Stratification and Competing Narratives among Bus RidersRona Chong

“Modal Switch”•“The stigma — the disgrace — of public

transport cannot be overcome until the conditions on which that epithet is based are changed.”

•“Public transport must rise to a level where it can compete directly with the car in order to attract more riders from all groups of society.”

•“The stigma of public transport as the poor man’s vehicle tells us that public transport users in many countries are captive users, those who have no choice.”

Comments on bus usageIn bus vs. car dialogue (Guiver 2010):• Episodic, worst case scenarios• Poor safety of bus in comparison to cars• Intrusions of other people• Disempowerment and “subjection to

externalities”• Unpredictability and timing; unreliability

Comments on bus usageQuantitative literature on bus riding:• Zhou, Jiangping, and Lisa Schweitzer (2011). "Getting

Drivers To Switch: Transit Price And Service Quality Among Commuters.”

• Watkins, Kari Edison (2011). "Where Is My Bus? Impact of mobile real-time information on the perceived and actual wait time of transit riders.”

• Kalfon, Charles, Wesley Yordon, and Joshua Menkes (1975). "Measurement Of User's Preferences For Public Transportation Through Computer Assisted Interviews."

• Hollander, Yaron (2006). "Direct Versus Indirect Models For The Effects Of Unreliability."

Concern with stigma“A low tech marvel, a wallop of windows sputtering open and greasy poles to hang onto.... The reek, the jiggle, the strange encounter of flesh to flesh on the bus” (Hutchinson 2000).

“Affective atmospheres”•Bissel (2009): “Affective atmospheres that

coalesce and collapse, erupt and dissipate within the railway carriage can significantly temper the experience of the railway journey… Through the movement of affect, dispositions become fostered and bodies become primed to act in different ways. Such atmospheres are not the outcome of conversational practices; rather they emerge through the complex interplay of technologies, matter and bodies.”

Researching Inner Valley Transit• Riding on bus a couple times a week• Routes: 765 and 66, “regular buses”• Route 108, express or “commuter” bus

• Inner Valley Transit▫Serves 14 million riders▫327 square miles of San Gabriel and Pomona

Valley (22 municipalities and LA County)▫Branding as a “premier” public transit provider

(advanced buses)▫Contrast to Arrowhead Transit

Inner Valley Transit

FindingsContingencies of bus travel• extra time•matching time with bus arrival•distance between stop and

destination/point of origin•bus breakdowns•unpredictability (failure to keep with

schedule)

Contingencies of bus travel“There’s a bus stop right outside my house , and so, I actually take the Arrowhead for this one. So I get on Arrowhead, and I take the 97. And then I walk about a mile to where I volunteer, and then a mile back up to the bus stop.  “Since I'm able, I can walk, the distance to, so, you know. But I mean, there’s times--I mean, like 5 years ago, where--I'm walking ten miles, and then taking the bus, because where I was working and everything like that. I was, working in Pomona, and... when the bus didn’t show up, I’d just walk home to the Claremont, instead of taking the bus. I didn’t want to wait an hour, by the time... I could end up walking and getting my exercise, by the time the bus came. So, why not just walk and, (laugh) I mean, I didn’t do this everyday. ... Because the 765, like I said, this, wasn't always reliable. So I'm just walking, and I'm walking it, I'm not on the bus line.”

Contingencies of bus travel“The negative is, I have to get up earlier just to complete tasks. I have to be at work at 10, and I have leave my house basically two hours—I have to leave my house by 8. So I can be there by 10. So the negative is the inconvenience of using the bus. The negative is, I don’t get to do all my grocery shopping like I would like to, once I’m on the bus, especially if the bus is delayed. You can't judge the time because what happens from Pasadena to Claremont, so you can – so okay the bus is supposed to be here at 8:06 – aw man, it's like 8:26 and you're like ‘where’s the bus.’“So, once you get on the bus, it's like okay I can stop by this store and catch the next bus, and it's like I already waited 20 extra minutes and, do I want to wait get off, do something, wait another 20-30 minutes, and then get back on the bus? ..So I just, I just don't.”

FindingsContingencies of bus travel• unwanted social interaction• danger of harm (physical altercation)• theft• witnessing stress

Company• mentally ill• homeless• handicapped• moms with children

Contingencies of bus travel• “I get on the bus, the person in the back just starts talking to

me. And I mean, somebody who’s just gonna talk and talk. ”• “I wear my purse, you know, like this (demonstrating by

clasping both hands tight over an imaginary purse strap)--and when I'm on the bus--I'll put my bag on my legs, you know. Caus’ there's times where somebody who'll grab something and jump off.”

• “First thing you do is scan the bus, see if there's anything wrong. If you get on there, and there's 17 absolutely drunk and crazy loonies… You have to be aware of what's going on around you. And then you find a seat. And if something weird happens, and if you're on a regular bus line... you just tell the driver and get off the bus. You just get off the bus if someone bothers you.”

FindingsAsymmetric affirmation of strain

Lines of asymmetry in burden• Additional burdens on the poor

▫constraints on material belongings▫longer times for commute▫more contingencies and complexity of trip▫ females

• Exposure to “dangerous elements,” for females, elderly▫insecurity at night; at stations

Exposure to “dangerous elements”• “I never feel safe. I never feel safe, I feel like in

these small neighborhoods… I feel like these are the neighborhoods where people will hide you in their basement.. They’ll snatch you or something. I just get wary, so I’m always aware, walking, at my surroundings. But I do get nervous at night-time, so I think I walk fast, to get from the Village to home. I don’t like walking at night.”

• (as a male respondent) “I mean, you would be more vulnerable to being bothered than me, I would think so.”

FindingsPresence of stigma amongst bus ridersNot every white woman would take the … Most white, women--I mean, it would be below them to take the bus. … You know--I have friends who think, it’s so sad that I take the bus, I have friends who’re like, it jus--you have to take the bus, it’s just below you, you know. 

…They just wouldn’t get on the bus themselves, you know. ... I guess it would be below them, you know. ...I used to work for a lawyer, and she’d just tell her son, that, you know, there’s somebody in the bus stop: “Look, you’d better do your homework, because you don’t want to be like them.”  And I would turn around and I’d go, “Look, I take the bus.” “Oh, well you’re different.” She’s just sayin’ that to me, but I mean, you know, cause she knows my situation , but she’s, that homeless people, stuff like that--like I said, she is a lawyer, so, you know.

FindingsBus travel as a suitable or even pleasurable mode of travel:• -real, inherent conveniences of bus over car

(not being the driver; relaxing; meeting others)•-those who do not have as strong demands on

tight time schedule•-measures to make sure that their

circumstances fit bus system•-choices: A grade bus systems and not; why? a

matter of choice and priority.

Reflections“When people speak to one another, not only do they need to use mutually understood words and grammer, they use recognizable patterns of speech. Usually these do not need to be spelt out, because they are part of a shared culture.”