The unwritten rules of public transport. The loud music edition.

I have used public transport more in the last year and a half than I have ever before in my life thanks to university. And, naturally, along the way I have come across some peculiar people and situations.

Yesterday got me thinking about public transport etiquette. You know when you’re on the train or bus and there’s that guy (or girl, tweens are the worst) who's playing their music really really loudly. Honestly I’m surprised their not deaf, or they are and that’s why they have it that loud, either way it gets a bit annoying if you forgot your own iPod that day. Anyway, the other day a lady asked a man to turn his iPod down.

Yes, she asked him to turn it down. Usually I'd be like "yeah you go lady" but not that day... no. I honestly didn't think it was that loud, and it truly wasn't!! I have pretty good hearing (I would like to think, being 18 and all) and I could hardly hear his music blearing. When I listened closely I could faintly here some sort of music in the distance, and he wasn't standing far from where I was sitting. The thing about this situation was that it was two older ladies involved. I guess they were both in their early to late 50's but they were doing some kind of eye contact exchange. I couldn't see the other lady, only the one in front of me and she was kind of using her eyes to point to the guy. THEN the other lady got up and was all "excuse me that’s very loud could you turn it down" she was a little rude actually... And props to him he goes "it’s not loud, I’ll turn it up!" cheeky, but brilliant. Then she left shaking her head, as they always do. But considering my past experiences this guy was lucky!

One time I was catching a night bus from Fremantle to Murdoch. It was after my friend and I had seen Death Cab for Cutie in concert, so our night was going well. When we got on the bus heading back to Murdoch (so we could catch a train to Mandurah) there was a group of three on the back of the bus listening to loud rap. Not to be judgemental, but I must be to give you a perspective of the situation, they were dressed in baggy rap clothes and well... were a little intimidating for a couple of good girls from the south. We then reached the middle of Freo, and a bunch of people got on, naively we sighed relief. That was until two new bus passengers were clearly drunk (one was carrying her flask of wine) and looking for trouble (the other was already bleeding from the nose and had a ripped shirt). It wasn't long until the three at the back disrupted our new passengers with their loud rap music.

The guy, who had clearly been in a fight already that night, made his way to the back of the bus to make some trouble. We weren't looking so we didn't draw attention to ourselves, but a lady at the front screamed a little at the bus driver saying the guy in the ripped shirt had head butted the guy with the music. He (scary guy) then made his way back to the front of the bus. There was an older man in front of us, probably in his 50s, and he started to try and talk to the guy. All the while I’m thinking oh no... Don’t try and be a hero... but he did. He got up and tried to push the guy off the next stop. BIG mistake. The guy retaliated pushing the older guy off the bus and into the bus stop. We never saw anything, but the sound of his body against the bus stop was enough to frighten us all. (And I don’t mean just once, I mean several times over and over)A couple of girls (tipsy I might add) ran off the bus, so a few of us followed. The three at the back remained, along with the woman at the front (who turned out to be a nurse), and the scary guys friend (he was making zombie noises, so yes he was scary).

We wondered down the dark street not knowing where we were, we tried flagging down a couple of buses that passed but no one stopped. We kept walking until we found a small shopping centre which had a bus stop on the side. We waited at the bus stop discussing what had just happened. When a bus came to the stop, we realised it was the one we just ran from. We got on and it was clear the scary guy had got back on, because there was a trail of blood leading to the back. When I looked up one of the guys from the group of three was missing. The scary guy's friend was at the back comforting the two left behind. Apparently the guy was looking for a fight and went to the back of the bus to find one. The older guy was apparently fine. A little concussed the nurse said, but he insisted on walking home.

No security came, and I never read about it in the papers.

But something good came from this night. One of the girls on the bus was an international student from America. Her name escapes me now, but she was from New York. She told us that she had never seen anything like that in New York, which came as a surprise for us. When we reached Murdoch it was almost 11:00pm. We advised her to wait for a security escort instead of wondering through uni alone. She asked us how to do that. We were a little surprised but explained. Then we began to discuss the need for a manual for international students at Murdoch University. I'm not sure if there is one... maybe she just didn't read it...

Anyway, there’s a long winded explanation as to why listening to loud music can be a bad thing, maybe one of the reasons you can now be hit with a $100 fine for. It annoys people, and could in some instances get you hurt. So be careful my loud music loving friends.

Till next time!
Jess

UPDATE:
Incase any International students have missed or lost security info check out this webpage.
http://www.murdoch.edu.au/ofm/services/security.html#security_escort