Something bad happens to people when they become commuters.
I say this as someone who has become increasingly despairing of humanity in transit. For several months now I have been bouncing around my morning train sporting a growing baby bump. In all that time not one person has had the decency to offer me a seat. Not one.
To devil's advocates let me say, I think we've gone way beyond the point where people might be holding back for fear of mistaking pregnancy for regular weight gain.
I have stood incredulous as young people, middle-aged people, suit-wearing men and robust women have sat with their noses level with my protruding stomach. Each one has made the decision to stay in their seat, to play with their phone, to gaze the other way. Seriously. What is wrong with people?
On one journey to Edinburgh I identified the last free seat in the carriage. The suit in the next seat had spread some of his papers onto it and continued to ignore my expectant presence as the train lurched off. After my request that he move the documents so that I could sit down, he sighed and slowly and deliberately moved them one by one.
Many who have watched me sway around the gangway, using only the balls of my feet and a loose grasp of a chair back for balance, then blithely stand up at the destination and push their way off before me.
There are designated seats for people with mobility issues and pregnant women on trains but, unsurprisingly, pushing past ten standing people to get to them is simply not an option. So instead I stand, try to find something solid to lean on and silently fume.
I did a quick straw poll of other pregnant commuters that I know and they expressed a depressingly similar experience. Do older people and those with disabilities feel the same way? I know that I move like a scalded cat if I sense an elderly person may not find a seat.
So today I took the decision to seek alternative transport and am giving the bus service a whirl. On the upside, it always has space for everyone to get a seat. On the downside, the journey takes almost three times as long and is two pounds more expensive each day. But what's a (pregnant) body to do?
Given the summer of transport upheaval scheduled for Scotland, I can only see travel tensions increasing. Never has working from home been so appealing.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article