‘Headphone dodgers’ who listen to music on the tube with the sound up are easy to hate but ‘bare beating’ is a problem that is harder to solve than you think, argues James Ford

Public transport is often seen as an inherently good thing. Done well, transport policy can be a silver bullet that solves other, seemingly intractable, challenges. Promoting cycling, for example, can reduce congestion, improve public health and fight climate change. But transport policy can also be a double-edged sword. All too often there are unintended and unforeseen consequences. For all the benefits of London’s wholehearted embrace of cycling, we are also left with pavements festooned with abandoned hire bikes.

Installing wi-fi on the capital’s transport network (a policy I was very peripherally involved with whilst working at City Hall) is a further case in point Thanks to this policy initiative, my phone works when I am on the tube. Unfortunately, it also means the phone of the person sitting next to me on the tube works. And the person sitting next to me is an idiot who loves Tiktok but won’t use his headphones. When considering this initiative from our ivory tower at City Hall, we debated many negative scenarios that could arise, including whether it meant that terrorists would find it easier to detonate devices remotely. However, we woefully neglected to consider just how many Londoners were selfish jerks.

We........

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