Being cheeky: Why did hundreds of commuters travel without pants on London’s Underground?

‘Mind the gap’ is often heard when commuters board the famous Tube in Britain. However, on Sunday (January 12), the hundreds, who boarded the Underground, may have heard the message ‘Mind the pants’.

That’s because hundreds stripped down to their underwear and travelled around a bit, trying to look as though nothing unusual was going on — as if.

This trouserless activity is part of the Official No Trousers Tube Ride, an annual event which is literally what the name suggests.

But what’s behind the event? And why do people drop trou for it?

Showing off bare legs and… bare cheeks

On Sunday (January 12), men and women shed their pants before boarding the Underground much to other people’s delight and shock.

At Newport Place in Chinatown, hundreds of people dressed in all sorts of underwear boarded the Underground. Similar scenes could also be seen at the Waterloo station. Commuters with their bare bottoms were seen strutting down escalators, taking selfies on platforms or posing inside carriages as they showcased an array of underwear styles and colours.

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Speaking about the Official No Trousers Tube Ride, Basil Long, a lawyer, told the AP, “I just saw it online and I just thought, why not? It’s always a question, isn’t it?’’ he said. “When someone is asked why they climbed Everest, they were just like, why not?”

“There’s so much bad, so much not fun going on,’’ said ringleader Dave Selkirk, a 40-year-old personal trainer. “It’s nice to do something just for the sake of it.”

The brains behind the No Trousers Tube Ride in the United Kingdom said, “It’s meant to be a bit of harmless fun. “It’s not to be provocative or to irritate someone so hopefully the spirit of that continues.”

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However, Miriam Correa, who participated and dropped her pants, had a message. “I am a real woman and all bodies are perfect,” she said referring to previous images from no trouser rides that featured lots of thin and scantily clad women.

First edition of No Trousers Tube Ride

But how did this event come into being? The first No Trousers Tube Ride was held in New York in 2002. It was the brainchild of local comedian Charlie Todd, who thought it would be funny.

Speaking to BBC, he said, “It would be unusual in New York, although you can see anything on our subway system, but what would really be funny is if at the next stop, a couple of minutes later, when the doors open and additional persons got on, not wearing trousers as well. sAnd they act like they don’t know each other, and they act like … it’s no big deal and they just forgot their trousers.”

Inspired by this idea, he then organised the First No Trousers Tube Ride. At that time, seven male passengers had participated in the event that sees people dropping their pants inside the Underground for no good reason other than a laugh.

For the first edition, one participant entered the train pantless for seven consecutive stops. They pretended not to notice each other, and if asked claimed that they “just forgot” their pants. On the eighth stop, someone came through with a duffle bag selling pants for $1. No photographs were taken at the event.

But since then it has grown leaps and bounds with many international cities also joining in. Think Berlin, Prague, Jerusalem, Warsaw and Washington, DC.

The no pants ride had stopped in 2023 as the group behind the original event felt it had run its course, but it seems London went ahead with it nevertheless.

Offensive to many

While the cheeky event (no pun intended) is meant to be funny, it has angered and offended a few. Reddit user zehtov called it ‘disgusting’, while GetCapeFly wrote: “I am of the opinion trousers should be worn indefinitely in public, especially when standing in a crowded Tube carriage with complete strangers.”

Similarly, on Facebook, Sharon Harris proclaimed that it was ‘messed up’, and Jo Elliott agreed it would ‘make [her] feel sick’ to see.

But many countered back that it was just a little bit of silliness and nothing to be offended about. Some even pointed out that the ‘No Pants Subway’ event was way better than London’s annual nude cycle ride — in which people choose to pedal in the city in the buff to protest against car culture and oil dependency.

With inputs from agencies