Well - trafficked public transportation system web are powder kegs of social interaction between irate commuters crushed together in close-fitting quarters . So it ’s no surprisal that cities shell out money to prompt straphangers to be polite and follow the rules that keep public transportation run smoothly , like exiting buses from the back door and giving up stern to older and pregnant passengers . New York City ’s MTA , for representative , spent more than $ 76,000 this year to cue passenger to stop over dance on metro pole and torefrain from manspreading .
In Bogotá , however , transportation etiquette lessons come not from signs and neutral overhead promulgation , but from histrion . In January , the Colombian capital hired three acting troupes to encourage right transit behavior and shame uncontrollable passengers .
The city ’s public transportation connection has been ranked theworst in the worldfor women , and an calculate 70,000 heap riders a daytime skip out on paying their fare . The actors , planted within the crowd of everyday commuters , stare down passengers who rush onto buses without hold off for citizenry to go out . They enact skits where one actor holding a baby dolly is forced to stand when no one is willing to give up their seat , and the doll falls out of the pretend female parent ’s manus . They carry trashy phone conversations about the dangers of fare evasion , describing fictitious scenarios like how a fare - skipper got hit by a bus .
The program is kind of genius : hoi polloi do n’t always bear as they should on public transportation system , and a paid actor in the bunch is more likely to talk up ( or at least glare ) at someone who ’s barrack the rules of public DoT decorum by hogging tush or standing in front of the doors as hoi polloi seek to enter and exit .
unluckily , there ’s no real data showing that the histrion are better bus behavior , and some critics object to the usage of metropolis backing for such transit tomfoolery , so the program may not last beyond the next election . But for now , Bogotanos will get the casual spark of arbitrariness with their reminder to give up their seats to those who demand them .
[ h / t : The economic expert ]
