Post: #1

Strangers On a Bus: Study Reveals Lengths Commuters Go to Avoid Each Other

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/201...093615.htm

ScienceDaily (Aug. 1, 2012) — You're on the bus, and one of the only free seats is next to you. How, and why, do you stop another passenger sitting there? New research reveals the tactics commuters use to avoid each other, a practice the paper published in Symbolic Interaction describes as 'nonsocial transient behavior.'

The study was carried out by Esther Kim, from Yale University, who chalked up thousands of miles of bus travel to examine the unspoken rules and behaviors of commuters.

Over three years Kim took coach trips across the United States. Kim's first trip, between Connecticut and New Mexico, took two days and 17 hours, and this was followed by further adventures from California to Illinois, Colorado to New York, and Texas to Nevada.

"We live in a world of strangers, where life in public spaces feels increasingly anonymous," said Kim. "However, avoiding other people actually requires quite a lot of effort and this is especially true in confined spaces like public transport."

Kim found that the greatest unspoken rule of bus travel is that if other seats are available you shouldn't sit next to someone else. As the passengers claimed, "It makes you look weird." When all the rows are filled and more passengers are getting aboard the seated passengers initiate a performance to strategically avoid anyone sitting next to them.

"I became what's known as an experienced traveler and I jotted down many of the different methods people use to avoid sitting next to someone else," said Kim. "We engage in all sorts of behavior to avoid others, pretending to be busy, checking phones, rummaging through bags, looking past people or falling asleep. Sometimes we even don a 'don't bother me face' or what's known as the 'hate stare'."

The best advice from Kim's fellow passengers was:

• Avoid eye contact with other people

• Lean against the window and stretch out your legs

• Place a large bag on the empty seat

• Sit on the aisle seat and turn on your iPod so you can pretend you can't hear people asking for the window seat.

• Place several items on the spare seat so it's not worth the passenger's time waiting for you to move them.

• Look out the window with a blank stare to look crazy

• Pretend to be asleep

• Put your coat on the seat to make it appear already taken

• If all else fails, lie and say the seat has been taken by someone else

"This all changes however when it is announced that the bus will be full so all seats should be made available," Kim observed. "The objective changes, from sitting alone to sitting next to a 'normal' person."

Kim found that race, class, gender and other background characteristics were not key concerns for commuters when they discovered someone had to sit next them. They all just wanted to avoid the "crazy person."

"One rider told me the objective is just 'getting through the ride', and that I should avoid fat people who may sweat more and so may be more likely to smell," said Kim. "Motivating this nonsocial behavior is the fact that one's own comfort level is the rider's key concern, rather than the backgrounds of fellow passengers."

Kim found that this nonsocial behavior is also driven by safety concerns, especially for coach travel which is perceived to be dangerous with ill lit bus stations. Kim also found that passengers expected each other to be jaded by delays or other inconveniences.

"In a cafe, which is more relaxed, people often ask strangers to watch their stuff for a moment," said Kim. "Yet at bus stations that rarely happens as people assume their fellow passengers will be tired and stressed out."

"Ultimately this nonsocial behavior is due to the many frustrations of sharing a small public space together for a lengthy amount of time," concluded Kim. "Yet this deliberate disengagement is a calculated social action, which is part of a wider culture of social isolation in public spaces."

Journal Reference:

Esther C. Kim. Nonsocial Transient Behavior: Social Disengagement on the Greyhound Bus. Symbolic Interaction, 2012; DOI: 10.1002/symb.21

Post: #2

Needless to say, behavior like this extends into other public arenas and implicates game heavily. So much of what we do it avoid tripping this wire:

Quote:They all just wanted to avoid the "crazy person."

Post: #3

(08-02-2012 10:19 AM)Tuthmosis Wrote:  Needless to say, behavior like this extends into other public arenas and implicates game heavily. So much of what we do it avoid tripping this wire:

Quote:They all just wanted to avoid the "crazy person."

I agree Tuth.

I posted this article because I had a positive experience running my game at a bus station recently.
Every 20 minutes is a new bus and a new batch of females. I think I avoided the "crazy person" tripwire
by being suited up. I got 2 number closes in an hour and so far one ended up in a date with a kiss-close.

Post: #4

(08-02-2012 08:40 AM)Parlay44 Wrote:  Kim found that the greatest unspoken rule of bus travel is that if other seats are available you shouldn't sit next to someone else. As the passengers claimed, "It makes you look weird." When all the rows are filled and more passengers are getting aboard the seated passengers initiate a performance to strategically avoid anyone sitting next to them.

I've seen this rule broken quite a lot in the past. When people take the same bus regularly and they KNOW that it will fill up after the next few stops they'll scan the bus and sit next to someone they like/is less threatening or whatever.

Chicks, especially, used to sit next to me quite often when I took the same bus to work, even though there were still other pairs of seats available. I'd like to imagine this was on account of me being incredibly handsome and charming, but alas, it is likely because I have a very non-threatening/ not crazy appearance, and they take that seat rather than risk being stuck next to someone else for their entire trip after a couple of stops.

Post: #5

Being born and raised in NYC, and riding the subway and/or bus every day, I've observed every bit of this behavior on a daily basis. If you're a people watcher, it's highly amusing.

Post: #6

Yeah, I hate when fuckers take the train aisle seat and put some shit in the window seat. If the train is full, I usually sign to the fucker or or tell them "let me get that seat right there" and they usually move their stuff. Pisses me off

Post: #7

I just used the bus as a shit test Invited a girl to come up my way one weekend and we can bar hop in NYC.
She lives 2 hours south of me. I wasn't going to offer to pick her up. I said "Ohh you can catch the bus from your town
and it'll drop you off right in front of my place". I got a total high maintenance princess response, "Yo I'm a pretty humble girl but
I don't and never will ride the bus anywhere!!"