I wish I knew what to do about it, but just my thoughts.

Can you add people who smoke tobacco / weed and sit next to you to the list? I personally find it so disgusting. Or also the people who don’t give you enough room to sit down and have their stuff leaning on your seat. Not cool.

The number one thing imo is people don’t want to confront the people displaying antisocial behaviour over the fear of being harmed. At my workplace (retail), they tell us not to make eye contact with and maintain a safe distance from threatening customers.

Compared to a country like Japan, where quiet on PT is taken seriously, I think our culture is just not as respectful and more laid-back. People aren’t confrontational there either, but norms are much more engrained.

As for having conversations at all waking hours of the day, maybe they’re talking to people from different time zones? Or they can just talk at times you wouldn’t have a phone conversation like they would?

Maybe bigger signs or announcements about being quiet? Make it a public health thing. I know with the stop it campaign, they would sometimes speak about it over the PA system and have signs and advertisements. The people who are inconsiderate of others wouldn’t pay attention to these messages, but it could be a step in the right direction.

There are signs on buses saying no smoking, or put headphones on, but they’re not always enforced. Plus the substance use problem in this city. I was on the train a couple of months ago and this man who was either severely mentally ill and/or on hard drugs was playing music very loudly, and when we sat near him, he started recording us with the flash on and banging on the train window. I just got up and left. There isn’t much I can do as an individual in that situation.