But nowhere is my contempt for how the average person walks more triggered than around public transport. As the train pulls into the station each morning, most of my fellow passengers are already distracted by their phone screens or the music blaring through their earbuds.

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They shuffle into the carriage, as if there is actual chewing gum on their shoes, their senses of direction and decision making temporarily disabled.

What do I do? Where do I go? "Ping!" goes their iPhone. You barely scrape your right foot into the train before the doors close.

Inside, they hover near the door, despite the aisle being nearly empty. Perhaps they are afraid of getting stuck in the centre of the carriage at their destination, 13 stops later. Only when someone bellows, "Can ya move in, please?" does it startle them from their stupor. Unless they are listening to rap music and continue to stare blankly, oblivious to the human traffic jam they have created.

In Sydney, it's just as bad, as passengers on the double-deck trains have to contend with a third vexing question: up or down? You only have to board a train at the airport, while people fumble with cases and bags, and their own minds, to test your blood pressure.

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Once you reach your destination, the situation is just as frustrating. People are on their phones as they disembark, meandering all over the platform as if they're drunk at 8am. And shuffling, always shuffling. When did we all stop walking? This would never happen in Singapore/Tokyo/Hong Kong, I often think.

Call me impatient or judgmental but what is it about public transport that turns otherwise fit and capable people into dolts?

In Hawaii and a growing number of cities overseas, authorities have started fining people who text while walking, while China has introduced "texting while walking" lanes on footpaths. And Australia's pedestrian fatality rate has been unacceptably high in recent years, with police and health authorities blaming mobile phone use and general distraction (by both drivers and pedestrians) for some of the deaths.

I'd love to see the train announcers in our capital cities ask passengers to pocket their mobile phones during boarding. As well as addressing the safety risk, with Melbourne's trains running at 92.4 per cent punctuality during December, they could use a little help running on time. It's time we make walking and talking/texting/Fortnite-ing socially unacceptable.

When I visit Singapore or Hong Kong, passengers respect the transit system enough to board in an orderly fashion. I don't think they'd dare be checking Instagram while minding the gap. Perhaps that's the problem: Australians are made so despondent by our public transport networks that we have stopped trying to help the system succeed. We have given up.

So, now that most of you are back at work, a plea. Some of our biggest public transport issues need government intervention but some of the most annoying ones have to start with all of us. So next time you're near a train, walk, don't run. But don't shuffle either.