Everyday when I went home from school, I would see this sign, “ Thank you for moving back. Courtesy, try a little kindness.” at the back of the bus. During the peak hours buses will be packed like sardines and most of the seat will be occupied. However, it is a common sight to see the bus driver failing his hands, urging us to move back and shouting, “ Move back please!” continually and almost unfriendly. So why does our buses need signs and drivers to remind us to move back so as to allow more people to board the bus? Isn’t it basic courtesy to move back? Are Singaporean selfish? Or they simple do not care?

Now let me do an evaluation of why people do not want to move back. From my observation, there are many reasons people do not want to move at the back of the bus.

1.They are alighting soon and it is just ridiculous to move back and forth in such a short period of time and if they did, they might cause even more discomfort to other passengers.
2.They have their friend sitting down while they are standing and want to chat with each other. Hence, they refuse to move back and would rather let other passengers do so.
3.Some passengers just like certain part of the bus better! They prefer standing in the front part of the bus and refused to move back but they try to make space for others to do so.
4.Some passengers are unaware of their surroundings. They are busy talking with friends that they did not notice that other people have moved in and that there is a big gap in between. However, once they are aware of it they will move in.

So from the examples above, you can find out that not all passengers are selfish and only care about oneself. However, it is still not an excuse to not move in and allow other passengers to board the bus. Therefore, Singaporean should try their best to exercise basic courtesy in whatever they do so as to prevent foreigners from getting the wrong impression about Singapore. Everybody has a part to play, so lets play our part TODAY…