An uncomfortable turnstile: Bodily exclusion and boarding practices in a public transport system. (February 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Muñoz, Daniel
• Is Part Of: Emotion, space and society. Volume 34(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-02
• Subjects: Public transport -- Bodies -- Affects -- Turnstiles; Emotions -- Periodicals; Spatial behavior -- Periodicals; Space perception -- Periodicals; 152.4
• DOI: 10.1016/j.emospa.2019.100652
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1755-4586

Abstract

Abstract: In 2017, Santiago de Chile's public transport system was populated by a new kind of device. The new 'butterfly' turnstile, whose purpose was to fight off the extremely high fare-evasion rates, also brought along a new dimension of embodied interactions between passengers and this technology, which has been deemed 'uncomfortable' and 'exclusionary'. Older people, wheelchair users, fat people, among others would not be accommodated by the turnstile, being routinely exposed as 'out of the norm' bodies. This paper draws on video analysis of passenger-turnstile interactions to explore the ways in which passengers deal with the turnstile. Some passengers would have to shrink and contort their bodies to negotiate their way in, others would experience the discomfort of having to ask the driver to be let in through the rear doors. The paper concludes by reflecting on the place comfort has within public transport policy, and the diverse affective intensities involved. By confronting its users with a very specific set of standard bodily expectations, the turnstile subjects some passengers to a form of exclusion that is experienced through the body. Highlights: The turnstile operates as a device that creates notions of normality. Some users are not accommodated by the turnstile and are marked as abnormal. Passengers are forced to either accommodate to the turnstile or circumvent it. Bodily exclusion is not only applied to bodies but experienced through them.