One small step for mankind
Culture . SocietyOne shakes his head. An other’s eyes find the ceiling of the metro station, while someone by accident stamps on his heel. During peak hours in Munich the underground is survival of the fittest.
I step into the metro and I’m searching for a free spot to hold on. I have to put my arm around three people just to find a holding spot for two of my fingers. I feel a push from behind, where a hand in my back press me so close to another person, that if we looked at each other, our lips would touch.
- Sorry, I also have to get on, says an elderly woman with grey hair in beige jacket with a Lidl-plastic bag in her hand.
The free standing space between the seat rows looks like an untouched area of paradise, that no one dares to use. However, the small push from behind moved me a bit further into the train, so I’m now able to put all five fingers around the holding pillar in the middle.
The “little helper” from above
It is Tuesday around 5 pm, as the doors are just able to close without fingers, bags or hair being stuck in the door.
As the train slowly starts to move from Münchner Freiheit, the flat screen in the train shows a little video. Three persons are standing on a platform waiting for people to leave the metro wagon, before they can step in. Beside the three people a group of 15-20 people are blocked from passing to the escalators.
No one is able to move. Until a little blue girl in the video steps in and says ”Attention! Keep the passage area clear!”. The three persons nods and smiles and moves further to other doors, and the situation is solved. But the little girl from the video doesn’t seem to show up in the train, as we approach Universität.
A young woman in a green jacket with a big scarf in black and white rises from her seat to get off the train. As the train stops and the door opens, no one moves. The young woman frowns as she must put her leg in between two people sideways to pass them. Her eyes find a spot in the ceiling of the train, as she passes. No one jumps out of the train to make room. Instead people try to move a bit closer to people in the other half. The ones standing at the glass walls between the seats and the door area really have to suck the belly in.
“Dancing” in and out the train
At Odeonsplatz more people leave the train. The distance between the people is now maybe around a half meter. However, the ones standing in front of the door entrance don’t seem to notice the extra space.
A young girl in a black jacket with fur collar must walk sideways by to get into the train and again sideways to pass two other people in front of the seat area. Her face expression doesn’t change at all during the small dance to board the train.
At Marienplatz you understand why. The girl from before stands in the opening between the seat area and the door area with people standing behind her trying to get off the train.
- Excuse me, more people say to the girl.
After a while she moves a small step to the side, so the people now have around 30 centimeters space to pass her to get to the door area, that now is almost empty.
The phone or the train
I get off the train at Sendlinger Tor, where I have to change to the U2. Most seats in the U2 are taken, but only a few people are standing in the door area. We are six people that has to board the train, and the first two get easily in. However, the third one, a man around 25 with blue earphones and his phone in his hand, steps in and stops.
His eyes are looking down to a notification on the smartphone in his hand and a smile spreads across his face and his cheeks starts to blush. The last three of us must walk around him but are still able to find a seat. At the next station he gets off the train. Still only looking at his smartphone.
Finally, my trip is over, and I can get home. Just a normal day in the public transportation in Munich.
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