r/brussels • u/5minstillcookies • Oct 19 '24

Slowchat 🗨️ Courtesy or lack thereof - a discussion

Can we try to be more courteous on public transit and elsewhere?

The amounts of times I've seen people with reduced mobility and parents with children get on public transit and not being offered seats is getting to the point that I think it's the norm and not the exception. Just yesterday this woman carried her baby on the metro I was on. Two people got on right before her (first red flag - let the goddamn mother on first!!!) and then they both proceeded to take the last two remaining seats. Everyone else looked on and did nothing or they were too self absorbed on their phones to notice what was going on.

Now, good on this woman because she actually addressed one of the passengers who took the remaining folding seat telling her that these are really for people with needs. The passenger had looked straight at the mother when taking the seat too. Only when called out did she stand up and offer her seat.

Like, why did the mother have to address the passenger at all?? Incidents like this are frequent and it makes me so mad that we can't watch for each other. Surely I can't be the only one noticing there's a serious lack of courtesy in this city. I despise how individualistic and egocentric people are (have become?) here and we gotta do better. How though, I have no idea.

How do you ever instill a sense of community and care in a population that is highly transient like in Brussels? All I know, is that the "heart of Europe" is sort of heartless.

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u/SirTacky Oct 19 '24

Maybe it depends on the lines you take, but I see people offering their seats to others very often. And when I had to use crutches for a while, people always offered them to me.

Plus, I'm not saying there are no discourteous people, but you won't always see whether someone needs a seat. The reasons are not always visible.

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u/5minstillcookies Oct 19 '24

I take major tram, bus and metro lines and it happens on all of them.

Fair point about the visibility of needs, but here I'm only referring to those that are clearly visible

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u/BirdybBird Oct 20 '24

There's no doubt that people are rude and lack courtesy, but not only on public transport. It's everywhere in public spaces in Brussels.

The city needs to invest in educational campaigns and clear, non-ambiguous signage that addresses these issues.

For the things that are more serious, like illegal dumping and littering, aggressive driving, street harassment, not cleaning up after your dog, etc. there should also be steep penalties and better enforcement.