Do you avoid sitting next to strangers on public transit?

Do not disturb: the use of a large bag to prevent a stranger from sitting next to you is a common practice on long coach bus rides, according to a new study. (iStockphoto)

The bus pulls up to your stop. You walk on. It's only half empty, but every free seat is next to one that's already occupied by a stranger. Really, the bus might as well be full - or so say the results of a recent study.

The extraordinary efforts that people go to avoid sitting next to a stranger, or to prevent a stranger from sitting down next to them, was documented in a study published in Symbolic Interaction titled "Strangers on a Bus."

For the study, Esther Kim from Yale University spent three years taking coach bus trips across the United States, documenting the movements, behaviours and quirks of her public transit companions over thousands of miles.

"We live in a world of strangers, where life in public spaces feels increasingly anonymous," said Kim. "However, avoiding other people actually requires quite a lot of effort and this is especially true in confined spaces like public transport."

The most important but unspoken rule, according to Kim, was that a new passenger should do everything to avoid sitting next to someone if other pairs of seats are unclaimed. "It makes you look weird" choosing to sit next to a stranger, travellers told her.

"We engage in all sorts of behavior to avoid others, pretending to be busy, checking phones, rummaging through bags, looking past people or falling asleep," said Kim according to Science Daily. "Sometimes we even don a 'don't bother me face' or what's known as the 'hate stare'."

Kim collected lots of advice from passengers on how to prevent someone from sitting down next to them, including:
• avoiding eye contact with other people.
• placing a large bag on the empty seat.
• sitting on the aisle seat listening to an iPod or other music player so you can pretend you can't hear people asking for the window seat.
• looking out the window with a blank stare to look crazy.
• pretending to be asleep.

When people are informed that the bus is guaranteed to be full, however, Kim found that the rule for avoiding seats is left behind. Knowing that every seat will be taken, the primary objective for all passengers is to simply avoid sitting next to "the crazy person," irrespective of gender or ethnicity.

"One rider told me the objective is just 'getting through the ride', and that I should avoid fat people who may sweat more and so may be more likely to smell," said Kim. She also said that concerns for personal safety became a greater concern on coach buses than on other forms of transit thanks to dimly lit stations.

Do you go to great lengths to avoid sitting next to a stranger on the bus, train or subway? Which actions listed above do you think are acceptable or unacceptable? Is the "this seat's for my bag" fair game or selfish? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.


(This survey is not scientific. Results are based on readers' replies.)