In what could become a popular trend in the rest of Australia, Western Australian transit officers are set to target noisy passengers – especially those with loud music or mobile phone conversations, with the end result being problematic passengers kicked off trains or buses if they don’t heed a warning to tone their music and conversations down.
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The state’s Public Transport Authority is getting a public awareness programme up and running, including posters, to target problematic passengers.
A survey carried out by the Sunday Times says both loud music and noisy phone conversations were the top two annoyances. Melbourne metropolitan service Connex carried out a similar survey recently and added people taking up too many seats and backpacks as other inconveniences.
Connex media spokesperson Lanie Harris said they had no plans to tackle the two specific target areas. “Patronage is up, so our main concern at the moment is meeting those needs,” she said. “I do remember last year that one of the rail operators in the UK was trialling a quiet carriage for those who find music and phone conversations annoying.”
Railcorp in NSW also said they are not specifically targetting those nuisances, however they didn’t rule it out. “[If people were] causing a disturbance, we’d do something about it,” said Railcorp Media Advisor Marianne McCabe.
As for WA, PTA spokesman David Hynes said, “Once the posters go up, there will be fair amount of peer pressure applied because there will be something there in black and white for everyone to see. This is all about showing manners and respect for other people.”
Comments from Queensland Rail and TransAdelaide were not available at time of publication.
