Meet your Romeo: Ride the Bus?

By Leah Arabella Germer 

"Social well-being and psychological health depend upon community. It is no coincidence that the 'helping professions' became a major industry in the United States as suburban planning helped destroy local public life and the community support it once lent."

    --Ray Oldenburg; American sociologist and father of the theory of Third Place

Buses, trains, subways: public transportation carries us from place to place, but we don’t often recognize vehicles as “places” in and of themselves.  This view of transportation may be changing; urban planners and sociologists consider the advantages of instilling personality, character, even community in nontraditional public places like a bus.

Combining the public with the personal draws on the work of American sociologist Ray Oldenburg, who advocated for the creation of “third place” in urban areas.  Third place, as opposed to the “first” and “second” places of home and work, is designated for the informal public gatherings on which grassroots politics, the arts, and community vitality thrive.  Pubs, cafes and parks can serve as third place as long as they are local and, in Oldenburg’s words, “do not necessitate getting into an automobile.”

Even though Oldenburg excluded transportation from his vision of third space, urban planners today might be convinced to reconsider:  could public transportation become third space? The Berlin Transportation Services (BVG) would likely agree.  Searchable via its homepage Berlin Public Transit Homepage the BVG-sponsored site Meine Augenblicke is an example of the city’s attempt to create third space inside its public transportation system.  

First launched on February 14, Valentine’s Day, 2007, Meine Augenblicke (roughly translated as ´"My Moments") refers to those meaningful exchanges of glances between fellow subway or bus riders who catch each other´s attention but fail to strike up a conversation.  Its mission, translated from the website, reads: 

A shy laugh at the ticket counter or a wink at the last stop is enough to create the single, magical moment that could spark the love of your lifetime.  Weren´t brave enough?  Here´s your second chance!  Take the initiative.

After registering, subscribers to Meine Augenblicke can post to a public forum information about the person they´re seeking and the context of their ´´moment.´´ Best case scenarios involve both passengers consulting the forum and recognizing each other´s posts; worst case scenarios result in unanswered posts but -- due to anonymity -- minimally bruised egos.  Subscribers can also choose to have transportation information sent to their cell phones.
The focus of Meine Augenblicke is primarily romantic.  Illustrations used in the campaign’s advertising portray pairs of passengers experiencing their ´´moment,´´ while depicting successful outcomes brought about by Meine Augenblicke as reflected in the bus window pane. 
                     
The following post dated June 25, 2010, offers an example:

We first bumped into each other because we simultaneously went for the same seat on the train.  I then sat next to the window, facing the direction the train was moving, and you sat down right across from me.  You rode the train from Ostkreuz to Bundesplatz.  At first, it was totally normal: but then we looked at each other – first timidly, in the reflection of the window pane, and then directly.  You flirted with me in an unbelievably lascivious way: I think my pulse reached at least 270… I´d like to experience that again!  P.S.  You: sunglasses, very sweet, womanly figure, I had a book and a pen and was wearing a green t-shirt.

The hundreds of similar posts written since Meine Augenblicke’s inception in 2007 illustrate how third space is expanding into the realm of public transportation in Berlin.  Similar online forums like Craigslist´s ´´Missed Connections´´ http://newyork.craigslist.org/mis/ have existed for some time, but mostly under umbrella services that cover many kinds of personal advertisements.  Meine Augenblicke on the other hand, is sponsored by the Berlin Transport System and explicitly presented as a feature that transcends the “home-to-work-and-back-again” model of transportation.

Why should public transportation double as third space?  The BVG itself certainly has an interest in creating an attractive product for Berliners. Broadly, however, advocates for sustainable mobility everywhere are positioned to benefit from this approach. By building community inside a single train car, the commuter gains a sense of identity in the course of an otherwise indistinctive routine. 

Transportation planners recognize the role that creating a “commuter identity” for their passengers plays in increasing ridership on public transportation. Digital, real-time bus timetable displays, sophisticated iPhone apps, on-board power outlets for laptops, advertising the work productivity gains possible when not driving, are tactics to help passengers identify themselves proudly as commuters.

The more commuters identify with the experience of public transportation, the more people could choose public transportation over individual methods of transit. Connection building initiatives like Meine Augenblicke offers strangers community and camaraderie, and is a balm for lonely lives.