Self-confessed Strava-bore or doomscroller, your fellow passengers have an urgent message for you: Please look up from your phone when sitting on the Tube.
Pregnant and disabled Londoners are fed up with physically fit commuters zoning out on their phones instead of checking if someone else needs the seat.
A viral LinkedIn post from Londoner Lucy Baker calling for better signage on the floors of the tube sparked the attention of Transport for London earlier this year.
Lucy told TfL, “People don’t seem to be giving up their seats for pregnant or disabled people. Not because they aren’t kind. More often, they’re just staring down at their phones.”
“The signage should urge commuters to look up from their devices and see what is going on around them,” she said.
“How about instead of those signs by the doors – above seating eye-level – you plonk a nice notice on the floor?” she asked.
TfL announced a trial of Look Up stickers on the Docklands Light Railway, following Lucy’s post, and are now thinking about extending the initiative.
To encourage a London-wide rollout of the Look Up stickers, Baker has now launched a parody video – a remake of Adam Kay’s original “London Underground” song.
To the tune of the intro to The Jam’s “Going Underground” Lucy sings, “Some people need to get to work. But some people on the tube are just jerks. Some people don t offer up their seats / to pregnant people in the heat.”
Better signage has been welcomed by pregnant Londoners who are fed up with hefting baby weight, joint agony and other invisible prenatal pain along the network.
London artist, Michelle Baharier, said, “This is a problem disabled people face every day. Just this morning I got on a very full train and wanted to sit down. I have an Invisible disability, which affects my spine causing pain and immobility and it is so exasperating having look someone in the eye, or gently tap them to ask them for a seat. And I certainly don’t want to chuck another invisibly impaired person out of their space! If people could just look up once in a while, it might make commuting much more comfortable for other passengers.”
Eight-month pregnant Eliza Peacock said, “I’ve been in situations where I, as a pregnant woman, gave up my seat to a more heavily pregnant woman because nobody else would look up from their phones. It s definitely time for the signage to appear across all tube carriages to ensure more people pay attention to those in more need of seating. Especially during weeks where the trains are more rammed than ever before owing to strikes.”
Anastasia Briancourt added, “It’s amazing how many people pretend to occupy themselves on public transport so they don’t feel guilty enough to get up.”
So, if you’re seated comfortably on the tube reading this article on your phone, here’s your reminder: look around and see if somebody nearby needs that seat more than you.