No sooner had I sat down on a bus last Saturday than a noise erupted behind me. It was loud enough to drown out the whole carriage.

I looked back and saw a middle-aged man playing his cellphone at full volume. It was blaring a loud talk by a certain streamer, who seemed to appeal more to emotion than to reason.

I hesitated only a few seconds before I stood up, turned around and politely asked him if he could turn down the volume. I had expected a possible showdown, but to my pleasant surprise, the man nodded and quickly silenced the instrument.

The silent scene on the bus running in suburban Shanghai didn't last long, however. At the next stop, a young man got on the bus and sat to my left across the aisle. Although there were more passengers now, the noise from his phone was penetrating.

Waving my right hand, I said hello to him, hoping to attract his attention. His eyes glued to his mobile, which blared whipsaw bursts of video programs, he turned a deaf ear to my greeting.

I was about to say hello to him again, but before I opened my mouth, the driver gave an order from his seat: "Turn off the speaker!"

All of a sudden, the bus became quiet again, and it remained so until the end.

"Thank you for maintaining order aboard the bus," I said to the driver at the final stop, when all the other passengers had left.

"Well," he replied with a shy smile, surprised by my praise, "you also did a good thing by asking the first passenger to silence his cellphone. And when the second one made noise with his mobile, I had to respond quickly."

"You did a great job," I assured him.

"Earlier when I tried to stop passengers from making noises with their cellphones, some complained that I spoke too loudly," he recalled in amusement. "But if I do not reasonably raise my voice, they will not hear me."

"You did right, and when you gave an order just now, you spoke with a proper tone," I said. He smiled and thanked me for my words of encouragement.

Making everyone a better commuter

How I wish we had more drivers like him. If a driver or any other crew member is ready to maintain order on a bus or in a subway car, passengers will gradually learn to take traffic rules and etiquette more seriously.

My Saturday experience reminded me of many subway passengers' complaints toward the end of last month about mobile phone noises. A number of major news media outlets based in Shanghai reported that some passengers simply found it hard to endure such noises in a subway car. Many vented their frustration on social media platforms. Here are some examples found in news reports:

"Is there anyone who can stop passengers from using their cellphone speakers to blare short videos inside a subway car?"

"Can the Metro authorities increase the rate of broadcasting so as to better alert passengers against using mobile phone speakers in a subway car?"

"Why is there at least one passenger who turns on his or her cellphone speaker each time I take the subway?"

Surprisingly, a survey conducted by a major news media outlet in Shanghai toward the end of last month revealed that more than half of those surveyed said they would choose to stay away instead of confronting anyone who makes noises with his or her cellphone.

Shanghai has banned the use of mobile phone speakers on a bus or in a subway car. Now the key is how to nudge everyone to follow the ban.

I would suggest a two-pronged solution: First, every passenger should be encouraged to confront and dissuade the "perpetrator" of cellphone noises. Second, enough subway crew members should be deployed to patrol the cars, so that they can become the final "judges" on the spot when other passengers fail to persuade the "perpetrator" to stop producing sound pollution.

As per my experience, the combined efforts of a brave but polite passenger and a public transport crew member can go a long way toward making everyone a better commuter.