Although it's many years since I left my home in London I still occasionally use The Tube, as
London Underground is affectionately known. Hold on. Affectionately? Does anybody actually hold any affection for network of tunnels that run beneath surface of our capital, or rolling stock that runs through them?
They’re over-crowded, far too warm and stuffy (the temperature in tunnels is about 10 C higher than at ground level), and views are pretty dire. In central London, all you’re likely to see is dark walls of tunnels, although if you’re lucky, you might just get a glimpse of another train passing in another tunnel through one of gaps between them. Funnily enough, contrary to popular belief, majority of The Tube is actually over ground. Not that there’s much scenic stimulation along those stretches either. You might see some fascinating factories, some interesting piles of rubbish that have mysteriously grown along sidings and a few back gardens, but nothing much else.
Anybody who’s ever regularly used The Tube during peak hours will tell you that using this particular form of transport can take great courage and will power. The platforms are crowded to point where those at front, closest to lines, can find themselves fearing for their lives. We’re warned to stand behind line, which is painted about three feet away from platform edge, but with all those people behind you, all wanting to get forward and have a chance of getting on next arriving train, platform edge can quickly become dangerously close.
Having a position at front doesn’t necessarily guarantee you a place on next train though. Oh, no. Whether or not you’ll actually get on it will depend largely upon where on platform you’re positioned and whether or not carriage doors will be in front of you when train stops. If you happen to be standing between two doors, then you’re very unlucky indeed. One way around this is to look at those ‘stand behind’ lines. As rolling stock on each line of underground are generally of same type (the trains differ from line to line) and stop at more or less same point (note: more or less… this isn’t an exact science), ‘stand behind’ lines will be more worn where doors are likely to be. Find those spots and you’ll have a better change of boarding next one, unless of course lines are freshly painted, in which case, bad luck.
This next point should be obvious to everybody but unfortunately, my experience tells me that this isn’t case. When train stops, even if you’re lucky enough to be standing in front of doors, LET PASSENGERS OFF THE TRAIN FIRST! Don’t just push your way on, even if others are doing so. It’s bad manners and can cause nasty accidents.
Once on train, you’ll no doubt have to stand as there are few seats compared with amount of passengers being transported during peak hours. It’s standard etiquette to offer your seat to elderly passengers and those carrying small children, whether still in comfortable confines of womb or otherwise. Anybody else will have little chance of finding a seat. The more experienced underground travellers have their strategies though; they'll target a seat. Those reading are unlikely to be travelling just a few stops, and although they could have been travelling for ages already, they rarely make good targets. Study people’s faces. If they look bored, they’ve probably already been there a while so maybe they’ll be alighting soon? Mind you, people do get very bored very quickly on The Tube, so they could just as easily have joined train at station before yours.
When it comes to seats that are vacated during journey, there’s a general unwritten rule. Whoever is standing closest to a seat that becomes available has greatest claim to seat. He/she can choose to offer it to a fellow passenger, but it’s against etiquette to make a dash for a seat where privilege of sitting obviously belongs to another.
Speaking of unwritten rules, there are a few others that should be observed if you don’t want to unduly annoy your fellow passengers. The one that’s probably more annoying than any other, is subject of occupying seats unnecessarily! Bags and other inanimate objects do not have right to a seat. Sure, if trains relatively empty, by all means pile them on a seat, but don’t imagine you can do this during peak times, even if you enter to train at its station of origin where seats are still aplenty. Rather than have a small child occupy a seat, you might consider holding your toddler on your lap, too. Mind you, rush hour on The Tube isn’t best place for small children to be, so your best bet would be to wait a couple of hours before making your journey.
