Selective Distancing with Sydtrafik
First touch with Ethnography in practice
Many aspects of daily life have been affected by COVID-19 and the ensuing lockdowns and new safety regulations caused by it. We set out on behalf of Sydtrafik to observe exactly how people have adjusted to these new regulations and how well they were followed. Specifically, we wanted to observe how people social distanced while waiting for the bus. Did they distance themselves from others also waiting, did they move when someone got too close, and did they wear their masks properly were just some of the questions we had in mind when we set out for the day. Throughout the day our research was in the form of interviews and observations on how people behaved while waiting and while riding the bus.
Arriving at the Bus Terminal at Mazantigade was a bit of a disappointment initially. We had set out to observe how people kept their distance while waiting for the bus, but almost nobody was there, the rush hour of the morning having already passed. There were of course some, but they were sporadically spread out with no need to pay extra attention to distance. We did a quick survey of the terminal to gain a good impression of it before we got on our first bus of the day. People were wearing their masks and keeping their distance, although it wasn’t hard with the small amount of people.
Our first interview of the day came quickly as we met with a woman who was waiting for the same bus as us. It was her first time on the bus in a long time and during COVID-19. She wasn’t wearing a mask, explaining that she considers herself an exception to the rule, but didn’t explain further but did say that it normally isn’t an issue since there is no ticket controller on her regular regional train where she has to explain her decision. She sharedher observation that most people don’t wear or use the mask correctly anyway and shared an example of one friend on Facebook that said that she had worn the same one all week.
She wasn’t personally worried about COVID-19, but her husband was worried about the repercussions of her not wearing a mask. Specifically, with people reacting violently to her decision in public. She feels that everyone wearing masks makes her feel unsafe and explained that it causes a social estrangement, making it an uncomfortable experience socially. She also shared that her husband rode the bus last week and that he felt it was such an uncomfortable experience because of everyone wearing masks that he refused to repeat the experience.
Although this woman was an outlier in our field research, as the overwhelming majority had little to no issue with the masks, it did raise an interesting point that we made a point of observing the rest of the day, which is that people don’t necessarily know how wear a mask and distance properly. A common consensus from our field research was that life was “business as usual”, just with the small difference that they had to wear masks. But with this “new normal” there are a lot of adjustments to get used to.
One man we interviewed kept touching and adjusting his mask while telling us how he was starting work again a group of 4 other young men discarded their masks immediately after getting off the bus and then hung out for 10 minutes at the terminal where it still required to wear them. Some people would wear masks the entire time while waiting for a bus even with no one around them, where others would not put on their masks until they had to go on the bus, even with others around. And this is around the point that we started to see the selectiveness with how people chose to adhere to distancing guidelines.
Observing at the terminal we could see one woman standing in the corner of a bus shelter, another person sitting on the bench, a third waiting outside so as to keep their distance. All wearing their masks and keeping to themselves. However, when the bus came, any guidelines went forgotten or were at least not considered as they would bunch themselves together trying to get in the door to get to a seat. This was not a singular observation and happened several times during the day. People would mostly do well at keeping distance while waiting for the bus, only to crowd the bus entrance.
We also did an observation for an hour keeping a tally of mask use at the terminal where the results were surprisingly poor, with a small core of full mask users, but with the rest being a combination of waiting with mask in hand until someone gets close or the bus comes, or having it pulled down, or just not in sight at all.
Because people are still getting used to the guidelines, we saw a lot of what we’ve chosen to call “selective distancing”, where people, for many possible reasons, adhere to their own understanding of the guidelines and what they deem is necessary. A large majority of people didn’t feel any fear in regard to the pandemic, except for one notable exception.
At the beginning of her interview, she even snapped at one of us for not having our mask on yet. She described how she would get afraid when people got unnecessarily close, and actually felt closer on her vacation to Italy over the summer. Her fear wasn’t one shared by many however. We asked in our interview if people would feel comfortable with someone sitting next to them on the bus, and most were, provided they were wearing masks and not coughing, and few expressed any large concerns over the virus. So, with some outliers that expressed fear in some form, for the vast majority it is mostly business as usual, just with masks. Selective distancing is a reality where we can conclude that people sort of pick and choose how they follow the distancing guidelines, but they are not necessarily conscientious about it.
Notation technique
Until observation we used a very easy notation technique. We examined inside, how the people keep the distance when they get on the bus. Usually they liked to sit next to the window, and they tried to find a seat on the bus, where no one was around. This technique worked very well, because it was easy to draw fast, and we got clear data in the end.
Meaning of symbols
X - When somebody get on the bus and sit down
Ø (full) - When someone was already sitting there when
Ø (full) - When someone was already sitting there when
we arrived
O - Empty seats on the bus
O - Empty seats on the bus
Intervention kit
Finally, the study research highlights the opportunities to investigate further how selective distancing might be taken into consideration and how to use gained data to boost transportation usage and safe travelling in and out of the bus for Sydtrafik passengers.
During the field research, we found out that every passenger is a human being who is educated from a different type of media about being in a safe position to be prevented from getting COVID-19. Therefore, we would like to add and enhance the information about preventions and remind passengers to keep distance in every occasion when it’s possible.
Tangible and intangible floor stickers
The first idea is the floor stickers implementation at the bus stop, especially where is the highest frequency of human traffic. The stickers should be big enough and visible to remind passengers to keep distance in the situation of getting into the bus. Concerning stickers on the floor, there is still no excellent countability and predictability to stop a bus at the exact place where the stickers are placed. Therefore, we would like to implement a light laser on the first entrance door on the bus. The light lasers are capable to display lines, pictures, notes about keeping a distance when a bus stops without any countability or prediction.
Wi-fi router
Another idea of how people should keep distance and remind them of the preventive rules is the name of the Wi-fi router which automatically may pop-up on the smartphone devices as available Wi-fi network. The name of the network should work as a reminder.
Event / Workshop
Sydtrafik could make a workshop for the passengers, where they would learn how to keep social distance both waiting for the bus, going in the bus, on the bus and when going off the bus. The people attending the workshop would also have the possibility to make their own mask with high quality fabric for free. The workshop could be at schools, nursing homes or other locations.
Speaker
Both on the bus and at the most frequent bus stop it would be possible to have “Safe travelling” audio telling people how to keep distance, both waiting for the bus, going in the bus, on the bus and when going off the bus. The audio could both be in English and Danish. This would also work for the blind passengers.
Video
Sydtrafik could produce videos on how to keep distance, both waiting for the bus, going in the bus, on the bus and when going off the bus. The video could run on screens in the bus in both Danish and English. This would also work for the deaf passengers.
