It would be nice to inject eye contact and smiles back into commuting

No matter how crowded the train may be, faces are cast resolutely down at the floor, finds Iain Masterton

When you consider the number of steam trains, cruise liners and tour buses all profitably plying their trade at this time of year, it’s obvious that it’s the travel experience itself which, for many, is intrinsically enjoyable.

But compared to Scotrail, even, the average steam excursion is slow, dirty and the coaches hooked up behind the asthmatic engine would have been uncomfortable even in their hey-day.

The charm of the journey clearly owes more to a determination to enjoy the experience than to any amenity afforded by the infrastructure, and the mere process of getting from A to B can be fun, regardless of the merits of B when you get there. Isn’t a pity, then, that such bonhomie doesn’t find its way into the daily commute? No matter how comfortable the car, even a carshare lapses into sullen silence 15 minutes in.

No matter how crowded or otherwise the train may be, faces are cast resolutely downward at the floor, avoiding eye contact at all costs. The unspoken question of the vast majority?... ‘Aren’t we nearly there yet?’ And the one wish above all others? ‘Please, please, please be on-time.’

Considering many of us cumulatively spend years of our life commuting to and from work, this tunnel-visioned isolation seems a bit of a waste. Somehow we’ve drifted from a culture where travelling was something to be savoured both for its own sake and for the opportuni-