Civilized Transit Experiences

Merriam-Webster: CIVILIZED
: characteristic of a state of civilization - civilized society; especially : characterized by taste, refinement, or restraint
Different forms of transit have different user experiences. How this emerges is partially an issue of how people choose to use them, but they are heavily guided by the design and physical affordances of the transit system and travel compartments. This design results in some forms of transit being much more civilized, refined, comfortable, safe, and productive than others.

On the SF BART subway, bikes are mixed into every car. People regularly stand next to seated passengers, and there are straps hanging from bars to facilitate this. Touching things is a necessity, and hundreds of other people have recently touched the same straps, posts, and doors. It’s no wonder the flu spreads so easily in cities. Seating is all on one level. Seat backs are low and there are few barriers between passengers. Lighting is a bit dim, and most of the subway is underground, so there isn’t a lot of natural light.
Subway stops are frequent and people will be getting off and on regularly. Noise, safety, and distraction are a regular issue in this type of designed environment. On BART, the track noise can get so loud that it hurts passengers’ ears, and makes it impossible to continue a conversation, much less a phone conference. In NYC I have regularly seen domestic disputes, yelling from one end of the car to another, panhandling speeches, and other disruptive and uncomfortable activities.

Light-rail is a very different experience. In the SF Caltrain, the cars are multi-level. Passengers typically don’t stand, and the car has not been designed to encourage standing. Seats have headrests and typically you can’t see other passengers well. Put simply, it is the difference between an open-plan office and a cubicle office — the former is designed for collaboration, the other for privacy.
Signs or conductors tell passengers to keep their phone conversation volumes low and short. Some seats offer tables, or are wide enough to facilitate using a laptop. Touching things isn’t really necessary. The exit and entry doors open automatically. Doors between cars have push-panels both at hand-height and at foot-height so that you don’t need to use your hands. There is lighting on both levels, but the train is typically out on the surface and gets large amounts of natural light during the day. Overhead storage allows passengers to stow backpacks, bags and scooters easily and rapidly. Bikes and disabled passengers are separated onto specific cars to better facilitate their distinct spatial needs, equipment requirements, and exiting behaviors.
In many ways the subway could be summarized as a heavily chaotic and disorganized system, and the train as an ordered system. In the Bay Area, people that ride the BART subway regularly complain about the difficulty of getting any work done on their commute. In contrast to this, I write my blog in uninterrupted peace nearly every morning on the Caltrain light-rail system.
The vastly different experiences of daily travel in these two different train systems could be easily contrasted with a daily car commute during rush hour, a daily ferry commute, and daily bus commute — which may be topics for future posts. Another contrasting example would be commuting to work in a self-driving car. Projections point towards automated driving being cheaper, more direct, safer, and more productive than riding public transit. In this future environment, all forms of public transit are likely to either disappear or become the most undesirable forms of transportation unless they increase quality levels dramatically. Ferries such as the one shown below offer some clues as to how public transit can be designed to be even more desirable than the future of point-to-point automated driving solutions.

Designers: Based on the descriptions above, which transport system would you prefer to spend large amounts of your life in? Why do we continue to design transport services that are unpleasant to be in for our increasingly long commutes? What would transportation systems look like if we placed comfort, utility, and civility as our primary design goals? How could a car commute feel more like a ferry commute?
Originally published at www.uxoftravel.com.
