The public's use of public spaces

OK so this puts me firmly in the realm of grumpy old gitdom, and I'm note even sure that buses count as public space, really, but still .....

Perhaps it's just me, but the habit of standing on the bottom floor of double-deckers - rather than walking up the stairs to find a seat there - seems to be spreading. I've counted at least three buses this week that didn't open the front doors at stops because the bottom floor was packed, so no one else could fit, but on which there were clearly spaces upstairs. While some people obviously can't make the stairs, or are only going one to two stops, it's also obvious that some simply can't be arsed to climb them.

A minor problem of urban life, clearly, but it set me thinking about the way people use public spaces, whether this be walking down the road, in parks, or on public transport. On the one hand, even in London people remain generally fairly thoughtful, or at least careful to keep out of the way of others. But it would be a miracle if the privatisation and commoditisation of almost every other aspect of life had no impact on the way public spaces are negotiated. Encouraging people to be selfish in so many other aspects of life must surely mean greater selfishness when using scarce resources such as urban space in London?

But is this really what's happened? The bus thing winds me up, but perhaps one reason why it does so is that things like that are actually pretty unusual. Perhaps people aren't, in general, any more selfish in their use of public space than they were before? And if they aren't, does this tell us anything about other aspects of social life? It the selfishness of modern life exaggerrated?

Just a thought. I suspect if I drove regularly I might have a different opinion.