Caltrain Social Behavior

For this project, I have chosen to observe and understand the social behaviors of people who ride on Caltrain. Caltrain is a commuter rail service that provides transportation from San Francisco to Gilroy. With a total of 32 stations, some available at specific times for specific trains, people living in the Peninsula have the ability to travel up and down the Bay Area. As a Caltrain user myself, I travel from San Mateo (Hayward Park Station) to San Jose (Diridon Station) and back for school. Because of an increase in traffic and the fuel consumption of my vehicle, I believe that Caltrain is better in terms of saving money. A ride on Caltrain is around $12 right now, and for me, it takes an hour to get to San Jose from San Mateo. Driving
I’ve never really been to other parts of the train before, but I really got a good understanding of the seating arrangements that people grow accustomed to. For example, it seems people are more comfortable in facing in the direction they are moving, so more people are found sitting on the north side of the car (with seats facing the south) when going south and vice versa. So if you know the train is going to be a bit crowded, and you don’t mind the spacial distortion of movement, then your best bet in finding a seat would be to go to the opposite part of the car in the direction which the train is moving. Another fascinating observation is that there are two bathrooms, one for handicapped people and a smaller one not meant for handicapped people. Each bathroom is in the north car on different ends, and hardly anyone sits near them, probably because of the foul odor that leaks
It’s actually ironic how I said that we behave aloof and antisocial when on board a train. Compared to the San who are a part of a close-knit society, when strangers approach them, they tend to move away. In our society in Caltrain, we are enclosed in a box and can’t really move away. If someone were to approach you, you would have to acknowledge them and respond accordingly. I know some people tried to ignore me at first when I asked for an interview, but they eventually responded and went along with it. But in a way, if the San were put in a situation where they couldn’t move away, like if they were put in a cave with no exit, I’m pretty sure they would just sit around and ignore each other, just like how people do on the