Thursday, February 02, 2012

Things They Should Study: what percentage of the population can read on trains but not on buses?

One of the reasons why Transit City is of particular interest to me is that I get carsick reading on buses but have no problem reading on trains. A trip in any kind of rail vehicle - even the old-fashioned streetcars they have downtown which are nowhere near as awesome as LRTs - is an opportunity to relax and get some reading done. A trip in a bus, it's at best lost time, and at worst a struggle against nausea. Transit City maximizes the number of potential trips that can be taken by rail, thus maximizing multitaskability.

As I've blogged about before, multitaskable commutes increase productivity, and multitasking in a vehicle generally involves reading of some sort. I'm not the only one who is more prone to carsickness in buses than in trains, but I can't find any data on the percentage of the population to whom this applies. If it's a large percentage of the population, this should be a factor in transit planning - or at the very least it should be public information so we can make an informed decision about whether to take it into consideration.

The first page of google results gives numbers ranging from 33% to 90% of the population being prone to motion sickness, so the number of people affected is probably not negligible. Someone really needs to research this so we can get some real numbers.

4 comments:

Keeley said...

To add a level of confusion to your initial anecdotal inspiration, I have an anecdote of my own. My most motion-sickness prone friend really has trouble on streetcars, and is far happier taking buses... Although I don't think he can actually read on any moving vehicles, so his predicament may be moot from that perspective.

laura k said...

I'm someone who can read on trains and not on buses, as is my partner, and my mom. Because of that, I think this is quite common, but obviously my sample size is very small. A study would be useful.

Another point that goes to your multitasking commute, something I've wanted to blog about for ages, is: why are people quieter on commuter trains than commuter buses?

The GO train is normally quiet. If people talk to each other use their cell phones, they do so quietly, and usually briefly. (Of course there are exceptions, but they stand out as exceptions.)

GO buses, however, are incredibly noisy. I cannot stand to be on a GO bus without earphones and music, whereas on the GO train, it's quiet enough to read.

laura k said...

Also, although I think more people prefer trains to buses, for the reasons you've stated, I don't think that will ever figure into municipal transit decisions. Sadly, quality and productivity of commute are generally not considerations.

impudent strumpet said...

@Keeley: That's interesting! I've never heard of motion sickness working that way before. But if it does work both ways, then they need to study it both ways.

@Laura: My first thought is people are quieter on trains because more people can read on trains. But it might also be because in trains you sit facing other people while in buses everyone's facing the same direction, so there's more psychological privacy. Plus, at least on longer trips, they tend to turn out the lights in the passengers section of the bus if it's dark out, so you can't even see the other people. I was once on a long, dark GO bus trip where the woman in front of me was a prostitute. And I know she was a prostitute because of the content of the long, loud, explicit cellphone conversation she had for the entire ride. Would she have done the same if there had been two people facing her and another right next to her in a well-lit room? (Maybe, maybe not.)