people are trying their best to ignore them, they seem to be talking to a couple of bogans who they seem to know somehow. They don’t get kicked off the train until like 3 or 4 stops later, which ends up being like 45 minutes. 45 minutes of drunk kids, throwing rubbish, being drunk, spilling bourbon and coke, SPEWING.
I hate public transport.
I’m on a train just about daily. The only time I really annoys me is when Metro (Melbourne) cancel trains for no good reason. Last week I had my 5:18 train canceled for no reason, or at least none that ever reached the platform. GG Metro!
Luckily in Sydney cityrail has improved somewhat in that department over the last couple years. At least they tell you what is going on and when/where the next train will be.
And now if a train you are on inexplicably stops for no apparent reason, they will usually give you an announcement as to why it’s happened. It doesn’t help in any real terms, but you don’t feel so frustrated.
do you go anywhere near burnley station? i swear to god, at least 4 times a week theres ‘signal faults’ going through there….
People who insist on not moving the seat to face the same way as the rest of the carriage before they sit down, or purposefully leave the seat in front of them the wrong way round so they can rest their feet on it. If you’ve got a group of four friends, then that’s fine, but if you don’t have a third person to sit on the seat in front, turn it around.
I avoid peak times, so this is about as annoying as it gets.
Oh man, when I was in Sydney I was ALL ABOUT flipping the chair to ride backwards.
It was a great way to make eye contact.
Fortunately, there are non-flipping seats at the front of the carriage made just for the purpose of unnerving people by doing that. Feel free to make use of them.
Also, if you’re seeking eye contact on Sydney trains, you’re doing it wrong. 😛
I’m sure someone else will have beaten me to it, but: anyone and everyone.
Sydney: you don’t know how to public transport.
I was asleep when a man did a wee in my train carriage.
No one woke me and I was roused by the ammonia burning my nostrils to a completely empty train car.
If you were asleep and woke up alone, how do you know it wasn’t you?
-taps nose-
I was on the train from Nsyd to Maq park at 4pm on a Friday, not that many people on the train, had a three seater to myself next to the stairs and all was good. When suddenly this older homeless looking lady got on, chucked her cloth bags down, laid across the three seater facing me, looked me right in the eyes…. and pissed herself. The smell was incredible, but worse was the stain spreading slowly across her grey tracksuit pants, dripping off the edge of the seat.
She stared straight into my soul and destroyed me
if i see someone with bag on seat of busy train, i’ll go up & ask that i sit down… even if there are other unoccupied seats..
90% of the time my train experience is totally fine however:
Once had a drunk dude get on the train one night and play his own game of made up trivia using the MX – like a dog with a bone he wouldn’t let it go until everyone on the carriage joined in, not even headphones could save you! You couldn’t help but admire is inebriated tenacity however 🙂
Only last week I was in a two seater (this is sydney btw) – bag at my feet shoulder hard up against the wall/window and this mid 50s (somewhat overweight) lady rocks up huffing and puffing, slams a pillow down on the seat next to me and plonks down. She then proceeds to huff and puff some more while elbowing me and finally cracks it and angrily tells me to move over (I suppose i could have held my breath or something to try and be smaller?? I’m by no means a big guy either). I wiggled a bit to make it look like i had done something and she just wedged her shoulders back so she could read her kindle and I ended up just leaning forward and resting my elbows on my knees to read my twitter feed… not worth it, she’d clearly had a bad morning or something.
And the pièce de résistance was the time on one fateful summers night during major delays, no air conditioning and a train at sardine can capacity – one creepy guy’s inability to control his self pleasing desires until he got home caused an almighty uproar that forced said creepy guy to flee for his life through the crowded train with his questionable reading material in hand.
Not worth it? Ohohohoho. Always worth it. Elbow back like a child, or simply stare grimly into their eyes – unmoving, implacable – while you mentally murder them. People can usually pick up on that.
Where to begin.
Sydney trains, half of the people on them. Then probably the other half as well.
The sh!tty trains, the sh!tty condition they are in, the fact they can run up to 5mins late with out even being acknowledged or at times don’t turn up and you get the next one.
People who want to sit in the middle of the bench seats that allegedly seat 3 people. Which will fit two comfortably. But you get people who stare at you wanting YOU to move to the middle seat for the journey. The deal is if you want to sit and you are willing to take the middle seat a) don’t be a jerk about it & b) don’t be a fat arse with a dozen bags who was never going to fit in the small gap.
Also the jerks who get all huffy when you do get up to let them take the middle seat as they expected you to shuffle over for them and be stuck in the middle.
The new Sydney trains time table, which makes it much harder to get to my station, further between trains and now longer, not to mention more expensive with this opal card abortion.
People who don’t use deodorant.
People who eat very smelly foods (strong smells – Fish and god knows what else) early in the morning (6am)
People who try get on the train at a busy station at peak times when people are unloading from the train at Central, Wynyard or Town Hall. I am happy to push you back out of the way and hope you get taken with the crowd further away from the train for being a d!ck.
Jerks on mobiles really loudly, swearing or being rude \ racist.
People who fall asleep on trains and trap you in at the window seat.
Creepy guys who on a 3 seat bench seat, sit right up close to women for no reason at all apart from being a creep when she was the only person on that row and there were other rows empty.
I have told a guy off for this general weirdness as he didn’t seem to understand my death stares.
My list could continue but it just makes me angry thinking about how I’ve been reduced to catching public transport to commute to the city, which is stupid as so many jobs do not require an office in the “City” for any reason apart from to say that they are in the City, with such sh!t public transport in this state you’d think they would have worked that out.
I avoid public transport at all costs. I’d rather pay for fuel and parking.
Darwin Bus experiences:
Sitting up the back and having someone behind me start smoking, driver DGAF…
50% of the bus drunken itinerants yelling and playing music off their phone speaker, with an aura of smell that makes it quite literally hard to breathe. (Almost every bus)
People who don’t even check what number the bus is that they get on then abuse the driver for not going the way they wanted.
Every other problem listed above in other states, including people that block the doors so people can’t get off, and old men staring at and trying to have conversations with the young ladies.
*WARNING BODILY FLUID STORY*
Worst public transport experience was when I was catching the bus with Dad. This girl ran to catch it as it started to pull away from her stop, and we both noticed that she was drinking an Up’n’Go while running pretty quickly. She boarded the bus, and after a few minutes of standing as the bus was moving, she threw up everywhere. She tried to catch it with her hand, but it had the opposite effect and sprayed everywhere instead. Fortunately, it didn’t hit me.
Unfortunately for Dad though, he got some smelly flecks of it on his suit and shoes. He was visiting a client that day and was fuming, but didn’t confront her.
To her credit, she did try to clean up what was on the floor, but she didn’t have enough tissues. The puddle was right near the exit too, so people had to sort of hop from the bus onto the street.