A Research of Lived Experience on Commuting by Bus in Hong Kong

A research of lived experience on commuting by bus in Hong Kong Lau Wai In, Debbie 1. Hong Kong and Transportation The people’s daily commute in Hong Kong mostly only takes half an hour to one hour. More than half of the Hong Kong people rely on public transportation for their trips on weekdays (Transport Department, 2011). According to the Transport Department, only around 14 percent of the households had private cars available for their uses. Public transportation shares a big part of daily life for most local people, ranging from children to the elderly. It connects every district of Hong Kong, making the local trips much more convenient. Apart from the heavy reliance on commuting, there is even a particular group of people who share their mania over public transport. In Hong Kong, there are terms called “bus plastic” (baa1 gaau1) and “train plastic” (tit3 gaau1), which commonly describe people who have an unusual and extreme interest in bus and MTR. It raises several questions in my mind. Why do Hong Kong people insist to take public transport in their everyday life? What does public transport mean to Hong Kong people? Are they just a machine or something far more complicated? Conventionally, passengers taking public transportation are seen as a passive subject comparing with walking and cycling, as there are fewer motions while being carried by the vehicles and lack of willingness to pursue their purposes (Scheldeman, 2011, p.129). This kind of perspective is rather applicable to me since I seldom enjoy my trips on public transport. I always choose to walk if my destination is not too far. From my experience, I always feel that the time spent on taking public transport is a waste of time. Because I dislike waiting to be carried to the destination and the feeling that there is nothing I can do to speed up the trip. Therefore, I prefer to use my mobile phone to browse some websites or text with others, to feel that I have completely utilised the time. Therefore, I rarely take the bus as the journey time is usually much longer. However, Samuel who is a friend of mine has a different experience with Hong Kong public transport. He chooses to take the bus whenever he could, and he always shares with me how he sees the trip as an enjoyment. It raises my interest that what makes our experience so different. Do I overlook this lived experience? I believe only by putting my prejudice aside and trying to put myself in Samuel’s shoes would help me understand what I have neglected. Even though there are fewer movements involved in taking public transport, but the experience on our senses could be far complicated than we expected. Most of the current studies on lived experience focus on motions and mobility by using walking and cycling as an example (Cox, 2017; Lan, 2016; Scheldeman, 2011). Despite some notable exceptions as Tomić, Relja, and Popović (2015) and Bissell (2013), the attention paid to the experience of taking public transport is insufficient. Particularly in places like Hong Kong where the local people depend a lot on public transportation for their daily commute, there is a need for us to review how public transportation affects the local people’s daily life and their perspectives. In this study, I chose to conduct a sensory ethnography to record all my observations, feeling, and thoughts during my trips with Samuel. Classen (1997) pointed out that we give meaning to things around us and to make sense of the world (p.402). In this research, I would open-up my senses and situate myself in the same place as Samuel, striving to experience the same feeling as him. 2. Taking the bus Taking the bus as a resistance against the MTR Before we start our trip, we had a conversation about the recent Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement in Hong Kong. Samuel is regarded as an activist in this movement since he has been actively participating in it starting from June last year. Similar to other protesters, they believe that taking the bus instead of the MTR is a form of engagement in this movement. Since the MTR company closed the Prince Edward Station and rejected to show the video of the CCTV during the attack on the August 31 last year, the protesters were upset with the irresponsible performance of the company (Leung, 2019). They choose to manifest their dissatisfaction and outrage by rejecting to take MTR, vandalizing the facilities in the stations, and jumping turnstiles (Liang and Mahtani, 2019). Comparingly, the Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) arranged extra cross-harbour buses for the protester from Police Headquarters in Wan Chai to Mong Kok on June 22, the company explained that their special arrangement was based on the needs of the passengers (The Standard, 2019). Therefore, many of the protesters chose to take the bus over the MTR in expressing the support for the bus company. Samuel agreed that one of the reasons why he insisted to take the bus was because of the 831 attack. He would prepare coins before he takes the bus. He further explained that using the Octopus Card means that the MTR can share the commission fee from each transaction. This kind of anti-MTR protest has lasted for at least half a year. It remains a question mark for them to foresee the end of the protest. For such a long fight it could be, I asked Samuel what kind of things he wants to achieve by taking the bus, he said: I think this is an act of declaring my position. This tells all the Hong Kong-based companies that it will pose a threat to their business if they cannot work for the people. Rejecting to take MTR or simply jumping turnstiles, both can decrease their income and let them know it is the consequences of betraying the Hong Kong people… Some people may say it is impossible to check and balance such a great company, but I think we can still make a difference by starting from some minor actions in our everyday life. He admits that sometimes the fare of the bus is much higher than the MTR, especially for the cross-harbour buses. Still, he thinks it is worthy for him to take the bus. The First Trip When I first informed Samuel about my research, he was so excited about it. He told me that he had never tried to cross the harbour by the Eastern Harbour Crossing. He wanted to take an unfamiliar route from Kwun Tong to Causeway Bay. We gathered at the Kwun Tong Station at noon. I was late for about 15 minutes as it took so much time to change lines from the Island line to Kwun Tong Line. I was a little bit embarrassed as Samuel has waited for me at the station alone. Even though the weather was hot and stuffy on that day, Samuel still looked uplifted. He gave me a bottle of cold tea to cool down. He brought a stuffed backpack, I guessed he has prepared ahead for this bus trip. I followed him to the bus stop closed to the MTR station. (Photo retrieved from https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%81%8E%E6%B5%B7%E9%9A%A7%E9%81%93%E5 %B7%B4%E5%A3%AB619%E7%B7%9A ) The KMB mobile app showed that there was still five minutes before the bus 619 arrived, so we sat at the chair under shelter. The temperature was extremely high outside with the sun shone fiercely. I wore long jeans that I could feel the sweat has glued the pants with my thighs. Even though there is a shelter above us, I did not feel any cooler. Usually, I prefer to check on my phone when I am waiting, but I dared not to move anymore as the heat was intolerable. I looked at Samuel. He was quietly playing Candy Crush on his phone as if the hotness did not affect him. I asked him “Don’t you feel hot?”. He said, “Yes”, but it is interesting that he did not seem to be bothered by it. I try to look around the building and the people around, to less focused on my sweat. Eight people were waiting in the queue. I did not expect quite many people would still choose to wait under the sun when the MTR station was just nearby. I wondered the reason why they would insist to take the bus. The five minutes took longer than I expected. I asked Samuel whether the bus was coming. He said, “I guess the bus has delayed a little bit. It should be over five minutes now”. I became impatient as the waiting seemed to be endless. At that moment, I reassured that I did not like taking the bus. Samuel saw how annoyed I was, he said, “ I guess you like taking the MTR is because there is air-con everywhere in the MTR stations on Hong Kong Island”. I thought it was true, as I could not stand with hotness. About one minute later, the bus slowly slid in. I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to reload my Octopus Card. I asked Samuel if he could lend me the money. He searched his bag and gave me some coins. After we threw the coins into the box, we automatically went upstairs as if it was a hidden rule. The environment was super cool and comfortable.

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