The Presentation of Self in Everyday [Transit] Life: An Ethnographic Study of Los Angeles Bus Culture

This paper uses ethnographic fieldwork methods to explore and understand bus culture and behavior. The focus is on two lines in Los Angeles running along one of the city’s main thoroughfares, the Wilshire Boulevard corridor. One line is an established local route and the other is a newer bus rapid transit (BRT) line. The findings suggest that life on buses involves a myriad of complex social and interpersonal interactions. Regular disruptions to the social order occur along several dimensions, including negative and positive disruptions, the scope of the disruption, their quality as brief or more sustained, and their sensory impacts. This paper also introduces the idea of “experiential reliability” – or the consistency of experience – as a possible factor in the mode and route choices of riders.

• Corporate Authors:

  World Conference on Transport Research Society

  Secretariat, 14 Avenue Berthelot
  69363 Lyon cedex 07,   France 
• Authors:
  • Fink, Camille N Y
• Conference:
  • 11th World Conference on Transport Research
  • Location: Berkeley CA, United States
  • Date: 2007-6-24 to 2007-6-28
• Publication Date: 2007

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: CD-ROM
• Features: Figures; Photos; References;
• Pagination: 47p
• Monograph Title: 11th World Conference on Transport Research

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bus rapid transit; Bus transportation; Mode choice; Public transit; Route choice; Service disruption; Transit operating agencies
• Identifier Terms: Wilshire Boulevard (Los Angeles, California)
• Uncontrolled Terms: Service reliability
• Geographic Terms: Los Angeles (California)
• Subject Areas: Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01129406
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: May 26 2009 2:07PM