Science Daily:

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.

How it works: If one of two seats is occupied, you look for two seats that are free. Only when you can't find two empty seats do you take a free seat next to a person. This is "the greatest unspoken rule of bus travel." Here's where the problem begins: When seats must be shared, the "seated passengers initiate a performance to strategically avoid anyone sitting next to them." This is the researcher's list of those tactics.


· 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

In my opinion, those who purposely block or hog free seats have been poorly raised. Only poor upbringing (and social engineering) can undo something that's so natural to humans: living, working, cooperating with strangers.

This is a dress on a bus...

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