In pictures: 99 years of TfL telling passengers to move down inside the carriage

It’s World Kindness Day today, apparently, and Transport for London is taking the opportunity to launch new posters asking you not to be a dick on the tube and the roads. One of the key messages of its new ‘#TravelKind’ campaign is asking people to move down inside tube carriages to make space. Not that hard, you might think – but TfL and its predecessors have been trying to hammer that same message home for at least 99 years. Here’s a potted (and only mildly passive-aggressive) history.

1918

TfL

This first poster is best read out in a Mary Poppins voice.

1920

TfL

Next: a slightly hectoring number that also, incidentally, proves manspreading is not a new phenomenon.

1923

TfL

A colourful number here, with a number of tiny Londoners wearing natty little ponchos.

1932

TfL

By the ’30s, London Transport was clearly getting pretty ticked off about the issue. This is a moderately polite way of saying ‘Will you just move down already?’

1947

TfL

‘Do unto others’ is the message of this poster by famous cartoonist Fougasse. Note the pass-agg underlining.

2016

TfL

Fast-forward to the twenty-first century, and people still aren’t getting the message. But what do you expect from Little Miss Stubborn?

2017

TfL

Last one: the latest campaign from TfL. Have a good week, London, and be excellent to each other.

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