Traveling with ordinary people
I am ashamed. A few weeks ago I was showing my Russian friend around in Helsinki. We took the tram number 3 from Mannerheimintie to Eteläranta, driving via Punavuori. It was a Sunday evening, and reasonably quiet with only a few passengers. In Eira we were suddenly accompanied by a homeless bum, who kept himself entertained by chatting away at the back of the tram. Soon a steady purl reached our ears. My friend boggled: "Am I right, or am I wrong - it sounds like that bum is peeing inside the tram." I could no other than confirm that this was most probably the case. "I never saw such a thing before - why doesn't anyone complain?" she continued. All I could do was to shrug my shoulders. The driver has no time to intervene and other passengers don't want to trouble themselves with such things.
I felt a sudden sting of longing for a car of my own despite the fact that I am normally very happy to use public transport. Actually, I really enjoy travelling with others. I feel that using public transport gives me a real feel of the city, including the random meetings with my co-passengers in the underground and tram. A friend of mine, who is in her late twenties, justified her private car by saying that she doesn't want to have anything to do with "ordinary people". She also thinks that trams are scary because all kinds of weird people hang around in them. And it's true. The Finnish simply don't have the asset of charming with their behavior in public transport.
The City of Helsinki is trying its best to ensure that public transport is kept tidy and clean. Few of us willingly sit in a tram which smells overwhelmingly like urine, or keep company to a junkie teenager in the commuter train. But what can you expect when there are no resources, no manners, no obligations?
So what do we have? For instance the congestion charges for rush-hour traffic, which are intended for improving the city's public transport services. But that alone is not enough. People also need to change their attitudes. Public transport will not get any better if people avoid using it. Besides, the "ordinary people" could also seem slightly different as an entity, if those who avoid contact with them would actually take the step to join in. Public transport is what we make of it. It is not only the underground, tram or bus which we use, it is also the people who travel in it.
When well implemented, the congestion charges for rush-hour traffic are the most sensible overhaul in a long time. In order to reduce private cars and traffic jams, we have to take an action. Sometimes slight pressure can help to encourage someone to try out means of public transport. And this does not only apply to those much-spoken-of "fat middle-aged men in their cars", who seem to be despised by journalists. There is no pointing fingers at anybody, when the actual crowd that avoids using public transport is rather heterogeneous. They are surely such a diverse bunch of people that having them with us would make the masses of the "ordinary people" much more colorful in the early morning rush hour. You are welcome to join us! I can assure that getting to know something ordinary can be surprisingly rewarding.
