These Omnibus regulations are claimed to date from 1863, but they seem to me pretty appropriate for buses and trains still today! 🙂
Omnibus Law
- Keep your feet off the seats.
- Do not get into a snug corner yourself, and then open the windows to admit a north-wester upon the neck of your neighbour.
- Have your money ready when you desire to alight. If your time is not valuable, that of others may be.
- Do not impose on the conductor the necessity of finding you change; he is not a banker.
- Sit with your limbs straight, and do not let your legs describe an angle of forty-five, thereby occupying the room of two persons.
- Do not spit upon the straw. You are not in a hog-sty, but in an omnibus, travelling in a country which boasts of its refinement.
- Behave respectfully to females, and put not an unprotected lass to the blush because she cannot escape from your brutality.
- If you bring a dog, let him be small and confined by a string.
- Do not introduce large parcels; an omnibus is not a van.
- Reserve bickerings and disputes for the open field. The sound of your own voice may be music to your own ears – not so, perhaps, to those of your companions.
- If you will broach politics or religion, speak with moderation; all have an equal right to their opinions, and all have an equal right not to have them wantonly shocked.
- Refrain from affectation and conceited airs. Remember you are riding a distance for sixpence which, if made in a hackney-coach, would cost you as many shillings; and that should your pride elevate you above plebeian accommodations, your purse should enable you to command aristocratic indulgences.
From Words to Deeds: translation & the law 