[petenixey]

You pay to go on the tube. You can choose not to. That makes you a customer of the tube.

Far better surely that such a system is designed in mind that someone might choose not to use it than that they'll get whatever they're given. I'm not sure why you would be outraged by this.

[Tarang]

Because it's public infrastructure. TFL is a government body. We also pay to to use the road in the form of taxes, it would not be nice for the government to call us a 'customer'.

If thats not a good enough example, there are plenty of government departments that require payment for their services and I think the same would apply. Like renewing a passport, I would hate to be called a customer.

[jiggy2011]

The roads are free at the point of use, the tube isn't. There's also the idea that words make a difference to how the staff will "see" the passengers and thus how they will perform their jobs. Are they a nuisance to be herded around or are they the people to whom you owe your job security? It's the same in IT ,it sometimes says things about a person's attitude depending on whether they say "user" or "customer".

[UweSchmidt]

Good points; it just seems like things were better back when it was called "passenger". Unless I'm seeing through rose-tinted glasses organizations used to have a self-concept of providing a public service, of reliability, fairness, consistency.

[stuaxo]

It might come down to focus - as a Customer, it sounds like I am a cash cow, as a Passenger, the focus is on getting me from A-B.

The railways in the UK don't work well from the point of view of getting people from A-B, from the point of few of extracting a lot of money from Customers they work extremely well.

[xorcist]

> The roads are free at the point of use, the tube isn't.

Perhaps it should. Surely it must have been tried somewhere?

[jiggy2011]

The tube is already very busy without people using it for frivolous journeys. At least it still costs people money (car) or physical effort (cycling) to use the roads.

There are cities with free transit systems however.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_public_transport

[stuaxo]

In Budapest it seems to be free on the weekend, and I'm sure other cities too.

[rahimnathwani]

"The roads are free at the point of use, the tube isn't."

No they're not. They are partly funded by general taxation, just like the NHS. However, if you want to drive your car on the road, you can't just drive it. You have to first pay a specific 'vehicle tax' which is per vehicle, per year: https://www.gov.uk/tax-disc

Furthermore, if you want to drive in most of Central London during the day time on a weekday, you have to pay the congestion charge: https://www.tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/congestion-charge

[tormeh]

I'll just copy this: Their business is not selling transportation but moving the population of London around to where they need to be. The government is the customer and the people are passengers.

[dagurp]

It's a bit like hospitals calling their patients customers.

[davidgerard]

> You can choose not to.

The angst is because you largely don't have such a choice.