IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jotrge/v82y2020ics0966692318303740.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Transport imaginations: Passenger experiences between freedom and constraint

Author

Listed:
  • Negishi, Kaima
  • Bissell, David

Abstract

This paper highlights the openness and indeterminacy of passenger experiences by exploring the power of passengers' imaginations in the context of urban railway commuting in Tokyo, Japan. Contrasting with much existing research on the figure of the passenger which has often stressed its intensified management and securitisation through spaces of transit, this paper examines how imagination plays an important but under-acknowledged part in transforming passenger experiences. Drawing upon extensive qualitative fieldwork conducted in Tokyo, it describes how the virtuality of these imagined spaces can work in different ways that can both enable and constrain passengers. Rather than seeing imagination as an internal psychological phenomenon, this paper stresses the relational qualities of imagination. Imagination can enable passengers to creatively travel as they gather references from what they see, hear, smell and feel through their bodily registers. In doing so, this paper argues that imagination is a situational process that materializes through passengers' encounters with a range of sensory stimuli in railway spaces. It also spotlights the specificity of the Japanese context for developing our understanding of power dynamics in research on passenger experiences. Supplementing transport geography's longstanding commitment to tracing the politics of enablement and constraint in terms of accessibility and travel time use, our paper highlights how imagination is an important but overlooked political domain.

Suggested Citation

  • Negishi, Kaima & Bissell, David, 2020. "Transport imaginations: Passenger experiences between freedom and constraint," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:82:y:2020:i:c:s0966692318303740
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2019.102571
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692318303740
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2019.102571?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Engels, Benno & Liu, Gang-Jun, 2011. "Social exclusion, location and transport disadvantage amongst non-driving seniors in a Melbourne municipality, Australia," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 984-996.
    2. Lyons, Glenn & Jain, Juliet & Holley, David, 2007. "The use of travel time by rail passengers in Great Britain," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 107-120, January.
    3. Lucas, Karen, 2012. "Transport and social exclusion: Where are we now?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 105-113.
    4. Jain, Juliet & Lyons, Glenn, 2008. "The gift of travel time," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 81-89.
    5. David Bissell, 2016. "Micropolitics of Mobility: Public Transport Commuting and Everyday Encounters with Forces of Enablement and Constraint," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 106(2), pages 394-403, March.
    6. Vannini, Phillip, 2011. "The techne of making a ferry: a non-representational approach to passengers’ gathering taskscapes," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 1031-1036.
    7. Nobuaki Ohmori & Noboru Harata, 2008. "How Different Are Activities While Commuting By Train? A Case In Tokyo," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 99(5), pages 547-561, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tang, Jia & Mokhtarian, Patricia L. & Zhen, Feng, 2020. "How do passengers allocate and evaluate their travel time? Evidence from a survey on the Shanghai–Nanjing high speed rail corridor, China," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    2. Tiago Camacho & Marcus Foth & Andry Rakotonirainy & Markus Rittenbruch & Jonathan Bunker, 2016. "The role of passenger-centric innovation in the future of public transport," Public Transport, Springer, vol. 8(3), pages 453-475, December.
    3. Muhamad Rizki & Tri Basuki Joewono & Dimas B. E. Dharmowijoyo & Prawira Fajarindra Belgiawan, 2021. "Does multitasking improve the travel experience of public transport users? Investigating the activities during commuter travels in the Bandung Metropolitan Area, Indonesia," Public Transport, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 429-454, June.
    4. De Vos, Jonas & Witlox, Frank, 2017. "Travel satisfaction revisited. On the pivotal role of travel satisfaction in conceptualising a travel behaviour process," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 364-373.
    5. Jonas De Vos, 2019. "Analysing the effect of trip satisfaction on satisfaction with the leisure activity at the destination of the trip, in relationship with life satisfaction," Transportation, Springer, vol. 46(3), pages 623-645, June.
    6. Molin, Eric & Adjenughwure, Kingsley & de Bruyn, Menno & Cats, Oded & Warffemius, Pim, 2020. "Does conducting activities while traveling reduce the value of time? Evidence from a within-subjects choice experiment," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 18-29.
    7. Luciano Gamberini & Anna Spagnolli & Andrea Miotto & Eva Ferrari & Nicola Corradi & Sarah Furlan, 2013. "Passengers’ activities during short trips on the London Underground," Transportation, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 251-268, February.
    8. Jia Tang & Feng Zhen & Jason Cao & Patricia L. Mokhtarian, 2018. "How do passengers use travel time? A case study of Shanghai–Nanjing high speed rail," Transportation, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 451-477, March.
    9. Jinhyun Hong & David Philip McArthur & Mark Livingston, 2019. "Can Accessing the Internet while Travelling Encourage Commuters to Use Public Transport Regardless of Their Attitude?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-10, June.
    10. Aguiléra, Anne & Guillot, Caroline & Rallet, Alain, 2012. "Mobile ICTs and physical mobility: Review and research agenda," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 664-672.
    11. Duvarci, Yavuz & Yigitcanlar, Tan & Mizokami, Shoshi, 2015. "Transportation disadvantage impedance indexing: A methodological approach to reduce policy shortcomings," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 61-75.
    12. Cohen-Blankshtain, Galit, 2021. "On another track: Differing views of experts and politicians on rail investments in peripheral localities," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    13. Vale, David S., 2013. "Does commuting time tolerance impede sustainable urban mobility? Analysing the impacts on commuting behaviour as a result of workplace relocation to a mixed-use centre in Lisbon," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 38-48.
    14. Timothée Cuignet & Camille Perchoux & Geoffrey Caruso & Olivier Klein & Sylvain Klein & Basile Chaix & Yan Kestens & Philippe Gerber, 2020. "Mobility among older adults: Deconstructing the effects of motility and movement on wellbeing," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(2), pages 383-401, February.
    15. Donald Hislop, 2013. "Driving, Communicating and Working: Understanding the Work-related Communication Behaviours of Business Travellers on Work-related Car Journeys," Mobilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(2), pages 220-237, May.
    16. Nick Chaloux & Genevieve Boisjoly & Emily Grise & Ahmed El-Geneidy & David Levinson, 2019. "Chaloux, Nick, Boisjoly, Genevieve, Grise, Emily, El-Geneidy, Ahmed, and Levinson, D. (2019) I only get some satisfaction: Introducing satisfaction into measures of accessibility," Working Papers 2019-07, University of Minnesota: Nexus Research Group.
    17. Mokhtarian, Patricia L. & Neufeld, Amanda J. & Dong, Zhi & Circella, Giovanni, 2013. "Did Free Wi-Fi Make a Difference to Amtrak’s Capitol Corridor Service? An Evaluation of the Impact on Riders and Ridership," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt8vz6m3tc, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    18. Tim Schwanen & Martin Dijst & Mei‐Po Kwan, 2008. "Icts And The Decoupling Of Everyday Activities, Space And Time: Introduction," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 99(5), pages 519-527, December.
    19. Mokhtarian, Patricia L., 2020. "Wenn die Telekommunikation den Verkehr so gut ersetzen kann, warum gibt es dann immer mehr Staus?," Forschungsberichte der ARL: Aufsätze, in: Reutter, Ulrike & Holz-Rau, Christian & Albrecht, Janna & Hülz, Martina (ed.), Wechselwirkungen von Mobilität und Raumentwicklung im Kontext gesellschaftlichen Wandels, volume 14, pages 167-195, ARL – Akademie für Raumentwicklung in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft.
    20. Kębłowski, Wojciech & Dobruszkes, Frédéric & Boussauw, Kobe, 2022. "Moving past sustainable transport studies: Towards a critical perspective on urban transport," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 74-83.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:82:y:2020:i:c:s0966692318303740. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-transport-geography .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.