Bus research

6 Tips for Coping with Social Anxiety on Public Transport

The fear of using the bus or train is one of the most often cited examples of social anxiety on public transport – and it’s no surprise. It encapsulates a lot of the issues surrounding both the initial fear of being in public and also the spiralling fears which come from avoiding a certain situation.

For example, public transport involves:

• Necessary interactions with strangers (both to purchase tickets and potentially having to sit alongside them)
• An unstructured event in which you’re not in control
• Running according to a timetable and the implicit fears of missing scheduled departures or stops
• Being in a confined space.

But avoiding public transport also has its own issues which can contribute to spiralling social anxiety disorder:

• Not going out socially or searching for work outside the immediate vicinity of your home
• Having to organise your day around lifts from other people and then feeling reliant on them
• Missing out on taking up pastimes which you would otherwise enjoy.

Of course, you could always by a car, but sometimes that is simply not financially viable – and, anyway, there’s always occasions when public transport is a better option. It’s also greener – but that’s probably for another day!



Hundreds of complaints about bus drivers, but stress taking its toll - chch

Is YOUR morning commute giving you wrinkles? From tech neck to severe skin stress, how public transport is wreaking havoc on our faces - ha

3 surprising health benefits linked to public transportation


There are many reasons to toot the horn for public transportation, now Japanese researchers have a few more to add. According to a study presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2015, riding the bus or train to work is associated with significant improvements in health.

The research included almost 6,000 adults in Osaka, Japan and compared bus/train commuters, walkers/bikers and drivers. The researchers adjusted for factors like age, gender, smoking, and others. Compared to those who drove themselves to work, people who took the bus or train were:

• 44 percent less likely to be overweight
• 27 percent less likely to have high blood pressure
• 34 percent less likely to have diabetes

One surprising nugget from the study was that the bus and train commuters had even lower rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and overweight than the walkers or bikers. Which doesn’t make sense, until the researchers note that this could be because these commuters actually walked farther back and forth from the train or bus stop than walkers or bikers traveled to and from work.

"If it takes longer than 20 minutes one-way to commute by walking or cycling, many people seem to take public transportation or a car in urban areas of Japan," said lead study author Hisako Tsuji, M.D., director of the Moriguchi City Health Examination Center in Osaka, Japan.

"People should consider taking public transportation instead of a car, as a part of daily, regular exercise," Tsuji said.

While the study is somewhat limited in that it’s impossible to know whether or not public transit users were already healthier than drivers, it’s nonetheless easy to see how the increased activity of taking the bus or train would lead to positive health outcomes. Not to mention gaining the chance to engage more actively with one’s community and the outdoors. Even in an urban setting, a little sunshine and even some rain and snow can do the spirit a load of good.

Investigation of the Vibroacoustic Climate Inside the Buses MAN SG242 Used in Public Transport Systems

Despite new technological solutions and attempts to improve the working conditions during the operation of vehicles, city bus drivers are still exposed to negative impacts of noise and vibrations, causing stress, increased fatigue and lead to numerous diseases. It is required, therefore, that the working conditions for drivers should be monitored on a regular basis. In order that they work safely, their working conditions should be as comfortable as possible, in terms of physical and psychical conditions and free from any nuisance. Therefore it seems merited to investigate the acoustic climate (i.e. acoustic phenomena caused by the sources of noise of vibrations in the function of time and space) and the working conditions during the operation of MAN SG242 vehicles, widely used in public transport systems.

First of all, vibrations impacting on people at work are considered harmful, provoking fatigue, drowsiness, discomfort, disturbed equilibrium. Mechanical vibrations cause stress, which affects all organs in the human body. They activate the receptors present in the skin and in other tissues, causing the reflexive response of the whole body. They lead to disturbances in the bone-joint systems, in muscles — the circulatory and nervous systems [1–6].

Trains, Buses And Automobiles We don't know how lucky we are Stuck In Traffic

The pain of the daily commute - what the survey found:

Commuters who were dependent on a car for travel:

Wellington - 50 per cent / Auckland - 74 per cent / Christchurch - 76 per cent

Commuters who worked from home occasionally:

Wellington - 20 per cent / Auckland - 31 per cent / Christchurch - 27 per cent

Commuters who believed traffic had negatively affected their health:

Wellington - 13 per cent / Auckland - 30 per cent / Christchurch - 18 per cent

The average commute time:

Wellington - 25 minutes, travelling 17km at 41kmh / Auckland - 26 minutes, travelling 17km at 39kmh / Christchurch - 22 minutes, travelling 14km at 40kmh

Commuters who experienced travel stress:

Wellington - 78 per cent / Auckland - 80 per cent / Christchurch - 62 per cent

Commuters who had been stuck in traffic for an hour or more in the past year:

Wellington - 40 per cent / Auckland - 47 per cent / Christchurch - 10 per cent

--------------------

TRAIN

Haidee Green, 33, lives and works in Wellington as a dental nurse, but regularly uses the train to visit family up the coast. She finds it an easy way to travel longer distances when she needs to - usually once a week. "It's pretty effective, I don't have to wait long." But track maintenance as part of the rail network upgrade makes it frustrating at times. A big problem is lack of communication, particularly when trains have to be replaced by buses, she says.

BUS

Tim Goodson, 48, regularly uses the bus to get into town from Hataitai, and finds it an easy way to travel. A business contractor, he occasionally uses his car, but prefers the bus, which he finds convenient and "totally stress-free". Wellingtonians are used to using public transport. "It's part and parcel of who we are." Changes such as real-time information on how the buses were running would help improve the service, as would better bus shelters.

CAR

Bernie Higgins, 67, hates being stuck in traffic, so he tries to avoid rush- hour wherever possible. Mr Higgins, an actuary, prefers to start work late and leave later so his journey to and from Whitby is smoother. "Why would I need to sit in traffic when there's another option?" But he still has to drive into Wellington at peak time at least twice a week, a journey he finds incredibly frustrating. The worst part is drivers - "angry people" - who tailgate other cars.


https://www.journals.elsevier.com/science-of-the-total-environment/call-for-papers/special-issue-on-impact-of-lrt-systems

A Review of the Urban Development and Transport Impacts on Public Health with Particular Reference to Australia: Trans-Disciplinary Research Teams and Some Research Gaps

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2697929/

Urbanization and transport have a direct effect on public health. A transdisciplinary approach is proposed and illustrated to tackle the general problem of these environmental stressors and public health. Processes driving urban development and environmental stressors are identified. Urbanization, transport and public health literature is reviewed and environmental stressors are classified into their impacts and which group is affected, the geographical scale and potential inventions. Climate change and health impacts are identified as a research theme. From an Australian perspective, further areas for research are identified.

The most relevant inter-disciplinary article on transport [32] by sociologists and psychologists, analyzed in-depth interviews about the meaning and significance of social and recreational travel (a proxy for social capital) in Auckland, New Zealand, for a diverse group of Maori (indigenous people of Aotearoa/New Zealand), Samoan (originating from the Pacific Island of Samoa), and Pakeha (a Maori term commonly used to describe New Zealanders of European ancestry). The findings highlight the benefits of social and recreational travel both for maintaining social and family relationships and for general health and well-being, including the opportunity to participate in physical activity and in other activities that help reduce stress.

(there's a lot more in there)