Drinking On Public Transport
I never thought I'd say this, and whisper it quietly, but I actually agree with Boris Johnson on something.
I know many people are upset that Boris is planning to ban alcohol from the tube and other public transport across the capital, but I have to say I am broadly with him on this one.
I've blogged in the past about how I would like to see the introduction of "dry trains" for people travelling to and from football matches - and I would have no problem with this ban being extended to all public transport.
It is clear to me that alcohol (and an excess of it) is the main cause and catalyst for many troubles (and violence) commuters face on trains. Frankly if people can't go a couple of hours without consuming alcohol then they have a serious problem that needs addressing.
No-one is suggeting that you can't go on public transport after having a drink, what is totally unacceptable is inebriated people being allowed to consume yet more booze once on the tubes which is generally when the troubles start.
Yes, I totally understand the arguments being put forward that such a ban may be unenforceable in its current proposed form and that transport workers feel they may feel the brunt of these changes - but what we need to do is get to a situation where drinking on public transport is seen as socially unacceptable and people refrain from doing it.
Look at smoking, you could make the same arguments. When smoking was banned on the tubes I am sure that there were similar arguments that such a ban would be unenforceable and workers would bear the brunt of any backlash - but some 20 years on we can see how successful those moves were.
The smoking ban on the underground was the right thing to do for the safety of passengers and therefore the ban was imposed (and now in most cases it is respected) - personally I think the same should be true for alcohol consumption.
I love the idea though that Boris simply wants to ban people "swigging cans of lager", of course a total booze ban would also ban people like this quaffing wine. I wonder what Boris thinks about that?
I bet you Nathanial Farington and his friends are minded to write Boris a strongly worded letter, even as we speak. ;-)
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Labels: alcohol, Boris Johnson, dry trains, London Mayor, London Underground, public transport
posted by Kerron @ 11:47 AM
1 Comments:
I'm sorry but this is a pointless headline-grabbing move.
Obviously, anything that lessens anti-social behaviour and low level crime is no bad thing, but, really, how many people do you actually see drinking on the Tube or on buses. There could be an argument for banning drunkenness on buses and Tubes, but the overwhelming majority of drunk people are nothing worse than overly-talkative, and the vast majority of anti-social behaviour is from people not noticably drunk.
Stroke of genius, though, because he's getting headlines out of banning something that doesn't really happen anyway, and he's invited Ian Blair to stake his reputation on it, even though Blair has no direct responsibility for the Tube and presumably knows that actual drinking on a bus is really not on the radar.
Besides, while a can of lager being opened is a bit of a giveaway, who knows whether an apparent soft-drink doesn't contain vodka.
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