A post from a few years back, when work had me on trains most weeks. A couple of small observations from those journeys that have stayed with me.
To say work had been busy would be an understatement.
It seemed every week brought an opportunity to visit a different corner of the country. Which meant getting far more familiar with trains and public transport than I ever expected. Almost intimately.
But travelling is a great place to watch crowd behaviour. How people tend to follow what everyone else is doing without really thinking about it.
Two things struck me…
The first involved Birmingham New Street. Part of a journey that had already been eventful for the wrong reasons. I’m one for leaving things behind at the best of times (normally coats in pubs). On this occasion it was on the train. A colleague had basically been collecting things I’d forgotten, like a mother following a three year old round a shop.
We arrived at New Street and had to change… it was rush hour, seven minutes to make the connection. Things were rushed. My coat was the last thing on my mind. Right up until halfway down the platform.
So. Dilemma. Run back onto the train and fight through the crowd to reach my seat? Or just accept it, buy a new coat, and move on.
I decided to try. If I got trapped on the train it would at least make an interesting story. (Plus my colleague would have to haul my luggage back to south Wales.)
The train was now jammed. Passengers piling on. No real chance of getting to my seat.
So I just shouted down the carriage and asked people to pass the coat back.
Without hesitation, they did. No questions. No second thoughts. Just… here you go.
I was relieved.
The second thing was the station itself.
With everyone a little unsure of the new layout, there was a lot of herd mentality going on. As the crowd spilled in from arriving trains, most people just followed whoever they were with. Which normally meant hitting a bottleneck or a dead end. There were signs, clearly visible, pointing in the right direction. But nobody looked at them. The assumption was that the people in front knew where they were going.
They usually didn’t.
Anyway. Just some observations.
Peace
G