[title]
It’s World Kindness Day today, apparently, and Transport for London is taking the opportunity to launch new posters asking you not to be a dick on the tube and the roads. One of the key messages of its new ‘#TravelKind’ campaign is asking people to move down inside tube carriages to make space. Not that hard, you might think – but TfL and its predecessors have been trying to hammer that same message home for at least 99 years. Here’s a potted (and only mildly passive-aggressive) history.
1918
TfL
This first poster is best read out in a Mary Poppins voice.
1920
TfL
Next: a slightly hectoring number that also, incidentally, proves manspreading is not a new phenomenon.
1923
TfL
A colourful number here, with a number of tiny Londoners wearing natty little ponchos.
1932
TfL
By the ’30s, London Transport was clearly getting pretty ticked off about the issue. This is a moderately polite way of saying ‘Will you just move down already?’
1947
TfL
‘Do unto others’ is the message of this poster by famous cartoonist Fougasse. Note the pass-agg underlining.
2016
TfL
Fast-forward to the twenty-first century, and people still aren’t getting the message. But what do you expect from Little Miss Stubborn?
2017
TfL
Last one: the latest campaign from TfL. Have a good week, London, and be excellent to each other.
Love London? Sign up here to get Time Out tips in your inbox every week.