Zen in the Art of Travel Behavior:
Using Visual Ethnography to Understand the Transit Experience

Whenever leaving the office building to go to the subway station, we always leave through this side exit instead of the main exit. The walking distance to the station is shorter from this exit.

As the crow flies, the shortest distance to the station from the office building would be diagonally across Pershing Square. I've seen historic photos of the park where it had pathways through the center from all directions. But now movement in and out is constrained by parking garage ramps added in the 1950's and office/concessions buildings.

Movie and TV shoots are very common on this block. Sometimes pedestrians have to detour around the filming locations, but this one was just getting set up, so we were able to walk through.

The entrance to Pershing Square station is across the street from the actual Pershing Square park.

We arrived at the station around 9AM, when most people were arriving for work. We were headed to a client meeting..., so we were going in the non-peak direction.

I'm not sure why people filled up the ashtray with trash to the point where it was overflowing, especially with an empty trashcan just a few feet away.

I usually wear ties to meetings..., but sometimes don't leave myself enough time to put one on before departing from the office. Sometimes I'll look for a reflective surface to use as a mirror so I can put on my tie while waiting for the train. The glass elevator shafts work somewhat well for this.

The train was mostly empty. Just a small handful of reverse commuters onboard.

The train windows make very good mirrors for putting on ties, much better than the elevator shaft windows. The train windows work especially well in the dark tunnels, when little light is coming through.

Apparently MTA thinks its riders are too rude and need to learn better manners.

MTA has covered most of the large flat surfaces on the train with ads. But instead of selling the space for commercial ads, the ads are usually about things like paying the fare and reporting suspicious packages. This ad reminds Spanish-speaking riders to not littler. Someone has covered part of the ad with a sticker.

When we got off at Union Station, there was a pretty large crowd of peak direction commuters waiting to board. They all look pretty happy to be going to work. I didn't notice anybody littering or being impolite, so I guess the ads and brochures are working.

Like on the trains, MTA has covered much of the wall space in the stations with ad posters. Some are commercial ads, but most advertise MTA transit projects that are currently in the planning stages.

These thin strips of colored LED lights create the illusion of a passing train. The speakers play train whistle noises to supplement this visual effect.

The large windows in the east portal of Union Station have large posters advertising projects funded by the Measure R sales tax revenues.

The large bus plaza outside the east portal is usually empty. It takes several time-consuming left turns for buses to get in and out of here.

The entrance to the MTA office building from the bus plaza is built on an impressive scale.

Some riders would disagree.

This screen displays the traffic signal network along each of the Metro Rapid bus routes. The dots representing each intersection change color as a bus approaches to indicate whether the bus will be given signal priority. The Hawthorne Boulevard route is currently displayed.

Starting the return trip.

One punishment for all types of offenses.

These yellow barriers are intended to cover the gap between cars when a train is stopped at the platform. That way blind passengers won't mistake the gap for a door and fall between the cars. The bars also tilt downward so that people can step between them in case the train accidentally stops with the doors in front of the barrier.

This is the same escalator from the earlier photograph. But now, at 11AM, the rush hour crowds are gone.

I took this picture on the way back to the office from the station to show how much of the perimeter of Pershing Square is blocked off by parking ramps. This limits pedestrian access and renders the park nearly useless as a pedestrian shortcut. This is unfortunate given that the park is adjacent to a station entrance.