This is one of those guides which could easily be transferred into rant form. I decided to do this after a particularly tedious tram ride back from the town centre today, as such my points may be somewhat biased/incomprehensible, but bear with me. Additions or corrections welcome!
1. Phone ringtones(and music): With the constantly progressing technology of mobile phones and the improvement of the speaker sounds, it was only natural that eventually people would be using them as MP3 players. However phones often lack something most MP3 players do have and that is headphones. Now let me make this clear: No one wants to listen to the latest and greatest by Justin Timberlake or {your personal hated music 'artist' here} when they're on the bus, tram or train. We don't, really.
I understand that if you have a phone and someone rings you, then your chosen ringtone will sound, but please, either have it dulled down to a quieter setting or answer it promptly. The people at the back end of buses are often the worst offenders, deciding that their music is suitable for the entire vehicle and blaring their entire album on maximum volume.
The topic of noise pollution leads me nicely onto my next point, actually.
2. Talking: Now wait, don't just copy the subtitle and start shouting at me just yet. Let me elaborate. People talking is fine, I expect it, I do it myself when I'm with friends. It's only natural and it's perfectly understandable. As with phone ringtones however, the problem is not that it's there, it's the volume. The tram ride that inspired this post had this issue. A gaggle of tweenage (not a typo) girls were disturbing the entire tram. So much so that people at the other end were bending their necks to see what all the noise was about. When you can be heard over all the other conversations, tram noise and general murmurs along 35 meters of tram, it's almost certain that you're talking too freaking loudly. I might let them off if they'd been drinking, I know I get louder when I drink (I can't hear as well either), but this was at 4:30 in the afternoon and these girls were certainly not of drinking age.
Yelling down the tram to your mates at the other end should merit being thrown off. That's just unnecessary. Walk over there and talk to them, don't yell over people. It's just rude.
3. Profanity: Remember that when taking public transport you're in a public place. It's kind of implied by the name. Now I know that kids as young as 10 swear regularly (I know I did), but nevertheless, hearing people scream "FUCK!" when I'm heading home after a "long" day weighed down with my food shopping for the week is not the best way to travel. Again, understandable if there was cause for it like you just broke your phone or smacked your head on something and you'd yelled it out to express anger/pain or whatever (I'm still not all about it, but it's more understandable) but in this case it was just people swearing for no reason! There's no reason or rhyme behind it, they were just 'spicing' up their sentences with profanity for the sake of it and really it's just...well, sad. I can only hope they grow out of it soon, though honestly my hopes aren't terribly high.
4. Being polite: Most of this rant could be summed up by this subtitle I admit, but I was more drawing attention to certain points with the other ones. In general, being polite is a sure way to ensure that the other passengers don't think you're a complete moron who's primary passtime is ramming your face into the business end of a sword. More pointedly however, be polite to the conductors/drivers. They're just doing their job, they don't need expletives yelled at them because you refuse to pay full fare when you don't have your pass and they're insisting that you do so. Really, what does that gain you? I'm sure working as a conductor on public transport is soul draining enough without some upstart teenager insulting them. Put yourself in their shoes (not literally, thanks) and maybe, just maybe, you'll think twice before being such a colossal twat.
...That's it, I said it was a 'mini' guide.
1. Phone ringtones(and music): With the constantly progressing technology of mobile phones and the improvement of the speaker sounds, it was only natural that eventually people would be using them as MP3 players. However phones often lack something most MP3 players do have and that is headphones. Now let me make this clear: No one wants to listen to the latest and greatest by Justin Timberlake or {your personal hated music 'artist' here} when they're on the bus, tram or train. We don't, really.
I understand that if you have a phone and someone rings you, then your chosen ringtone will sound, but please, either have it dulled down to a quieter setting or answer it promptly. The people at the back end of buses are often the worst offenders, deciding that their music is suitable for the entire vehicle and blaring their entire album on maximum volume.
The topic of noise pollution leads me nicely onto my next point, actually.
2. Talking: Now wait, don't just copy the subtitle and start shouting at me just yet. Let me elaborate. People talking is fine, I expect it, I do it myself when I'm with friends. It's only natural and it's perfectly understandable. As with phone ringtones however, the problem is not that it's there, it's the volume. The tram ride that inspired this post had this issue. A gaggle of tweenage (not a typo) girls were disturbing the entire tram. So much so that people at the other end were bending their necks to see what all the noise was about. When you can be heard over all the other conversations, tram noise and general murmurs along 35 meters of tram, it's almost certain that you're talking too freaking loudly. I might let them off if they'd been drinking, I know I get louder when I drink (I can't hear as well either), but this was at 4:30 in the afternoon and these girls were certainly not of drinking age.
Yelling down the tram to your mates at the other end should merit being thrown off. That's just unnecessary. Walk over there and talk to them, don't yell over people. It's just rude.
3. Profanity: Remember that when taking public transport you're in a public place. It's kind of implied by the name. Now I know that kids as young as 10 swear regularly (I know I did), but nevertheless, hearing people scream "FUCK!" when I'm heading home after a "long" day weighed down with my food shopping for the week is not the best way to travel. Again, understandable if there was cause for it like you just broke your phone or smacked your head on something and you'd yelled it out to express anger/pain or whatever (I'm still not all about it, but it's more understandable) but in this case it was just people swearing for no reason! There's no reason or rhyme behind it, they were just 'spicing' up their sentences with profanity for the sake of it and really it's just...well, sad. I can only hope they grow out of it soon, though honestly my hopes aren't terribly high.
4. Being polite: Most of this rant could be summed up by this subtitle I admit, but I was more drawing attention to certain points with the other ones. In general, being polite is a sure way to ensure that the other passengers don't think you're a complete moron who's primary passtime is ramming your face into the business end of a sword. More pointedly however, be polite to the conductors/drivers. They're just doing their job, they don't need expletives yelled at them because you refuse to pay full fare when you don't have your pass and they're insisting that you do so. Really, what does that gain you? I'm sure working as a conductor on public transport is soul draining enough without some upstart teenager insulting them. Put yourself in their shoes (not literally, thanks) and maybe, just maybe, you'll think twice before being such a colossal twat.
...That's it, I said it was a 'mini' guide.
