Vicko Tomic, Renata Relja, Toni Popovic: Ethnography of urban public transport: A tale oof two cities in Croatia
Ethnography of urban public transport: A tale of two cities in Croatia
Vicko Tomi}
University of Zadar, victom@ffst.hr
Renata Relja
University of Split, rrelja@ffst.hr
Toni Popovi}
University of Split, tonpop@ffst.hr
Abstract
The subject of this ethnographic study is the daily life in the context of urban public transport in two cities in Croatia: Zagreb and Split. The qualitative method of participant observation was used to identify and understand the aspects of the behaviour of passengers, drivers and ticket controllers and, more generally, daily life in urban public transport. The quantitative methods of structured observation and content analysis were used to analyse the frequency of passengers' various behaviours and the infrastructure of urban public transport in both cities. Different types of passengers were identified: passenger-loner, passenger-talker, deviant passenger, passenger-altruist and passenger-romantic. The results showed differences in behaviour depending on the demographic characteristics of passengers as well as differences in passenger behaviour with respect to the city. The analysis of infrastructure showed that Zagreb has better urban public transport than Split, but also that urban public transport systems needed to be upgraded in both cities.
KEYWORDS: ethnography, urban public transport, passengers, Croatia
Introduction
At the beginning of the movie Batman Begins (2005), Thomas Wayne, one of the richest people in the world, riding on the elevated railway, explains to his son Bruce why he financed its construction during the Great Depression: 'Gotham's been good to our family, but the city's been suffering. People less fortunate than us have been enduring very hard times. So we built a new, cheap, public transportation system to unite the city.' Although a fictional example, it describes well the importance that transportation has on the physical and economic development of cities and regions, but also of society in general. Geographical mobility was once the privilege of elite, as the disenfranchised and/or poor strata of society were not allowed or able to move freely. Currently, similar
ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTEBOOKS 21 (1): 37-59. ISSN 1408-032X
© Slovene Anthropological Society 2015
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examples can be found in some closed communities, for example where women are not allowed to leave the household without a man's consent. At least in the developed parts of the world, modernity and technological development have ended such relationships, which is why 'the physical negotiation of space by people in pursuit of social values (access to work, friends, child care, education, recreation and supplying the home) is part of urban social life' (Low 2003: 1). Historically, transportation and traffic systems have had an overwhelming influence on the socioeconomic development of modern society; the telling example is certainly the introduction of the steam engine, which, in addition to significantly shortening travel time, accelerated the movement of goods, people and information within and across continents.
According to theories of transport geography and transport economics, travel between different destinations is influenced both by the reasons people may have for going to a particular place, and by the discomfort involved when travelling to this location (Nsss 2006). In other words, the attractiveness of a destination and the effort needed to arrive there influence the travel. The attractiveness of particular locations depends in part on the relative accessibility, and this in turn depends on the quality and quantity of the transport infrastructure (Banister & Lichfield 1995). The efforts needed to reach a destination can be seen as the price that the passenger has to pay to achieve his goal.
The ethnographic approach in the study of urban public transport (UPT) allows the determination of how attractive the destinations that can be reached using public transport are, what the quality of transport infrastructure is, and what economic and social price the passenger has to pay to reach the destination. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of an ethnographic study on UPT. While relatively numerous sociological (Russell et al. 2011; Thomas 2009; Ohmori & Harata 2008; Gripsrud & Hjorthol 2012) and ethnographic (Nash 1975; Sadana 2010; Lemon 2000; Auge 2002, Bissell 2009; Jain 2009; Symes 2007) studies on public transport have been conducted around the world, in Croatia they are extremely rare (Caldarovic et al. 1976; Matosevic 2010). Therefore, this study was conducted in the two most populous Croatian cities, Zagreb and Split, which differ significantly in size and climate, exert different cultural influences, have different political significance and transport infrastructure. Unlike previous studies that mainly focused on only one specific area, this study enables the comparison of two different areas. Previous studies did not provide detailed classification of the UPT users, i.e. passengers who are its main beneficiaries. Since it is important to identify the theoretical types of passengers in order to obtain a complete picture of the sociological system, a typology of passengers on three levels is developed and presented. This study also shows how the use of mobile phones can replace all other ethnographic equipment.
Contemporary public transport
Modern life depends on the transportation of goods from where they are produced to where they are needed, and transportation of people from their places of residence to where they must go to pursue all the activities of life: work, education, shopping and leisure activities (Iles 2005). Contemporary transportation is largely private and individual, and,
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Vicko Tomic, Renata Relja, Toni Popovic: Ethnography of urban public transport: A tale oof two cities in Croatia
in comparison to public transport, has number of considerations: economic, environmental and social. For example, while one car lane can carry 2,500 people per hour, a bus can carry 7,000 and a train 50,000 people in the same space (Newman 2003) with fewer traffic accidents and significantly lower power consumption, which reduces environmental pollution. Individual transportation has other negative effects on the environment, such as noise, loss of agricultural land and recreational space due to road expansion, while public space is increasingly occupied by parked cars because every passenger car spends far more time parked than being driven. More car owners mean fewer public transport passengers, to which operators may respond by increasing the fares, reducing the frequency or both. These measures make the use of the car even more attractive than before and induce more people to buy cars, thus accelerating the vicious circle: car drivers are facing increased levels of congestion, while public transport is more expensive and less frequent, leading to a final state in which almost everybody is worse off than originally (Ortuzar & Willumsen 2001). All of this is particularly noticeable in cities that are becoming increasingly polluted, congested, sidewalks are being turned into parking lots, and the function of the square as the place for social gathering of inhabitants and of free pedestrian movement is no longer fulfilled (Caldarovic 1987). Since it is essential to change the current trends, the concept of sustainable transportation is increasingly used in the framework of sustainable development. Such transportation 1) allows the basic access needs of individuals and societies to be met safely and in a manner consistent with human and ecosystem health; 2) is affordable, operates efficiently and supports a vibrant economy; 3) limits emissions and waste within the planet's ability to absorb them and minimises the use of land and the production of noise (Schiller et al. 2010).
Although almost everybody has a certain idea of what the UPT is, it is not as easy to define it as it seems. If it is conceived as all modes of transportation available to the public (White 2009), then it must include the various forms of transportation from railways, buses and taxis to escalators in shopping malls, ski lifts at ski resorts, roller-coasters in amusement parks, elevators in skyscrapers, and so on. Therefore, our definition of UPT is simplified: it is any form of mass transportation in an urban area available to everyone under the same conditions, which operates on predetermined routes and timetable regardless of the presence of passengers. According to this definition, the UPT modes in Zagreb are trams, a funicular and buses, all operated by the Zagreb Electric Tram (ZET) and a suburban railway operated by Croatian Railways. In Split, the UPT modes are buses operated by Promet Split and a suburban railway, also operated by Croatian Railways. However, suburban railways are not included in the study because they are poorly integrated into the UPT. The Zagreb funicular is not included either as it is mainly a tourist attraction and frequently does not operate at all.
The local context of the study and the development of UPT in Zagreb and Split
Zagreb is the capital of Croatia and its largest city, with a population of 790,000 inhabitants, while the wider metropolitan area has over a million inhabitants. In terms of
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its geographical location and culture, it is a medium-sized Central European city. It is the administrative, economic, cultural, commercial and scientific centre of Croatia. The first significant development of UPT can be traced back to 1891 when the horse-drawn trams were introduced, which would be replaced by electric trams twenty years later because of the accelerated development of the city. Since 1927, tram transportation has been operated by ZET, which has also been operating the bus transportation services introduced as an extension to tram line in those parts of the city where the trams do not run. The tram network has been continuously extended, with occasional interruptions. Since the last extension in 2000, it is now 116 km long. Since 1951, when the first Croatian tram was manufactured, new types of modern vehicles have been designed and manufactured, making Zagreb one of the few cities whose trams are mostly manufactured in the city. In addition to the purchase of new vehicles, ZET started to modernise old trams by installing identical frontal displays, air conditioning, video surveillance and passenger information systems into all trams. Currently, there are 15 day- and four night-tram lines, and 134 bus lines in Zagreb (Kekic & Pesl 2011).
Split is situated on the eastern Adriatic coast, and it is the largest city in Dalmatia, the second largest city in Croatia and the third largest passenger port in the Mediterranean. The city has about 180,000 inhabitants, while the metropolitan area has 400,000 inhabitants. Modestly operated public bus transport was introduced in 1948 by the company Promet. The development was intensified in 1953 when ten old London double-decker buses were purchased. Trolley-bus transport system was introduced in 1964 but was discontinued after four years. For the 1979 Mediterranean Games, thirty used German buses were purchased, and such practices continue to this day. The vehicles were purchased for the 1981 European Aquatics Championships, the 1990 European Athletics Championships and the 2009 World Men's Handball Championship. Although 90 buses were purchased in the past decade, the fleet remains old and worn-out - some city lines had to be cancelled because vehicles often break down or catch fire when being driven.1 As the official website of Promet indicates, there are 47 lines in the urban and suburban area, while another 48 lines exist in the wider suburban area (within a radius of 100 kilometers from the city).
On the methods
This ethnographic study included the main aspects of the UPT in Zagreb and Split, i.e. their subjects (passengers, drivers, and ticket controllers) and facilities (buses, trams and stops). In the period from January 2011 to September 2012, daily life in the context of UPT
1 This is not surprising when considering the interrelationship between the non-transparent post-socialist transition and the Homeland War that were simultaneously occurring in the first half of the 1990s. At the same time, the Croatian economy was continuously deteriorating. Although the general social situation remains unfavourable, the centralisation of public administration and the economic importance of Zagreb almost create "centre-periphery" relations between the capital and the rest of the country. Large numbers of defunct factories and services has become commonplace in Split-Dalmatia County. To date, Zagreb has above average standard of living for Croatian circumstances, while the Split-Dalmatia County is economically moderately developed (Russo & Popovic 2013: 34).
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was studied. The general aims of the study were identification and understanding of the everyday practice of the UPT subjects, determination the typology of passengers, analysing transport infrastructure, i.e. UPT facilities, and comparison of UPT in Split and Zagreb.
Participant observation was used to observe how people commonly behave in a particular public context and to obtain additional insights into the daily life of UPTs. Participant observation is especially suited for asking question about everyday meanings (often taken-for-granted) because it helps us understand these explicit meanings with interpretive depth, as well as the purpose of group life that are embedded in everyday interaction (Lichterman 1998). Therefore, it is considered that there is no effective ethnographic fieldwork without it. Ethnography is more properly conceived of as a research strategy than a unitary research method in that it is always composed of a variety of methods (Davies 1999). Therefore, our study included observations, informal interviews with UPT participants, studying the daily press and collecting various artefacts and secondary data. The study was conducted in 'open or public settings' (Silverman 2006: 81), using covert observation methods because each passenger in the vehicle could not be asked for his consent. However, ethical principles were not violated because it is a public space (sometimes under camera surveillance) in which most participants remained anonymous even to the researcher, and data privacy and confidentiality could not be violated even unintentionally.
The benefits of researching UPT using this method are numerous: access is virtually unlimited, there are many key informants, because every day thousands of passengers use the UPT, and they often make comments about it, which is also a source of much useful information. However, the multitude of passengers transforms UPT into 'a fluid environment' (Symes 2007: 444) in which the ethnographer cannot observe the same people day after day; the problem is in approaching and gaining the trust of passengers who often ride the UPT for a short time or do not want to be disturbed (they listen to music, read a book, etc.). The drawbacks are the noise and crowds that hide "what is going on" from the observer, but also the difficulty of making notes under those conditions. It turned out that some passengers mistook the researcher for the ticket controller because of the notepad and pen, stopped their usual behaviour and "kept an eye on him". Since a large number of passengers use their mobile phones in the vehicle, this problem was resolved by recording everything that happened as text messages by a mobile phone. Fetterman (2010) emphasised that, in addition to pen and paper, also voice recorders, cameras, laptop computers and the Internet are useful ethnographic tools. This study showed that mobile phones can replace all other ethnographic equipment because they were used to make field notes, record conversations, take photographs, record video clips and access the Internet to check the timetable, for example. Therefore, it can be expected that it will be increasingly used in ethnography and that appropriate mobile research software will be developed. It was also demonstrated that, in these studies, it was essential to integrate research with one's daily activities. As the trams were delayed, the researcher missed the bus to Split which was, as he was at the same time the researcher and the actual passenger, an emotional and reflective experience to him, quite different from the one he would have had were he only an observer in the tram.
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It is sometimes necessary for ethnographers to perform more structured observations in order to develop some reasonably objective data to confirm or modify what people are saying (Price 2007), which can be of great significance in the research done in a wider public context. Therefore, in our research, quantitative structured observation was used to record the frequency of the behaviour of a total of 5,736 passengers on 292 UPT rides on all city lines and of 1077 passengers at stops. A protocol with fourteen predefined steps was used; during the study, it increased by five more steps. The perception of how crowded the stops were was recorded for a total of 2,207 stops, of which 1,213 were in Zagreb and 994 in Split. The study was conducted on a convenience sample because, due to the lack of data on the total population of passengers, a probability sampling was not possible. Passengers in the vehicle were randomly selected, individually monitored at two-minute intervals, which allowed the detection of differences in the behaviour of passengers by demographic characteristics, as well as a comparison of behaviour in both cities. Content analysis method was used to analyse the transport infrastructure, i.e. 796 vehicles, out of which 643 in Zagreb and 153 in Split, and 240 stops, out of which 117 in Zagreb and 123 in Split. Thus, according to the available data, all vehicles operating in Zagreb and Split and all the bus stops in Split and 97.5% tram stops in Zagreb were included in the research. This selection of qualitative and quantitative methods enabled the triangulation of data, which always improves data quality and credibility of ethnographic findings.
The UPT Infrastructure in Zagreb and Split
In comparing the historical development of the UPT in Zagreb and Split, two notable differences are revealed. First, Zagreb is developing its UPT more or less strategically, while Split does so only sporadically and collaterally when a major (sporting) event is being organised in the city. Second, in Zagreb both trams and buses operate and in Split only buses do. Buses are usually regarded as a means of transportation for the poor and something that should be avoided (Simpson 2003), while the railway is generally seen in a positive light and is considered to be cleaner and safer than buses (Witten et al. 2006). Our research indicates that many men in Split consider riding a bus to be shameful and avoid it as soon as they meet certain conditions.2 The results of the structured observations show that in Split 36.2% of men aged 20-39 ride the bus as opposed to 44.7% of men in this age group in Zagreb. The difference is even greater in the 40-59 age group as in Split 17.4% of men ride the bus as opposed to 47.9% in Zagreb. By further comparing the UPT systems in Zagreb and Split, it can be observed that people in Zagreb ride buses that are on the average six years newer than in Split. Certainly, this can be another reason for more equal gender distribution in Zagreb's public transportation, along with generally weaker prejudices in the more populous city (Aronson et al. 2005; Skiljan & Babic 2014) and more efficiently organised public transportation system.
2 Men generally participate less in public and more in individual transport. It is traditionally considered that being a driver is a part of man's identity, as confirmed by many stereotypes about women as bad drivers (Abrams 2011). Likewise, the researcher was sneered at for still riding the bus at the age of 27.
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The newest trams usually operate on line 17 and the oldest ones on line 15, which shows the operation of a tram on certain line depends on its age. Zagreb trams are mostly just painted in a single colour, which creates a better visual identity, a trend which can also be seen on newer buses in Split. There is more advertising on Split buses (34%) than on Zagreb trams (25.9%); furthermore, it is changed more frequently on buses in Split. Interestingly, there is more advertising on older trams, while in Split there is more advertising on newer buses. In Split, there are more advertisements for shopping malls or chains (27.4%) than in Zagreb (15.3%), but also for clothing and footwear, banks, theatres, sporting events and concerts. It is particularly interesting that 8.1% of the advertising in Split is for meat products (e.g. pâtés, salami, sausages and frankfurters). In Split (1.6%), electronic devices are less frequently advertised than in Zagreb (12.5%), where advertisements are much more diverse and include those for politics, health, news, gambling and airlines, which cannot be seen in Split.
Content analysis of tram stops in Zagreb and bus stops in Split clearly shows the difference in the quality of UPT. While there is an equal number of stop shelters in both cities, Zagreb leads in all other aspects. The names of the tram stops are clearly indicated at almost all stops in Zagreb (87.2%), while that is the case on only 14.6% bus stops in Split; furthermore, the newly constructed bus stops do not have a sign with the stop's name. Tram stops in Zagreb have timetables more frequently (53%) than the bus stops in Split do (40.7%), but it was observed that in Zagreb there were no bus route maps only the tram ones. There are passenger information display systems at slightly less than half (41. 9%) stops in Zagreb and at only seven (5.7%) stops in Split. However, it was observed only once in Zagreb that they did not function, while in Split neither one functioned properly. It is important to note that the majority of vehicles in Zagreb had text displays and announcements to inform passengers about the current and next stop, which makes travel easier to foreigners and people with disabilities. There are no displays and announcements on buses in Split. In addition, in Split even the names of stops are not marked on the bus route maps which makes it rather complicated for tourists to find their way around the UPT. What confuses them additionally is that in some buses, purchased in 1979 as used buses, there are still bus route maps of German cities where they operated before. In Zagreb, but not in Split, the passengers can buy day/multi-day tickets and also a text message ticket via mobile phone.
All of the above confirms Lefebvre's (1974) view that physical space reflects the arrangements of human society, i.e. its normative structure and overall quality of institutions as generalised and long-lasting forms of action. If we recall the thesis of creating a "centre-periphery" relationship between the capital and the rest of the country since 1990s, it is not surprising that Zagreb has a much more commercial, prosperous and better organised UPT structure than Split.
Social actors in UPT
The research results reveal some differences between UPT in Zagreb and Split. All drivers in Split are male, while in Zagreb one fifth of the tram drivers are female. This indicates the re-traditionalisation process, which has been ongoing in Croatian society for the past two decades. In the sphere of business, it implies unequal employment
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opportunities for women, their work at lower ranked jobs, the ghettoisation of "female occupations" (nurses, teachers, secretaries), etc. (Doolan 2004).The drivers in new trams do not sell tickets,3 while Split drivers combine three jobs in one (driver, conductor and ticket controller) because, except for driving, they are responsible for selling and checking tickets, which causes the ride last longer, and drivers often come into conflict with passengers as evidenced by the following field note:
The driver opens only the front door and waits for the passengers to get on the bus, while the back doors are closed. A middle-aged woman yells to him because of that: 'Open all doors!' Driver: 'Come on, hold on.' Woman: 'I have to hurry to work. But the main thing you're counting are the days till you can retire.' After all the passengers get on, he opens the back door so the passengers can get off and two minors try to take advantage of the situation and sneak in. The driver sees them in the rear mirror and asks them to get off the bus. They laugh and don't get off so the driver gets up and comes up to them and starts fighting with them. After a few minutes, they get off, but swearing like a trooper: 'Fuck your mother, you piece of shit,' 'Die, you dirty bastard when I can't ride for two stops,' 'God willing, you'll crash and die and all these roaches in there.'
In Split, only male ticket controllers are seen patrolling either alone (35.7%) or in pairs (64.3%), while in Zagreb the controllers are of both sexes and operate in a group of three. Ticket controls are much more common in Split (10.2%) than in Zagreb (2.6%), where it is even possible to ride without a ticket, as it can be purchased via a text message after the controllers enter the UPT, and ride for free before that. It is noted that some of Zagreb ticket controllers are not very motivated to do their job and do not fear penalties, so they do not care whether they check the ticket superficially or just sit and read the newspaper in the back seat. Their inefficiency is confirmed by the fact that ZET boasted in the newspapers that during the first day of intensive control its 140 controllers administered 160 penalty fares for fare evasions which is an average of 1.14 per controller in a situation where half of the passengers do not pay the ticket.4 In Split, the controllers can be seen more frequently, but so can passengers who pay their tickets, and they often do not find any fare evaders. Sometimes a fare evader that is caught refuses to show his ID to the controller, and while they argue the other fare evaders get off the vehicle without being issued a penalty fare. A Split ticket controller says that many passengers think of them as eccentrics and states:
3	On older trams and busses, the ticket can still be purchased inside the vehicle.
4	Social vulnerability has become a national reality since the 1990s (Lalic 2003), in the terms of unemployment, early retirement and extended youth. Due to the unfavourable living conditions, a steady effort of preserving social peace is clear. Therefore, government often strives to "keep alive" unprofitable public companies and services, which is reflected in the employee's individual sense of security, while political credibility is further acquired with non-strategic (excessive) employment within the public sector. Acting as a vicious circle, these are some of the fundamental problems of the poor competitiveness of the Croatian economy that are highlighted by national experts and the European Union.
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I would be more efficient if I behaved like a beast and got on the bus at the rear door not wearing my uniform. But I never do that. I understand that people have no money, I often let them go without a fine, but all I get in turn is spitting and cursing.
Davor (35), a ticket controller from Zagreb, points out that passengers are often very aggressive, but those incidents are not reported to the police. He also says that women evade fares more often than men, as is confirmed by the results of our research.5 Fare evaders cope in different ways and have countless excuses ('I just got on and I didn't have time to validate my ticket,' 'I lost my ticket,' 'My mobile phone is turned off',' 'I'm on way to extend my pass') and applications for smart phones that simulate paid tickets have been developed as well. Although they have time to leave the vehicle or buy an SMS ticket, some passengers nevertheless consciously choose the penalty fare which can be confirmed by the fact they write appeals and then wait for the statute of limitations to expire.
It is important to emphasise that passengers often complain about the behaviour of drivers and controllers, mainly because of their hostile behaviour and attitudes, but also because of the city's transport policy. When the ticket price went up in Zagreb, participants in the protest 'I am not paying!' covered the stops with posters and leaflets calling for a boycott of paying UPT, because ZET attempted to compensate its financial loss by making its passengers carry the burden. Referring to the criminal justice act, the leaflet gives instructions on how to ride for free: the controllers are not authorised to take the passengers' personal data or restrict the freedom of movement so that a passenger can get off at any time without paying a fine. Therefore, the UPT operators do not have any legal authority over the passenger, which is confirmed by the behaviour of a passenger who simply ignored the ticket controller by listening to music with headphones and quietly getting off at the first stop. Split's operator recently introduced another innovation in the fight against fare evaders: the so-called external control service whose task is to kindly ask the fellow-citizens to use the front door to get on the vehicles where drivers control and sell tickets. This produced mostly negative reactions by passengers, who swore, insulted and shoved these controllers, which in turn further slowed down the already slow UPT. However, the controllers became more efficient as is proved by a comment made by a younger male passenger: 'Check out the control, not even Houdini could evade the fare.'
5 Understandably, since they use UPT more often, but also receive lower wages and pensions, on average, than men (Doolan 2004; Nestic & Tomic 2012).
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Table 1: Behaviour of passengers in the two cities
Behaviour	city Zagreb f	%	Split f	%	total f	%
Looking out the window	964	29.1	1181	33.8	2,145	31.5
Talking to other passengers	771	23.2	1175	33.6	1,946	28.6
Using his mobile phone	355	10.7	331	9.5	686	10.1
Headphones in	356	10.7	312	8.9	668	9.8
Talking on the mobile phone	209	6.3	117	3.3	326	4.8
Reading	198	6.0	47	1.3	245	3.6
Romantic cuddling	102	3.1	56	1.6	158	2.3
Eating/drinking	75	2.3	46	1.3	121	1.8
Looking after children	48	1.4	50	1.4	98	1.4
Flicking through things	37	1.1	55	1.6	92	1.4
Holding a mobile phone	86	2.6	6	0.2	92	1.4
Standing	54	1.6	34	1.0	88	1.3
Sleeping/eyes closed	37	1.1	12	0.3	49	0.7
Talking to the driver	3	0.1	40	1.1	43	0.6
Sharing the headphones with	0	0.0	16	0.5	16	0.2
a fellow passenger						
Laughing	7	0.2	7	0.2	14	0.2
Fanning himself/herself	5	0.2	7	0.2	12	0.2
Offering the seat to someone else	5	0.2	3	0.1	8	0.1
Using a computer	6	0.2	0	0.0	6	0.1
Total	3,318	100.0	3,496	100.0	6,813	100.0
Structured observations revealed the most common behaviours of observed passengers in Zagreb and Split and their ranking scale are shown in Table 1. Passengers in Split talk more and look out the window more than those from Zagreb, who read, talk on the phone, romantically cuddle, use a mobile phone, listen to music and sleep more than passengers in Split. Some of these differences in behaviour can be explained by the place where they are exhibited because passengers in Zagreb look out the window and talk much more on the bus than in trams, while they cuddle with a romantic partner more on the trams than on the buses. Specifically, the trams have single seats, and on the buses most seats are double, so the bus passengers have greater opportunities to talk, while in trams couples often sit together on one seat and cuddle. However, some types of behaviours are more present in Zagreb than in Split and are even more pronounced in Zagreb buses than trams, thus confirming that passengers, for example, in Zagreb read and use the computer more than in Split. There are noticeable differences in behaviour with regard to gender and age. Men (36.3%) look out the window more than women (27.9%) and older people more than younger. Women talk to fellow passengers and over the phone more than men who listen to music more than women. Headphones and mobile phones are used more by younger passengers and less by the elderly. Men read slightly more than women who look after the children, flick through things and eat or drink, while they equally often
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offer their seat to other passengers and use the computer. There are also differences in age groups. It was observed that elderly passengers in Zagreb use technical devices more, i.e. send more text messages/browse the Internet more, listen to music more and make phone calls more often than elderly passengers in Split do. Roughly speaking, one fifth of the passengers in the observed period was multitasking, usually looking out the window and talking to other passengers (11%), talking to passengers and using their mobile phone (10.4%), listening to music and using their mobile phone (9.9%), listening to music and looking out the window (9.7%), talking and cuddling (6%) and talking and looking after the children (4.5%). It is interesting that as many as 4.4% of passengers listened to music and talked to friends at the same time, which seems contradictory. Similar behaviours were also recorded, such as reading and talking or talking on one mobile phone and browsing the web on the other.
Participant observation also witnessed rare and unusual behaviour of passengers (combing one's hair, doing one's makeup, filing one's nails brushing one's teeth, praying, talking to the dog), and repetitive patterns ofbehaviour that are more important for the study. One of those patterns is ignoring strange behaviours of others, because some passengers, unlike the majority, do not pay attention to anything in the vehicle, including shouting, fighting or something being smashed. This behaviour can be explained by Simmel's (2001) notion of the blasé, which are defence mechanisms developed by the residents of the metropolis to adapt to external influences and avoid over-stimulation. Excessive neural simulation can lead to disturbances, i.e. simultaneous multitude of impressions that are not absorbed may harm a man. In attempting to avoid excessive stimulation, the human intellect develops various types of protective elements. Since people react more rationally than in the past, modern human consciousness becomes more calculative (Caldarovic 1985). More of the blasé attitude was noticed in Zagreb, which somewhat confirms that it is present in larger cities. It was further found that elderly passengers usually choose the front part of the vehicle, and the younger the back, probably because they are better hidden from the driver's view. Older passengers do not like to sit in the seats that face the rear of the vehicle and often move when the opportunity arises. Maines (1977) found that passengers significantly more frequently choose a seat next to another passenger of the same sex, but it was also noticed that older men often want to sit next to younger women to try to get close to them, often expressing sexual innuendos. In Zagreb trams, over the weekends in the early morning, many passengers sleep in the car riding the city streets for hours. These are usually men who have had too much to drink the night before or the homeless who usually sleep in night trams when the temperatures are low. Some passengers look out the window even when one cannot see through it because of the weather conditions, light reflections or advertisements, so it can be concluded that looking out the window from inside a UPT vehicle is an unconscious habit, but also a way of isolating oneself from other passengers. Some behaviours depend on the time of the year, so that younger passengers study in the vehicle at the end of the school year or during the exam period, while in the summer, mostly elderly women passengers fan themselves.
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There are some specific situations in UPT that deviate from the "normal" behaviour, but regularly occur so they can be characterised as "usual unusual situations". For example, when major football matches are held, many fans sing, shout and cheer for their football team in vehicles and are often drunk so tourists, for example, raise a few eyebrows, but also fear them. Similar situations arise during carnival celebrations, the gay parade and various rallies and protests. However, most of the unusual situations occur in Zagreb on the night trams and buses, especially on weekends when young people go out. Then, in addition to the homeless who sleep in them, everything from drunken escapades, singing, yelling to throwing sandwiches and urinating on the seats can be seen. The observer (VT) talked to three young girls about their experience of riding the night trams:
VT: What kind of experience have you had riding the night trams? Girl 1: Oh, it's great to ride the tram at night, especially on Fridays and Saturdays when only 'model citizens' are riding...
Girl 2: Yeah, drunken students, ambitious young people and workers on the night shift...
Girl 3: And the homeless, but they always just sleep. VT: So are you afraid at all while riding with them? Girl 1: Well, I'm not exactly afraid, but then again... Girl 2: I feel more some kind of discomfort...
Girl 3: If I'm riding on my own, it does matter, but then again, you survive. You can't always afford a taxi.
VT: Those drunken youngsters, don't you have problems with them, because they're drunk?
Girl 2: Oh, they are generally harmless, but they can be annoying...
Girl 3: Once I saw the police take away some guys. They were terribly drunk,
vulgar and bored all other passengers, especially some girls. There was even
some, we can say sexual abuse...
VT: Verbal or...
Girl 3: Verbal is common... This seemed as something that might escalate into something more serious... But it seems that someone informed the police, maybe the driver or one of the passengers, because after a few stops they got on and brought them in...
VT: And what about the homeless? I noticed that in the winter they always ride the night trams?
Girl 2: Oh, they are harmless, poor people... they sleep on the tram when the temperature is low because the trams are heated... Even the drivers let them... Girl 1: The worst thing that could happen is that they smell a little... Girl 2: Or that someone next to you throws up...
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Passengers usually talk about their daily activities and current events. Groups of passengers discuss topics that connect them6, for example, high school students usually talk about school, teachers and classmates. Young girls also often talk about boys they like, while boys usually comment on the girls ('What do you say, she's not bad,' 'Do you like Nina?' 'I do, she has nice tits. But she also has a lot of moles'). Younger passengers very often talk about Facebook or check it on their mobile phone and make comments. A common topic for all passengers is the UPT. The comments generally refer to poor organisation ('Why doesn't line 3 go into this neighbourhood?'), old vehicles ('They drive us only in rattletraps, and we've been setting aside funds all our lives'), moving slowly ('The trams are too slow, you can get somewhere faster by bus') or bad driving ('It's like he's driving potatoes, not people'), and special attention is devoted to the increase in ticket prices commented by passengers months later. Younger and middle-aged passengers often complain about the rights of pensioners who have certain benefits: 'I make 3,000 kunas a month and have to pay 290 kunas every month and pensioners who have 4,900 kunas are a welfare case and ride for free. And they always wail!' or 'What do these smelly hags always have to ride around when we go to school? Why don't they go before or after, as if they were in a hurry? And they always get on carrying some smelly bags!'
We can conclude that there is a certain antagonism between older and younger passengers because older passengers often complain about of the behaviour of the young, mostly emphasising their lack of manners: 'Young people are wild, high school students are wild and rude when going home from school, they spit and insult the driver.' However, even younger passengers spare no one as can be seen from the observer's conversation with passenger Ana (26) who commented on how the senior citizens get on the tram:
It's a nasty fight, they jostle each other to catch a seat, use their crutches to hold the tram door and from the very door hit a seat with their crutch so nobody would accidentally sit on it until they wiggle to it.
Therefore, within the UPT, the existence of ageism as a process of stereotyping and discrimination against people by virtue of age can be asserted (Jary & Jary 1999). Among the passengers in Split, a very popular topic are the old buses. An older woman loudly protests: 'The buses have never been bigger rattletraps than they are today. We have a great mayor! They haven't bought a single bus since they came to power!'
The observer got the impression that the vehicles in Split were more crowded than those in Zagreb. The research took a different direction after talking to a student, Dragica (25), from Zagreb:
When I go to school in the morning, I can't get on the bus. There are so many people, of course, mostly elderly people that it's impossible. The bus then doesn't even stop but keeps on driving. And then there's no bus for I don't know how long. Now imagine what it's like when it's raining or snowing.
6 A certain unity (similarity) is a foundation of interactions between individuals, as well as for the formation of social groups and collective identities. (Koludrovic & Leburic 2002; Abercrombie et al. 2006; Giddens 2009).
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Therefore, the structured observation was used to register how crowded the UPT was, and the results showed that, in general, there is no difference because, on a scale of 1 to 5, it averaged 2.45 in both Zagreb and Split. Structured observation was also used to observe the behaviour of passengers at stops, and it was found that there were no significant differences in the behaviour of passengers in vehicles and at stops; this was mostly because many passengers continue the activities they did at the stop in the vehicle, such as listening to music or talking. The only exceptions are the types of behaviour that are not possible or legal in a vehicle, for example smoking cigarettes.
Typology of passengers
Using the results obtained by participant observation and structured observation, a typology of passengers on three levels with the included types and subtypes was developed: 1st level - individual or group travel (1.1. single; 1.2. with), 2nd level - the frequency of travel (2.1. newcomer; 2.2. regular), 3rd level - the passenger's behaviour (3.1. passenger-loner; 3.2. passenger-talker (3.2.1. passenger-chatter; 3.2.2. passenger-autobiographer; 3.2.3. passenger-politician), 3.3. deviant passenger (3.3.1. anti-social passenger; 3.3.2. passenger-bully; 3.3.3. passenger-lunatic; 3.4. passenger-altruist; 3.5. passenger-romantic).
The first level of our threefold typology is clear in itself: individuals participate in social situations unaccompanied or in the company of others, or in Goffman's words, they appear in public single or with (2010). A single is a person who came alone, while the with is a party of more than one whose members are perceived to be together and who maintain a certain closeness that ordinarily permits easy conversation and the exclusion of non-members who otherwise might interrupt their talk (Goffman 2010). In the UPTs studied, passengers usually ride single: in Zagreb, slightly more than two-thirds of passengers (69.6%) ride unaccompanied while the number is slightly lower (58.9%) in Split. There are noticeable differences by gender and age, so men ride single more frequently (70.5%) than women (59.1%). The older the passengers are, the more often they ride on their own, i.e. they ride more often in groups the younger they are. One of the reasons is certainly the large number of high school students who ride together, but also co-workers and acquaintances who are going to work. Some passengers ride single and want to stay single, so they use certain strategies to avoid contact: looking out the window, listening to music or reading. However, there are those who do not want to be single and will try to create "one-time friends" to make the ride more enjoyable for oneself, and will not give up despite being rejected frequently. Structured observation also noted the differences in the behaviour of passengers with regard to whether they were singles or withs. As expected, the singles are more engaged in solo activities and most of them look out the window, listen to music with headphones, use a mobile phone to send messages or surf, make phone calls and read, while the withs mostly talk with their fellow-passengers or cuddle romantically.
On the next level, passengers can be categorised according to how often they ride the UPT. Newcomers are those who had either never ridden on UPT before or ride
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it after a long absence, while regulars are those who have been riding for so long they have settled into a riding routine, i.e. they ride on the same lines, know the drivers and are generally knowledgeable concerning UPT-related matters (Nash 1975). It was noted that the regulars are familiar with the timetable and come to the stop just before the departure of the vehicle and easily identify unusual circumstances such as delays or no show ups: 'Again it didn't come. Every time it gets little colder there is no line 8.' The passenger Ljiljana (55) points out that she often rides to work with colleagues: 'Always the same people ride. There is a couple of us that always go in the morning, we say hello to one other when we see each other.' She also points out that there is a certain closeness between the regulars and the driver: 'My driver always stops when I'm late. One time when I went to buy a ticket, he told me: "Come on, you do not have to buy it, just sit there behind me."' Regulars also often advise newcomers where which line goes, what the best stop is to get off or which line is the fastest to get somewhere.7
The third level of the typology is the most complex one, based on the behaviour of passengers in UPT and the types listed are ideal types that cannot be seen as either the mean values or as empirical generalisations. The same are used just for analytical purpose, while in reality they always coexist to some extent (Weber 1999).
Passenger-loner is a passenger that rides single in a vehicle and is not interested in meeting other people. He is usually equipped with means that enable him to further isolate from others such as headphones, mobile phone or books. Castells points out that personal audio devices made personally selected music a portable audio environment, allowing people to build walls of sounds against the outside world (2010). If one has no such equipment, the passenger-loner spends his time staring out the window, ignoring much of what is happening in the vehicle, even if the activities are unusual. This type has at his disposal some defensive strategies like putting his bag on a seat next to him that is not taken or sitting on an aisle seat, so if another passenger wants to sit on the window seat, must squeeze through (Nash 1975; Zurcher 1979). The passenger-loner should not be mistaken with the passenger who is single. Although each passenger-loner is single, not every single passenger is necessarily a passenger-loner. In other words, the key feature of a loner is that he wants to remain single.
Passenger-talker is the most common type of passenger in UPT, along with passenger-loner. As it is clear from the name itself, his main characteristic is that inside the vehicle or at the stop this type talks, i.e. participates in a dialogue or delivers a monologue. Within this type, there are three different subtypes. The passenger-chatter is the prevalent type among the passengers-talkers. They are the passengers who kill time during the ride talking about everyday things and various subjects. Examples of this type of passengers include women who talk about cooking: 'Tomorrow I'll make inkfish risotto, my family loves it. I had lamb today. It was, like, perfect,' their unemployed highly educated children or low salaries; young girls who compare work experience;
7 Cognitive development (moral reasoning and the ability to take the role of the other), social learning (adopting beliefs, opinions and behaviors) and prudential behaviour (helping others is likely to foster reciprocal behavior) (Jary & Jary 1999).
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senior citizens who tell stories from their childhood; a married couple agreeing on what groceries to buy; romantic couples who use baby talk with each other; old women who talk about treating their "insidious" diseases; high school and university students who talk about events from school or about exams. Therefore, Zmegac sees trams as the last refuge of traditional social communication, because in them, as previously in the salons, one can find out everything that currently occupies people, privately, socially, as well as on a world-historical level (2011).
The passenger-autobiographer is the following subtype. It is the passenger who typically rides single, and spends the time talking to other passengers about the mishaps of his/her life, i.e. tells them his/her life story. One young female passenger said: 'I hate it when a senior citizen starts telling his entire life story out of the blue. About his greatgrandchildren, how many wars he's been in and how they lived better in Yugoslavia... And I just nod my head.' It is clear that the passengers-autobiographers are mostly older people; if we consider that the results of a structured observation showed that passengers ride single more frequently the older they are, it can be concluded that elderly passengers are on the average lonelier than younger ones.8
The passenger-politician is the last subtype of passenger-talker. His main characteristic is participating in political discussions or holding political speeches to other passengers. While not as ubiquitous as for example a passenger-chatter or passenger-autobiographer, as a rule, it is easy to remember this type due to stereotyping, disseminating the prejudices and generally unfounded allegations. For example, an older man who is arguing in a ten-minute presentation that '...the black race is the nursery of diseases and the main cause of epidemics so therefore they should be banned from entering the country' will surely attract the attention and reaction of other passengers. A passenger-politician is illustrated with the following field note:
In the back seat sits a man (40) and loudly says, 'God forbid what these communists are doing, each of their decisions is subversive. They are now taking away our guns, and the Serbs still have guns, they are armed to the teeth. This government gives them everything, and they also give to themselves. As if they haven't stolen much since '45. They have villas and skyscrapers, and an honest man can't afford even a pâté. Croatian generals are rotting in prisons, and when the Serbs rise up again who will be there to stop them? It won't be long, they will turn to weapons again, as history has shown. But we'll take our guns, you red gang...'
And one regular passenger reveals that she gets involved in political discussions, especially about the topics that affect her: 'Ah, there is constantly someone talking about politics. And I'm the first to talk back. I can't take it when someone talks nonsense. Everyone is always against the government, whatever it is. Always against, nobody ever for.' It is evident that political comments usually refer to current political events, but
8 As Bjelajac (2009) stresses, youth is involved in various secondary groups of certain lifestyle (education, work, hobbies, etc.). In adulthood and old age, the number of such groups decreases, while human acquaintances are fewer and based on the primary and intimate relationships (close friends, spouses and children).
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also to past wars. The other passengers are usually silent, react only occasionally if they do not agree with the stated. It is amazing that the political rivalry is not only verbal, but is also also done via leaflets, posters and graffiti, and the vehicles are often covered with totalitarian symbols and different political graffiti that can also be seen on stops, some even addressed to city councillors of district Mejaši: 'What have you done for the children of Mejaši? County Council pussies! We want a playground!'
The deviant passenger is also highly present in the daily life of UPT. This is a passenger whose behaviour deviates from the norm or from the usual behaviour, customs and norms, even if it is not specifically illegal behaviour. So an older passenger who'picks his nose, takes the result out, makes it into it into a ball and launches it with his fingers' cannot be reported to the police even though his behaviour is deviant and causes a nonformal negative reaction (Matic 2003). Because of the wide range of deviant behaviours, several subtypes of deviant passengers are identified.
The anti-social passenger is the first and the most widespread subtype. The term 'anti-social behaviour' covers a wide range of selfish and unacceptable activities that can blight the quality of community life, i.e. activities that somehow cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household (Moore 2011). Studies of anti-social behaviour on public transport have been conducted (Moore 2011; Thomas 2009) and, as such, can be grouped into several categories, depending on their undesirability. Swearing, shouting and arguing are the more aggressive types of behaviour that intimidate most passengers and are usually recorded when passengers get on or off the vehicle. Younger passengers, especially groups of high school students, are often a source of anti-social behaviour, which takes place most often during the after-school run/evening rush hour (Moore 2011). It is usually talking too loud, shouting, blocking the aisles, shoving other, shooting pieces of paper, but also spitting and littering. However, not all passengers can stand this behaviour, so the anti-social passengers can themselves become victims as illustrated by a situation in which a middle-aged man, using threats and curses, pushed away from the door a group of girls that did not want to move and let him get on the vehicle after several warnings. Passengers who pay for their ticket are bothered with fare evasions, all the more so because the ticket prices were increased in Zagreb and Split partly on behalf of those who do not pay for transportation. The behaviour of drunken passengers is not the most pleasant either, about which the researcher was personally convinced when next to him on the bus stood a visibly intoxicated man holding an open bottle of wine that spilled on the researcher every time the driver stepped on the brake or when the bus changed the direction as the man was losing his balance. Bissell (2009) points out that anti-social behaviour is often fuelled by alcohol, which can increase the confidence of the perpetrators, perhaps reducing their social conscience and responsibility to others, which is evident by the following field note:
It's Friday so in the tram there are many young people who are going out. Some of them are already drunk, especially a group of young people, four girls and two boys (around 20) who are celebrating someone's birthday. The girls are dressed quite provocatively (miniskirts, exposed cleavage, torn stockings) and they behave the same way: using profane language,
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singing loudly, sitting on each other simulating sexual poses, calling each other whores and loudly talking about sex and agreeing who will tonight sleep with which of the guys accompanying them. As the tram moves and stops they often lose their balance and fall.
The disabled, the elderly and pregnant women are given priority when entering the vehicle and when taking a seat so the behaviours not acknowledging their special status are also perceived as anti-social. In general, passengers who offer their seats to someone else are more of an exception rather than a rule, and it is often noted that a dozen passengers look out the window ignoring a pregnant woman standing next to them. Listening to music loudly, which has been repeatedly observed in the field, is considered to be anti-social behaviour but it should also be taken into account that the vehicles are generally quite noisy, so, in addition to the music leaking from headsets, we hear parts of conversations, road traffic, ring tones - the soundtrack that accompanies urban life (Jain 2009).
Talking loudly on the mobile phone has much greater potential to irritate other passengers than the loud music coming from the headphones because some passengers resented the fact they have become acquainted with other people's private business against their will (Bissell 2009). Telephone conversations often include other forms of anti-social behaviour that are even illegal. For example, on a Zagreb bus a young man loudly talks on the phone trying to get marijuana, and when things do not go according to his plan, he starts swearing and threatening to 'smash the skull' to his interlocutor if everything is not as agreed on. In this manner, he takes on the characteristics of the following deviant passenger subtype: the passenger-bully is the most dangerous type of passenger in UPT. This type is characterised by physical abuse or threats to physically abuse other passengers or even more often the driver. Although this behaviour is not seen every day, because of its consequences, it is frequently covered in the newspapers. Night-line drivers are most commonly attacked by thugs who often send the drivers to hospital. For instance, in September 2011, two unidentified perpetrators pulled the tram driver from the cab, hit and kicked him repeatedly and then hit him in the head with a bottle. The following description of a situation from the bus number 18 in Split shows various forms of harassment which drivers encounter and how difficult and violent some outbursts are: A group of a dozen young men (14-15 years) gets on the bus. They sit in the back, make noise, yell, are being vulgar, pushing each other and making sexist jokes to girls on the bus. They begin to tease the driver who ignores them until one of them starts to interfere with his driving; they are then told to leave the bus. As they leave, one of them takes the driver's woollen cap from his head, and the driver gets up and tries to catch them, but, through the open door, plastic bottles, crumpled papers and other litter from the stop start flowing and hitting the driver. He still manages to get off the bus and runs after them, but the boys are much faster. The driver returns to his seat, visibly annoyed, and they come back and show him his cap through the still open front door. The driver tells them he won't run after them again and closes the door and starts driving again. They throw in the cap through the open window. The driver takes the cap and continues on his way.
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Many situations that do not escalate into physical conflict can also be characterised as passenger-bully's practice, and because of them, the drivers are sometimes not able to continue driving. There is an example from a Split bus when a passenger threatened the driver he would 'wring his neck' if he did not open the back door of the bus. In addition to the driver, another target of the passenger-bully are ticket controllers, and other passengers as proved by the attack on a lesbian couple in Tresnjevka in Zagreb when a young man, after harassing and insulting the girls on the night bus, turned a verbal assault into a physical one as soon as the women got off the bus. The lyrics of a song On The Last Tram Station (1979) by band Prljavo kazaliste is a witness to a long tradition of violence in the UPT in Zagreb. The song goes: 'Down in the dark, near the last tram stop, young men approached me, all I remember are the punches, I had no money, I remember that violence.'
The passenger-lunatic is the last subtype. He is characterised by not conforming to the usual behaviour, customs and norms and by a deviation from normality by revealing his character and exhibiting behaviour that suggests certain forms of mental distress. The term lunatic here is used as is understood and used in colloquial speech in Split. The term lunatic can mean an insane or mentally unstable person, but also an eccentric, quirk and joker who often makes a fool of himself in order to entertain others. The following field notes show such a behaviour:
Male (38) wearing camouflage pants, sweatshirt, a baseball cap and sunglasses, is making a spectacle on the bus. All the passengers are looking at him and/or listening, rolling their eyes and laughing. An old man gets on the bus, he stands up and offers him his seat, and after he refuses, he says to him: 'Come on, take the seat, you don't have long to live' [laughter on the bus]. 'Well, I still have a bit left. Another 12 till I'm 50. Oh, that's enough for me with this crazy head of mine. And look at this guy with the motorcycle [looking out the window]. I should have done the same thing and not yammer on the bus. The weather screwed me, I put on too much clothes and the weather's sultry. I should have seen it earlier, mother fuck... [suddenly jumps] Hello ma'am, don't touch my ass!' The woman begins to laugh: 'Who's touching you?!?' 'Don't touch my ass, go to hell, I told you nicely!' Everyone on the bus laughs. The woman feels a bit uncomfortable and still claims that she has not touched him. But he's already talking about something else: 'Oh, wait, where are we goin'?' Someone responds to him that we are going to Firule. 'Firule??? I'm not really goin' that way. Folks...' and gets off the bus at the stop. All the passengers look out the window and comment that he's not right in his mind.
Next to a group of high school girls sits a man in his thirties who tries to make contact with them. He asks them for their phone number, blows them kisses, whistles and emits various inarticulate sounds, while they laugh at and ignore him. After whistling, he starts meowing, barking and grunting, and still keeps trying to get their phone numbers while staring at the girls who are no longer laughing because they become aware of apparent mental
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instability, and possible aggression. After the man gets off the bus, the girls and the other passengers comment on the situation and laugh.
It is clear from these examples that a passenger-lunatic is always the centre of attention of most of the other passengers who are entertained by his performance; however, those passengers who involuntarily participate in such a show are usually not enthusiastic and sometimes are not sure whether there was something they did that encouraged aggression. A passenger-lunatic can be seen at stops where he/she often sings loudly.
The passenger-altruist is the penultimate type in our typology of behaviour in UPT, and is the complete opposite of a deviant passenger. The main characteristics of this type are unselfishness, the understanding the interests of others and the willingness to help others in various ways. The passenger-altruist is always ready to offer the seat to people who he/she believes have priority, helps the disabled when getting on the vehicle or is ready to jump in with an explanation of where a particular stop is and how to find it. It can also be noticed that this type of passenger is least frequent, although some other subtypes, such as passenger-bully or passenger-lunatic, are even less frequent.
The passenger-romantic is the last type of our typology. Simply put, it is a couple who publicly show affection such as holding hands, hugging, kissing and other intimate contact. It is common on the trams that passengers romantic share a seat, since there are no double seats on the tram. Although the passengers-romantics are mostly teenagers or in their twenties, a few couples in their thirties and forties were also seen. Passengers-romantics sometimes go too far in displaying affection as in the case when two were passionately kissing, and one of the passengers commented: 'Look at these two making out. They'll eat one another,' and sometimes we see them fighting.
Conclusion
In the documentary The Destiny of Line 13 (2010), which is dedicated to the Zagreb tram line number 13, the director Irena Skoric concludes:
Once upon a time, someone said that the windows of the tram are the mirror of the city. Some images disappear, fade, and some you remember so well and keep them in your mind as if they were alive, and you enjoy every moment of them.
Such a thought best concludes our ethnographic study, which has attempted to show one aspect of living in the city at one particular moment. The study results indicate there is quite a rich and varied life of UPT, full of unusual situations, but also of everyday repetitive patterns of behaviour. Given are the ideal types of passengers who in reality, of course, often mutually permeate, such as the passenger-bully who attacked a lesbian couple and had some characteristics of passenger-politician. Likewise, it is important to point out that the levels of the provided threefold typology are entwined and that there are many combinations in UPT: the regular passenger-autobiographer who rides single; the newcomer passenger-bully who beats the driver with his buddies, a regular
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anti-social passenger in a high-school group; a newcomer passenger-altruist who rides single. However, some combinations are not observed because they are contradictory, for example, there are no passengers-romantics who ride single or passengers-loners riding in a group. It can be seen how dissatisfied the passengers are with UPT, primarily with urban transport policy, expensive tickets, poor organisation and infrastructure, as well as the anti-social behaviour of other passengers. Likewise, we conclude that neither the drivers nor ticket controllers have much reason to be satisfied because they are targeted by violent passengers and generally have no authority over them. The results indicate differences in the behaviour of passengers in Zagreb and Split, but also a distinct difference in the quality of UPT between these two cities. The poor conditions and lack of care in Split are best indicated by expensive displays at the stops that have not become functional years after being installed. Although the UPT in Zagreb is significantly better than that in Split, the necessity of improving it is best indicated by the results of a research that found that Zagreb has the worst UPT of all 23 tested European cities. There is room for improvement in both Zagreb and Split. Zagreb operates commuter rail, but it is not integrated with UPT, Split has de facto a half-built subway route. However, improvement is urgently needed because as pointed out by Čaldarovic (1987: 180), its poor quality increases the motivation to purchase a car and in such circumstances, every user of UPT is 'a potential driver.'
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Povzetek
Predmet pričujoče etnografske študije je vsakdanje življenje v kontekstu urbnega javnega prevoza v dveh hrvaških mestih, Zagrebu in Splita. Za identifikacijo in razumevanje vidikov vedenja potnikov, šoferjev, kontrolorjev kart in splošnega vsakdanjega življenja v urbanem javnem prevozu, smo uporabili kvalitativno metodo opazovanja z udeležbo. Za opazovanje pogostnosti različnih vedenj potnikov ter analizo infrastrukture javnega prevoza v obeh mestih smo uporabili kvalitativni metodi strukturiranega opazovanja in vsebinske analize. Analizirali smo različne tipe potnikov: samotarski potnik, pogovorni potnik, deviantni potnik, altruistični potnik in romantični potnik. Rezultati analize so pokazali razlike v vedenju, ki je bilo odvisno od demografskih razlik med potniki kot tudi od razlik med obema mestoma. Analiza infrastrukture je pokazala, da ima Zagreb bolj urejen javni prevoz kot Split, da pa sta sistema javnega prevoza v obeh mestih potrebna prenove.
KLJUČNE BESEDE: etnografija, urbani javni prevoz, potniki, Hrvaška
CORRESPONDENCE: VICKO TOMIC, Department of Sociology, University of Zadar, Obala kralja Petra Krešimira IV, br. 2, 23 000 Zadar, Croatia, e-mail: victom@ ffst.hr.
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