Public transport

It's sad, though, the lack of respect that humans show each other. The worst offenders here in Brussels on the metro seem to be the little old ladies. They will push their way onto a metro, expecting the fifty unsuspecting alighting plebs to get the hell out of their way: After all, how dare they be there in the first place!

I remember in Melbourne, the MET (now Connex) started a campaign in a vague attempt to educate passengers how to stand to the side of the door to let people off the carriage before going on the train yourself. The STIB are now going through the same futile process. It works for a few days, and then people don't care anymore.

What people don't realise is that barging onto a train doesn't guarantee you a seat or a good place to lean. What it guarantees is that your train is late. Add an extra minute at every stop for people pushing and shoving both on and off of a carriage (longer for peak times), and you've easily added 15 minutes to a train trip.

Whenever I've been in Paris, I've been impressed with how the French (of all people, you might think) handle this. In general, they will patiently wait for the following metro to arrive when there's no room, although there's still a bit of pushing, shoving, along with the added bonus of turnstile jumping, and an impressively potent and unidentifiable smell (possibly a century of B.O.).

Ultimately though, I think it's the RATP who present this topic the best in their Objectif Respect (Mutual Respect on Public Transport) campaign. The website itself is well designed and very engaging, and the message is presented without the usual boring old public transport waffle. In particular, check out point 5 - it covers the three evils of public transport I fail to tolerate: Back-pack shovers (Les sacs à dos pare-chocs), pole-leaners (L'occupation de barre centrale), and mobile phones playing music (k-tss, k-tss, k-tss, k-tss; Le concert obligatoire)!

It's a real shame that money has to be burnt on such things when all of this should be common sense. At least I can say that the STIB is heading in the right direction in maintaining and improving what I personally feel is one of the best public transport networks around.