Human Nature

The Greater Manchester 192 bus route from Piccadilly to Hazel Grove (where I happen to need to get too) is infamous around the country and even has its own wikipedia page (now that's impressive).

Unfortunately, this fame is completely negative and the amount of incidents on this route makes you wonder why there aren't sociologists on every trip studying human behaviour, it makes excellent viewing for students of human interaction like myself.

The bus route is mentioned in many books highlighting the fissures of 'Broken Britain', and is the first thing many people mention when talking about my home town of Stockport. To quote that very wikipedia page:

"According to the Stagecoach Group, the route is the busiest in Britain, with around 9 million passengers carried annually,^[11] and GMPTE has designated the A6 as a quality bus corridor.^[12] The 192 is also noted by Stagecoach as being a problematic bus route with regards to anti-social behaviour, and CCTV cameras were installed on them.^[13]"

I have heard many stories including a 'person' (use the term lightly) attacking the bus driver while the bus was in motion at 6am, forcing the bus to crash into two shops on a high street.

However, I witnessed first hand the wrath of the 192 tonight. Ironically, a friend and I decided to go home early and get some grub on the way home and take it easy. Unfortunately, we never accounted for the turbulence that is the 192 at night.

One a quiet Tuesday night the last thing you would expect is a fight between young men trying to prove who is more unintelligent; the man fighting a group by himself and repeatedly returning for more despite being annihilated over and over, or the group of 'chavs' inflicting the punishment who were in custody of a baby child. At one point the mother of the baby ran to a friend and protested excitedly, "I JUST GOT HIT IN THE FACE HAHA, IM GOING BACK!!!".

I know what your thinking...nope the 1 braincell group managed to beat the 5 braincell guy. Although to be fair, the group probably had 6 braincells between them. Darwinism at its finest.

What was amazing is that from it all came a strengthening of the rest of the passengers. What had been a uninteresting journey for most became a source of discussion. Some members of the bus (older generations) used it as a example of why the country has "gone to pot" and I did hear "young ruffians" occasionally. Some used it to analyse lower class behavioural patterns ('toffs' from Marple). And then some saw the funny side and made jokes about a slightly surreal situation and the fact they now were delayed too much to get food from anywhere (us).

I'm hungry.

:(

TO