{"id":458,"date":"2011-12-05T13:39:38","date_gmt":"2011-12-05T11:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filosofille.wordpress.com\/?p=458"},"modified":"2026-05-12T09:12:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T08:12:59","slug":"qa-31-dec-2011-class-system-is-off-the-rails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.further.co.za\/helen\/qa-31-dec-2011-class-system-is-off-the-rails\/","title":{"rendered":"QA 31. Dec 2011. Class system is off the rails"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This was published in the <\/em>Cape Times as \u201cTime to make one class fit everyone on Metrorail and get rid of snobbery between coaches\u201d, 5 December 2011<\/em><\/span>. (Apologies to non-South Africans for local content. Will return to more universal matters in the new year. Promise!)<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m glad I can use the train for my daily traveling. I enjoy not being in a car and all the hassles that go with that. I enjoy feeling so greenly virtuous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve almost always travelled third class on the train \u2013 sorry, I mean Metro class. It feels safer. In fact, the only time I\u2019ve felt really nervous I was alone in a first class (oops, Metro Plus) carriage with one very edgy man. There are always more people in Metro class, more women, more mothers with children. It\u2019s also half the price and \u2013 as I heard one man joke, watching people run up the platform \u2013 we all get to the station at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

I also enjoy messing with the expectations of ticket agents. \u201cReturn to Cape Town, Metro class, please.\u201d The eyebrows go up: \u201cMetro?\u201d \u201cYes, please,\u201d I say, three fingers raised in confirmation. I like the atmosphere in third class. If there are first class people in the world, I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019m not one of them. I\u2019m also glad to spend time in mixed company. I live in a mostly white, English-speaking world and, in Africa, I think that\u2019s just weird. I like to greet and be greeted. I like the currents of language swirling around me \u2013 Afrikaans, isiXhosa and others. I don\u2019t understand the words but I start to feel my way into rhythms and tones, the musicality of speech. It feels surprisingly intimate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact the only thing I hate about Metro class is the ranting preachers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But a few months ago, I upgraded. The overcrowding had become inhuman, intolerable. All the carriages are full by Steenberg and packed from Retreat. People manage somehow \u2013 with shoving, screams and laughter. It\u2019s part carnival, part hell realm. I figured getting out of there was the least I could do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So now I\u2019m riding Metro Plus. Conditions are better, especially with those nice padded seats that face forward instead of sideways. But how quickly I caught myself scrutinising fellow passengers for those who didn\u2019t belong! Conductors pass through regularly, looking for chancers who haven\u2019t paid the right fare. They generally do so with a light touch, but I have seen people pulled off the southbound train and penned in at Rondebosch station, presumably to be fined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it\u2019s not right. People shouldn\u2019t be made to feel like criminals for trying to get home from work in one piece. It isn\u2019t right that some of us travel in a half-full carriage while the next one is packed to the rafters. (Metro Plus also gets very crowded, but it is never as bad and often markedly better.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I\u2019m glad to see [trade union federation] Cosatu putting some pressure on Metrorail. The solution has to include more train sets and creative ways to lighten the peak-time loads. But shouldn\u2019t we also talk about getting rid of this double standard in what is, after all, a public transit system?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helen Douglas<\/em> is a philosopher with a counselling practice in Kalk Bay<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This was published in the Cape Times as \u201cTime to make one class fit everyone on Metrorail and get rid of snobbery between coaches\u201d, 5 December 2011. (Apologies to non-South Africans for local content. Will return to more universal matters…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[30,75,76,77,78,79],"class_list":["post-458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-everyday-philosophy","tag-cape-times","tag-commuting","tag-first-class","tag-metrorail","tag-public-transport","tag-third-class"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.further.co.za\/helen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.further.co.za\/helen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.further.co.za\/helen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.further.co.za\/helen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.further.co.za\/helen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.further.co.za\/helen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2353,"href":"https:\/\/www.further.co.za\/helen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458\/revisions\/2353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.further.co.za\/helen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.further.co.za\/helen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.further.co.za\/helen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}