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Badge win. My badge (which I'm wearing as part of a TfL trial, to advertise that I need a seat on the tube) demonstrably worked at least twice today!

Seats on offer... )

My journey in this morning (which was hilarious in its own right, due to failed signals and misinformation - in place of one Central line train I took three Districts, two Piccadillys, a Victoria and a Central and was monstrously late for work) featured some definite badge events...

A man leapt from his seat as I boarded the tube. And it was District, which means no step to board, so I think the badge would be the only indication that I'm walking-impaired. I felt rather guilty, as he was holding a baby, but he assured me it was fine and handed the baby off to someone else (I assume she was with him...)

On one of the other tubes, a guy got up but without obviously looking at me, so I'm not sure he hadn't just decided to stand up anyway. On another, one of the other standees offered to go and ask for a seat for me (I declined her offer). And on at least another two tubes people ignored me totally - though I think I perhaps could have positioned myself better to be more visible.

This evening, a lady beckoned me over to take a seat she would presumably otherwise have taken herself. Again, I think only the badge would suggest I had any more need of a seat than she did.

So I'd say this badge is definitely working well for me today!

venta: (Default)
Following on from my last post, TfL have agreed to let me take part in their trial of a "please offer me a seat" badge scheme for use on public transport.

Thus far (having only filled in a questionnaire), I'm quite impressed with their attitude. The survey came with a variety of accessibility options to make it easier to read/respond to (I can't comment on their quality, because I didn't elect to use any of them). When explaining the concept behind the scheme, it went out of its way to point out that there are all kinds of reasons you might feel you need a seat when travelling, including things like hearing impairments and mental health conditions.

It wanted my gender and ethnicity (which, when the trial is going to be all about the attitudes of other travellers, may well be relevant factors so I didn't mind them asking). I was offered six choices for my gender (female, male, trans. female, trans. male, other and prefer-not-to-say). I don't know if that list could be easily improved, but feel it's way better than the usual binary (with a possible "no comment" if you're lucky). And I got a freeform text field for "name and title" rather than a restrictive title dropdown - as it was, I elected not to have a title at all. The name'll do for posting.

So, the actual badge and card scheme may turn out to be rubbish, but I feel fairly well-disposed towards them so far.

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