Zero Tolerance

[commonpeople1]

BoJo's new strict rules for public transport in London are making their mark in my neighbourhood. Yesterday evening, I came out of Mile End Tube and found four wardrobes dressed as policemen standing beside a metal detector, with a few police vans outside. Last week, there was a proper police raid on Mile End Road; I saw two boys pressed against a building wall, surrounded by coppers and a curious crowd.

This morning, the bus refused entrance to two children because they didn't have any photo I.D.'s to prove their age. Both of them - a scrawny muslim girl and a boy that looked like Forest Whitaker - were left standing by the bus stop with the biggest look of misery on their faces. Under Red Ken's rule, they'd have sauntered in without a second look to the driver.

BoJo means business.

Comments

[iejw.livejournal.com]

I’m totally loving the ‘BoJo’ moniker!

I never understood why they let kids on without showing their pass. If their passes can be withdrawn for bad behaviour, who was to know?!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

We were living before under a benevolent, semi-utopic socialist state that didn't care much for upsetting children! Be prepared to see lots of tantrums and tears by bus stops from now on.

[iejw.livejournal.com]

I’ll make sure to keep my camera phone on hand…

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Are you still off sick? I keep having to take the elevator from your floor (shakes fist at Old Ford) and I'm always scared I'll run into you! :-)

[iejw.livejournal.com]

No, but the b/f is. Don’t be scared – he’ll probably glower at you but he’s generally harmless…

[millionreasons.livejournal.com]

Being pedantic - Ken had already brought in the photocard scheme for teenies.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

But there didn't seem to be a pressure on drivers to enforce them like there is now.

[rag-and-bone.livejournal.com]

this scares me.

[idioticpoet.livejournal.com]

I'm confused. Could you provide a link to the backstory for this to those of us who don't live in England?

Having said that, I will say that after experiencing a lot of hooliganism and boorish behaviour on the public transit systems of both Rhode Island and Boston, I'm in favour of anyone getting their comeuppance for assholish behaviour anywhere in the public sphere- children or adults. If the kids need to show their school ID to get on the bus and ride free or at a reduced rate, so be it. Maybe it'll help keep 'em in school where they belong.

Hell, in Rhode Island, the universities pay money to the transit authority so that their students/employees can ride the bus for "free" via swiping your ID card through a slot in the fare box; and once you graduate or lose your affiliation with the university, your ID card is deactivated. The high school kids, showed their ID's and then paid the reduced rate. Same thing for seniors too.

They should do the same thing over there. Issue an ID card, swipe it and follow the same format. Act like an ass=lose your riding privileges. I'm getting very tired of all this molly coddling of children. We're (collectively) raising a generation of simpering ninnies with too much of a sense of entitlement.

/rant

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I searched for a link but couldn't find any. It was a news story I saw on TV, where the mayor has asked drivers to now crack down on children who don't have photo I.D.s (it was the same before he came into power, but I think drivers didn't bother back then to check all the time.) Consequently, children left, right and centre are being left behind and not making it to school.

I wasn't really passing judgement on whether it's a good or bad thing - just noticing it. I'll be happy if crime drops, though to be fair it was already pretty low before in my neighbourhood.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Yup, it's happening all over London, and even made it into BBC London's evening news.

[phyrephly.livejournal.com]

This is all alien to me. Children have photo IDs in England? Why would any kid be left on the street rather than be taken to school? In America, it's not really the children who do crime, I guess?

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Children can ride buses and trains for free if they show photo ID cards that prove their age (I think they have to be younger than 16 or 14). Those kids were left behind because they didn't have their IDs and they didn't pay for the bus fare. Do kids ride for free in America?

[phyrephly.livejournal.com]

Oh I see. Did they actually look older than 14? Kids in Philadelphia get their free bus fares through the school they attend. It probably depends a great deal on what city you live in, but in Philadelphia the schools give out free passes to kids that don't take the free school buses. Philadelphia public transit isn't very good though. It might be more efficient in other cities.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

No, they definitely looked younger than 14! The girl couldn't be older than 12. In the past, it wouldn't have mattered because the driver would have made a personal judgement call whether they were old enough. But now, with the new mayor, they have to check every single one, regardless of whether they look young or not.