I’d abandoned hope of getting on my delayed commuter train this morning. And it’s not as if I was crying or begging or looking any more desperate than usual. Yet somehow a woman squished up and said there was room, and I hopped in. I have never before known this to happen.
Is there a new commuter solidarity in the air? If the Southern Rail fiasco has taught us anything it’s surely that travellers need to stand (conveniently) shoulder to shoulder against operating companies, rather than maintain their usual mutual aloofness. An attempt by Southern to get passengers to tweet angrily against the RMT union backfired spectacularly when 90% of the responses called Southern out for their own incompetence. Such groupthink points the way, for as more companies chase greater profits, conductors, guards and station staff will be endangered across the network. If we value them, we need to pull together. Budging up a bit is also appreciated.
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