The Right Way, Wrong Way, and British Way
by Tim Chuang

I have arrived UK for about a week now.  There are still things that I don’t really understand.  It is just hard to say those are good or bad, right or wrong.  Those things are just different in Britain.

I am studying in University of Newcastle.  The place is a lovely big city with friendly people from a special tribe, called Jordie.  When I arrived the airport, I was trying to buy ticket for Metro (the subway) from the auto ticket booth, but I had no change.  And the only thing I had was the 20 pounds bills.  So I was looking for the staffs of Metro who was able to sell me tickets.  But for some reason, no body was in the station.  The Metro Station looked like no one is in charged. I walked toward the train, and hoping someone would come and collect fees from me.  Very strange indeed, no one seems to care!  I walked out of the station of my destination, still saw no staff of Metro asked for ticket.  I thought, “well, lucky me!”

Few days later, I took the bus.  The bus driver asked me, “How much?”  I was totally confused, “Isn’t it what I need to ask you?”  The driver looked at me and said, “Where are you going?”  “St. Mary College,” I answered.  The driver told me, “Then it’s 60p.” 

It took me a while to realize that Metro don’t hire anyone to sell nor collect the ticket regularly.  But they have an inspection team, randomly visit stations to check if the passengers are carrying the valid tickets.  So, if you really want to sneak in without paying, it is fine, as long as the inspectors do not catch you.  Be very honest, the inspectors don’t come very often, I saw them only once so far.  Normally the ticket cost you slightly more than one pound, but if you get caught, the penalty is 10 pounds.  Doesn’t sound much, huh?  The reason is because the Metro has done a study and found out it is much cheaper to eliminated the cost of tick booth staffs’ salary.  Most of the people do pay, and the only little people who don’t pay isn’t causing too much of the loss anyway.

How about bus?  The bus fee is based on how many stops you are passing through, with charge of 6p each stop distance.  For example, if you are going to a place, that is for passing through 10 stops, then you need to pay 60p.  If you are going to a place for more than 12 stops, but you only tell the driver that you are paying 60p, most of the cases, you still can get away with it. 

Britain seems to have different concept toward the transportation system.  In any other countries, the public transportation are set up with high-tech sophisticated instruments, or staffs’ manual ticket check, is as common as a must.  But in Newcastle Metro, they are giving people the benefit of the doubt, and reducing the cost of the employment.  I thought about it, I think it make sense to some extend. 

I remember before I came, I had a chat with a senior friend of mine.  He had quite a lot of experience overseas, as he needed to travel a lot for his profession.  He told me something that I’ll always remember; “There are three different ways in the world to do things.  They are the right way, the wrong way, and the British way.  The British way will make you think …………………………….………….… huh??”