Throw the book at anti-social passengers who play loud music on public transport - Ismail Mulla

Over the past year I’ve ditched the trains owing to the lack of reliability and exorbitant costs. Besides, why pay upwards of £10 for a rail replacement bus when the same journey can be made for less than half the price on a public bus thanks to the mayor's fares?

While on the bus I like to read. There’s no better way to while away the time, as the bus meanders around the estates until reaching the destination that I need to get to, than burying your head in a good book.

However, it is increasingly becoming more and more difficult to concentrate. Not because I’m getting old and there are more and more grey hairs on my head but because of idiots playing loud music on their mobile phones or having conversations at the same decibel level of a town cryer.

I really don’t want to know what Janine has been up to in her spare time, thank you. Nor do I want to listen to the inane nonsense that you have in your music library on your device.

This sort of uncouth behaviour is becoming more and more common and I don’t understand what these people get out of it. Do you really want the whole world to know about your social life? If so, why not just volunteer all that information to the social media companies, I’m sure those who have nothing better to do with their lives will happily consume it as content. Whatever happened to privacy?

As for blasting out music from a tinny speaker on the phone, I thought that was a teenage thing, that rebellious little ones grow out of as they mature. As it transpires, that’s not the case. A lot of the offenders that I’ve observed are grown adults. Some of them are parents themselves. Imagine thinking this is the example to set for your children?

Why not just buy a set of cheap headphones and enjoy your music in peace? If they’ve forgotten said headphones then I’m sure these people will survive a bus journey without any music.

It has got to such an extreme that now I find myself having to pop my own headphones in. Not to listen to anything but just to prevent my eardrums from the shrill sounds emanating from other passenger’s mobile phones. That is the only way that I can get enough peace to concentrate on reading.

Buses are also becoming increasingly the target for litter. The other day someone had left a half-filled cup of coffee from a well known high street bakery chain under a seat. It duly spilled everywhere. Coffee sloshing from one side of the bus to the other throughout the journey.

Ben Plowden, chief executive of the Campaign for Better Transport, said antisocial behaviour could be “a real deterrent” to using public transport. He’s not wrong. At a time when we’re all being encouraged to use public transport, you can’t have a feral few ruining it for everyone.

That is why the idea of fining people who play music out loud on buses is to be welcomed. Local authorities are being encouraged to use new powers to levy fines for nuisance behaviour on buses, including littering, vaping and listening to music without headphones.

Local authorities gained the power to set and enforce their own rules on their bus networks earlier this year, and guidance published on Monday by the Department for Transport sets out how the new legislation can be used. Those rules will need to be signed off by the Transport Secretary, and will be enforced by specialist transport safety officers rather than bus drivers.

However, I find it hard to see how this will be enforced. If these offenders are unwilling to listen to exasperated passengers and bus drivers, how is a transport safety officer going to make a difference?

This week the Government also launched a nationwide campaign reminding passengers to use headphones on trains.

But do we really need the Government to tell people not to blast out loud music on public transport and to clean up after themselves? Surely it should not be beyond the comprehension of any grown adult to show a little bit of civility in public?

It’s a sad reflection of the society we find ourselves in. One afflicted by selfishness. Maybe the only remedy is to really throw the book at these people. I’ve certainly been tempted to throw mine at them.