Monday, October 02, 2006

Fare dodging

I've just got off the free bendy bus and, finally, onto my blog which having started with a flourish, I temporarily abandoned in order to get some idea of the world of blogs. I now have some idea and I'm back. Anyway, let us return to the behemoths that serve as transport for the public. A penalty for the New Poor is our reliance on cheap transport. And, bendy buses are cheap in several ways.
I mean Ken and cohorts at London Transport complain that fare dodgers are the pariahs of society. Some of us get on these buses and fail to pay. Yes! And who is to blame? Don't point the finger at the impoverished saving scanty amounts of money (that might add up to a loaf of bread or a small cake), blame the designers. They actually designed out the payment of fares. It's not difficult to design in this feature. So, what happens? Every so often a posse of ticket inspectors sometimes accompanied by police do a swoop and get to fine a hapless half-dozen people. Great.
And, has anyone in the upholstered towers of power ever ridden on one of these buses? If so, they will find that suspension is yet another design omission. This morning I had my entire breakfast reconfigured in my stomach by the shuddering motion of the bus. At one point, I thought is it me? But, no, the empty seat in front was rattling with the vibration. My teeth were chattering. It's deeply unpleasant. More than that it's offensive to subject people to this lack of ease, to which you can often add overcrowding, lack of ventilation, etc. Any wonder we don't pay our fares?

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