R stands for Ritual in t-R-avel
Excerpt from an interview we conducted with a student in Bangalore
PLANNING
“Every night, as I come to bed, I put 5 alarms to be sure, with a gap of 5 minutes between them. I then check whether my phone isn’t on silent. I try to sleep. For the first few minutes, I think about what I’d do the next day and sleep. ”
ALARMING
“I think I'm awake but if I open my eyes, I'll really be awake. My alarm hasn't gone off yet. Why do I always wake up before my alarm goes off? ”
RUSHING
“I skip my breakfast because travelling after breakfast always makes me feel nauseous After which, I always get late so I hurriedly walk towards the bus stop that is 5 minutes from my house. What I like about morning buses is that nobody talks.”
ACHIEVING, BREAKING & SOMETIMES BONDING
“My 6.42 fast train is early so I make a run for it again. This train is very popular for college kids. Hence, a lot of the times I meet a professor from college, batchmates, friends, schoolmates, I speak to some and then sleep.”
Our ethnographic research revealed that forming rituals is a core of everyday travel.
Metros didn’t foster the creation of social rituals and sense of community.
Across interviews, the daily travel journey emerged to be a back-and-forth round trip between the home and the workplace. As expected, participants reported that they would like to travel quickly and cost-effectively.
Rationally speaking, their rejection of the metro should be influenced by their reluctance to change their default mode of commute.
However, the ask for social bonding and zoning out were their vocalized preferences. People preferred travel modes that helped create rituals giving a sense of meaning to daily commutes.
“Contrary to popular perception, metro travel is not too expensive, and it most definitely is quick.
However, at this point, we encountered hesitation. When asked “Would you then choose the metro over your daily mode of transport (train, bus, car)?”, participants replied, “Umm………. I guess in the local (train) I have friends I meet daily and I get to listen to music.” ”