Social Situation Observation (Dr. Price)

Place- I observed a ride on the Red Line and transferred to the Brown Line. I started on the Red Line downtown and exited at Belmont, when I transferred to the Brown Line to the end of the Line. I was only able to make observations in the car which I was in.

Actors & Activities- There were many different actors each person had their own area cut out. While on the Red Line stood in the middle of the car and watched all those around me. When I first got on there were 23 people standing and all the seats were taken.There was the couple with no worries, but seemed like they had a long day, and he was resting his head on her shoulder sleeping. There were the tourists who were waiting to get out find a new place in Chicago to explore. There was a businessman (or at least well dressed) who seemingly made this trip many times. He found the first seat available and pulled out a copy of the Wall Street Journal and began reading. There was the man who entered the train and on sitting down he leaned his head against the window and began to sleep. I counted 15 people on their phone or Ipod listening to something with their head phones in. I counted 7 people reading a book (or e-book reader) during their ride. At each stop more people got on, however there were 2 stops when I did not observe anybody exit the train. I did not notice anybody traveling with more than just one companion (which I found odd). A majority of the riders were between 15-55 years of age. I would wager a guess that 90% of the people knew where they were going and did not once look at the map above the doors. However, the 10% of those that needed it they looked at it at each stop and would count down how many stops until they needed to get off.

After transferring over to the Brown Line I observed the car was much less crowded, however I did notice that there were entire families traveling together. I also noticed a broader range in age there were quite a few quite a few senior citizens on the train. In the exact opposite of the Red Line, at each stop on the Brown Line I noticed people exit the train. However, at only 3 of the 10 stops did anyone get on the train, and nobody got on the train the last 4 stops. I saw people who got on the train were holding bags full of essential groceries. I saw people who looked like they were heading home after a long day of physical labor. On the Brown Line there were fewer people who were listening to their Ipod, on their cell phone, or reading.

Each person who entered the car was trying to go somewhere else. Some people were going farther that others, however everybody was trying to get somewhere.