WE all know it is better for the environment to car share or travel by bus (or even cycle) rather than sitting, one person to a vehicle, bumper to bumper, in traffic jams. It is a hard habit to break, though.

Peter Kay, the comedian, gave car sharing a good rep in his BBC1 comedy, but not every travelling marriage of convenience is a half hour riot of singing along to the radio while romance blossoms. Many are the schemes that have gone awry because one person is never ready in time, or they don’t pay up when they should.

One company in England thinks it might have found a way to get people out of their cars and on the bus. Go South Coast has installed a U-shaped bank of seats at the back, the kind of thing you usually find on a rock star’s tour bus or an election battle bus. The idea is to get passengers to look up from their phones and talk to each other.

A lovely notion, as long as it’s not 6am, or the person in the next seat is having a tuna sandwich for breakfast, or is manspreading … On second thoughts, where did I put those car keys?