When did we become "customers" and not "passengers" ?

Question

"please allow customers off the train before boarding" ...? erm.. since when are we no longer passengers?

yep they really say that now!.. any London underground train and now most overground/mainline trains.. what a load of rubbish! PC gone mad?

Answer 1

You're paying for the service, so you're a customer..

What's the big deal???

Answer 2

I am a bus driver in the greater Seattle area and I have noticed that "passenger", "customer" and "client" have become interchangeable in the transportation industry. For the most part I think it is just to change the verbiage to something more colorful. Alternatively it is our inherent practice to use a word that does not offend others. In our attempt to make the passenger feel more valued our exuberance to please has actually offended. If you are offended by the term "customer" simply write to the transportation authority and let them know. The more people you get to write the sooner they will stop saying "customer".

Answer 3

I don't think that the National Railroad Passenger Corporation calls passengers customers even though they are the corporations customers.

Answer 4

Basically when the rail network was taken over by private companies who are selling a (****) service, we became customers. It happened later on the tube, because the private/public partnership was forced onto london transport much later than anywhere else.

Answer 5

Being called a customer is supposed to take the wind out of your complaints, just like that of clients, If you are unemployed, you become a client, it used to be a Bum or a scrounger, to be talked down to by these people, usually who are less qualified than yourself, it is so patronising.

Answer 6

Even when you are arrested by police you are called a customer and placed in the custody sweet

Answer 7

well once you pay for a service you are regarded as a customer

Answer 8

i haven't been on a train for a few years, do they really say that?