SOCIETAL

The bus as a single artifact in the city is a part of a larger network which in turns creates more complex networks that end up interacting with each other on a personal to a macro-socioeconomic scale.


Information: Ticket fare. Time of arrival. Place of transfer. Destination. Route of the bus.

Interaction: The waiting travelers. Homeless man on bus stop. Passenger greeting driver. Card swiping against machine. Seated passengers. Crazy homeless man in bus. Delirious old woman. Creepy transvestite at the back of the bus. Awkward silence.
Bus over road. Bus cuts off car. Honking car. Frustrated cyclist. Middle finger.


Infrastructure: Seat of the stop. Seats in the bus. Route number. H.O.V. lanes. Overpass heights. Road network.


Communication: Bus stop signs. Bus electronic display. Bus driver nod. Requesting stop. Red stop. Green go. Driver radios bus network.

Political: Transport access for the poor. Cheap system of transport. Environmentally sound. Government investment in mass transit. auto-maker lobbies. Highway system. Urban pollution.

Economic: Cheap. Viable for the masses. Bus industry. Auto industry. Gas prices.

One bus. One city. Infinite networks.




-- Shank & Danz