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London Targets Noisy Commuters With Headphone Campaign (theverge.com) 91

Posted by BeauHD from the don't-be-a-nuisance dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: After bringing 4G and 5G connectivity to the Underground, London's public transport authority has started scolding noisy passengers who subject everyone to music and calls blasting out of their phones. A new poster campaign launched by Transport for London (TfL) this week encourages customers to wear headphones when watching or listening to content on their devices to reduce disruption for other commuters.

"Please don't disturb others with loud music or calls when traveling on the network," reads the "Headphones On" poster. The posters are already being displayed on the Elizabeth rail line, according to TfL, and will expand to bus, Docklands Light Railway, London Overground, London Underground, and London Tram services from October.

The campaign targets headphone dodgers as data coverage becomes more available across the underground rail network, making it easier for passengers to stream content and make calls on the go. People who do so without donning headphones are annoying other commuters, however, with TfL research showing that 70 percent of 1,000 surveyed customers reported loud music and phone calls disrupting their journeys. "The vast majority of Londoners use headphones when traveling on public transport in the capital, but the small minority who play music or videos out loud can be a real nuisance to other passengers and directly disturb their journeys," says London's deputy transport mayor, Seb Dance. "TfL's new campaign will remind and encourage Londoners to always be considerate of other passengers."

London Targets Noisy Commuters With Headphone Campaign More | Reply

London Targets Noisy Commuters With Headphone Campaign

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  • Worst offenders (Score:3)

    by devslash0 ( 4203435 ) on Saturday August 30, 2025 @09:05AM (#65626180)

    People on normal trains, in the quiet carriage, playing music or having voice/video calls.

    Had a few over the years who had the sticker saying that they are in the quiet carriage right in front of their noses, ignoring it for their own convenience.

    • Re:Worst offenders (Score:5, Interesting)

      by znrt ( 2424692 ) on Saturday August 30, 2025 @09:40AM (#65626240)

      ride the subway in japan, you can hear a pin falling on the floor. raise your voice and immediately get stared at by everyone in the carriage. although if you are a gaijin they will understand you're just uncivilized and look the other way, as they do with drunk people.

      that's a tolerated exception specially at night, drunk people get a pass. except drunk japanese usually aren't really a nuisance, but just have a quiet meltdown. it's assumed as part of work. https://www.instagram.com/shib... [instagram.com]

      there is another exception in theory: elderly. they get a pass too, but in practice they would never do such thing.

      • On the subway in London you could ride the subway with a full on ghetto blaster and no one would be able to hear the bloody thing until the train stops...

        That aside on the morning commute on the train is similar. Very quiet. Sometimes you get one loud arsehole, but they're usual lazy it turns out and don't catch the morning trains.

      • In the U.S., drunk people get a pass when they injure or hill people with their car too.

        I don't really understand why that is.

        Lawyer: but your honor, my client was drunk when he smashed into the car with a family of four and killed two people.

        Judge: oh! He was drunk?! Well, jezzz....ok, we will give him a one year suspended sentence and tell him not to do it again.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by thegarbz ( 1787294 )

      I bet you said nothing right and just stood there offended? I have found in 100% of cases people correct their behaviour. I even found one guy who was sitting next to the word "silent" carriage when I pointed it out to him the first thing he did was scan it with Google Translate and then instantly turned his sound off.

  • If only (Score:3, Insightful)

    by david1k ( 10356432 ) on Saturday August 30, 2025 @09:25AM (#65626206)
    If only there was a low cost, simple method for connecting headphones that didn't depend on charging and complicated and security-challenged Bluetooth?

    • This is a new issue; the assumption that everyone can afford bluetooth headphones is unfair.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by znrt ( 2424692 )

      read a book, or count sheep if you're so bored and unable to control yourself for a few minutes.. pretty low cost and simple, except if you're so entitled as to assume that your adolescent incontinence is everyone else's problem

    • I just checked Amazon for USB C headphones. After sorting by price Low to High the cheapest was $3.49, and the price for non-sponsored headphones does not exceed $7.95 for the first 10 pages.

      The first set [amazon.com] is on sale for $3.49, normally $6.99.

      The next set [amazon.com] for $3.99 is not on sale.

      Last non-sponsored set on page 10 [amazon.com] is $7.95.

    • You can plug them into that fabulous USB-C port that the EU had mandated devices have.

    • If only there was a low cost, simple method for connecting headphones that didn't depend on charging and complicated and security-challenged Bluetooth?

      Huh? Complicated security challenged bluetooth? It's less complicated to stick your earbuds in your ears than it is to fuck around with a cable. Charging? My bluetooth earbuds last longer than my phone. As for low cost, Bluetooth earbuds can be had for $5 from China.

      We get it, you like the headphone jack, that doesn't mean you need to switch off your brain completely when talking about headphones. Your post impacts literally zero people's decision on whether to use headphones or not.

  • Politicians love to tell people what to do (Score:5, Insightful)

    by greytree ( 7124971 ) on Saturday August 30, 2025 @09:26AM (#65626210)
    Politicians love to tell people what to do, but they never do enough to make everyone - i.e. even the antisocial bastards - do it.

    So normal, decent people act normally and decently but - rules or not - they all suffer from the actions of the antisocial bastards who do not, and will never be punished for it.

    Making more rules that will be ignored does not change that.
    • I am just going to leave a link: https://www.theatlantic.com/ma... [theatlantic.com]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by crow ( 16139 )

      This sounds like an education campaign, not new rules. Unless I read it wrong (or the summary left it out), this is about trying to set the social norms, not about issuing fines.

      • Yes.
        So normal, decent people will carry on being decent, and the antisocial shits will carry on being antisocial shits and this is a total waste of money.
        Money that could have been spent on issuing train guards with bullwhips that could have been used to actually make a difference.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by crow ( 16139 )

          No.
          More like basically decent people don't think it's alright to follow the bad example of a few people around them, so the number of people being obnoxious drops to where those who do really stand out. Social pressure can be an effective way to minimize disruptive behavior.

          • If you follow the example of people who play loud music in public and play loud music in public, you are not a decent person.

            And your great plan has worked in which country ? Not one I've visited recently.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by thegarbz ( 1787294 )

      Making more rules that will be ignored does not change that.
       

      Correct, fortunately no one is making rules in this case. You're so quick to shit on politicians that you didn't even check what is being done and who is doing it. Your post is sadly +5 insightful but really it should be -1 offtopic.

    • ... never do enough ...

      Government should have a transport cop on each train, plain-clothed but carrying a ghetto-blaster. Someone starts listening to YouTube or music without headphones and the cop stands beside the offender starts loudly playing Greig or Wagner (In the hall of the mountain king, Ride of the valkyries) from his ghetto-blaster.

  • Self centered (Score:3, Insightful)

    by fluffernutter ( 1411889 ) on Saturday August 30, 2025 @09:27AM (#65626212)
    I would expect this from Americans, but from the British? This fortunately doesn't happen in Canada. I was on a plane waiting to take off recently and a guy from Quebec did it and I was ready to throttle him, but fortunately he was quiet for the rest of the flight. This is the ultimate in self-centeredness .. to think that everyone wants to listen to what you are listening to, or essentially robbing everyone of the quiet they have left.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Ogive17 ( 691899 )
      Yikes - the arrogance is hard to avoid.

      So it doesn't happen in Canada but immediately you say that you witnessed it once. *eye roll*

      I've been on dozens of flights in the US over the past couple years, not once did I encounter a person playing music without the use of headphones. Once the flight lands, some will start making calls at that point but I've seen that happen in Japan and in Germany during international travel. I'm sure if I flew into Canada there would be Canadians getting on their phones

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by skam240 ( 789197 )

        To be fair the level of disrespect flowing North from here is pretty extreme right now. They're very understandably a bit upset with us right now

        • We understand that you are not all bad. But that doesn't make up for the sum total of you threatening our country and basically every friend you ever had in the entire world. Now, surprise surprise, 2% of overall fentanyl coming across the border is not a national emergency according to your courts and the US may have to pay back $158 billion to the world, which will not be easy for the US to do and will affect the economy. Congrats, he is doing to the US the same thing he has done to pretty much every ot

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by skam240 ( 789197 )

            Preaching to the choir pal.

            • I just went down that road because some Americans seem genuinely surprised that they don't have the greatest reputations internationally.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by skam240 ( 789197 )

                It's been awful seeing the US government turn on our allies on what amounts to pretty much just the personal whims of one man. Our conservatives were never our best face to put forward internationally but I never thought they'd turn against NATO or start threatening the territorial legitimacy of friendly neighbors (to name just a few things). It's crazy to me how much of a cult Trump is.

                • Yet he has always been this way and your country elected him. I'm sorry every American has to own this now, but you do.

                  • Re: (Score:2)

                    by skam240 ( 789197 )

                    Of course we do, he's our president.

                    It does depend on what one means by "ownership" though. I've already come across one Canadian on Slashdot acting towards Americans like our worst conservatives do towards Canada. So the solution is to become as bad as the worst Americans? That's an idiot's response that just creates more negativism. My response was something to the effect of "you folks are better than this"

                    I do understand how upsetting this all must be for Canadians though and I think most Canadians have

                    • No the solution is to make sure every single American realizes that politics aren't for their entertainment. That politics is very serious and you don't just vote for the person who will make interesting news. Literally that is Trump's only merit.
      • Did you read? I said he did it while on the ground but went quiet after that.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Ogive17 ( 691899 )
          Yes - quite aware. And as someone who has taken a reasonable amount of flights over the past few years, I've never seen someone openly listening to music or taking a phone call while the plane was in the air.

          Just calling out BS when I see it. "We Canadians would NEVER be impolite but we'll definitely pretend we're better than everyone else"

      • I see it on every flight.

        Every
        Fucking
        Flight

    • I've never run into it on public transit (though there are people with their headphones so loud it feels like you're the one wearing them).

      But that's public transit. Put someone in a car and a great many of them feel the need to have entire neighbourhoods listen to their choice of music.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Potor ( 658520 )

        I can no longer get in a Philly subway car or bus without at least one "headphone dodger," the UK term. Usually a number. The most annoying are those playing games with loud ringing and crunching noises. It's also bad at airports.

        I can handle it on the street though.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      I wonder if the pandemic had anything to do with it. Apparently it had quite an impact on some children's social skills.

      • Social skills are overrated. Seriously, those are the people who cannot function unless they can pull others into a meeting room face to face to hear all the great things they have to say.

    • but from the British?

      I know it may be a surprise to Americans since you've kicked all the foreigners out, but most of the rest of the world has a very big mix of people living there. The British born and raised are usually polite to the point of self embarrassment, but London is a melting pot of people from around the world with a huge variety of cultures and backgrounds.

      While I don't make any comments about the specific people being anti social in this case if you ever travel around India, Egypt (and the rest of North Africa),

      • I'm not American, but you have a good point. Didn't think about the fact that they now need to make the laws for immigrants.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mjwx ( 966435 )

      I would expect this from Americans, but from the British? This fortunately doesn't happen in Canada. I was on a plane waiting to take off recently and a guy from Quebec did it and I was ready to throttle him, but fortunately he was quiet for the rest of the flight. This is the ultimate in self-centeredness .. to think that everyone wants to listen to what you are listening to, or essentially robbing everyone of the quiet they have left.

      The thing is, that the British are far too polite to even say something. Hence we have signs that start with the words "Polite Notice" which in a far more vulgar tongue like Australian means "Pay Attention Fuckwits".

      So no-one will make a fuss even if someone is being a complete and total dick, which means those who want to be complete dicks often do so with complete impunity.

      That being said, if things get bad enough we will take the cane out of the cupboard and give them a bloody good thrashing.

  • EVERYWHERE (Score:5, Informative)

    by markdavis ( 642305 ) on Saturday August 30, 2025 @10:32AM (#65626286)

    >"Please don't disturb others with loud music or calls"

    This is *EVERYWHERE*. Restaurants, stores, waiting rooms, waiting lines, you name it. People on speakerphones for no reason, holding the phone horizontally and yelling at at. People not on speakerphones but speaking a twice normal volume, as if it requires being louder. People playing "games" with annoying sounds. People watching video constantly with audio. People letting their children do the same. Constant annoying audible notification sounds and ring tones. And this is nothing new, it has been annoying everyone for years and years.

    Sounds from phones are tinny and unnatural and are somehow especially distracting and attention-demanding.

    Even at my work in the cafeteria. Even after we put up signs and table tents telling people they must mute/silence speakers on their electronics or use headphones. There are always people who don't give a **** about anyone else around them.

    My only solution has been to carry noise-canceling earphones around with me everywhere, in case they are needed. And, unfortunately, no pair ever fits well, they require constant adjustment, they shut me out from interaction with others, and can cause irritation. But that is still better than the alternative.

    • People on speakerphones for no reason, holding the phone horizontally and yelling at [it].

      This. I do not understand this behavior. Especially when they move their horizontal phone between their mouth and ear, so they can hear the call better.

      Why don't people use their phone as it was originally designed? You know, with putting the better speaker right up to their ear? Are people really that stupid?

  • Issue commuters (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    With paint gun pistols, the offenders would get the message quickly when the entire carriage unloads into them.

  • So, what about those walking noise pollution emitters with their bluetooth speakers blasting obscenity-laced 'songs' featuring whatever topic they're promoting this moment? What about them, hm? Even going so far as to drown out the local muzak or people trying to hold a conversation at decent volume with someone near them.

  • https://x.com/BBCLondonNews/st... [x.com]

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

    reminds me of when they made a show about the rape epidemic in the UK and the antagonist was a young white brit.

  • When I travel on Amtrak in the "Quiet Car",
    people still blast their cell phone calls and music,
    even though it's forbidden.

    Good luck getting anyone to cooperate.

    Americas need caning, like in Singapore.

    • If it were made legal to just beat the shit out of people doing that, you'd probably see a lot less of it.

      No "request."
      No warning.
      No anything.
      Just have the shit beaten out of you.

  • It really should be that simple.

  • ...we will write you a very stern letter of reprimand!

  • Play loud baroque music on your own device. Experience suggests you'll soon have the car to yourself.
    {^_-}

  • Start issuing fines. £50 on the spot will deter most people.
    It's inevitable that facial recognition will be used this way, might as well start.
    Metropolitan police already uses automatic number plate recognition...

  • Anit-social behaviour like that has become the norm. And complacent people letting it happen as well.

    In moments like that, I think that maybe China got it right with their "social scoring" system. Or I wish we were in the magic kingdom of Cory Doctorow. If everyone else on the train could give the fucker a thumbs down and it would impact their lives, maybe they'd stop.

    And then, of course, I realize the immense abuse potential and privacy concerns of any of these systems and am happy we don't have them.

    But m

  • If you participate in a toxic system, then expect toxicity from both sides.
    This is the reality of Red Tory britain.

  • Seriously, England is famous for being Europe's America.

    They make a lot of noise, are inconsiderate, poor majored and oddly are at their worst when complaining about others behaving just like themselves.

    A campaign like this is beyond wasteful.

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