Managing passenger conduct on Tokyo’s urban railway network: transport provider ‚vigilance‘ or customer service?
Lecture by Dr. Christoph Schimkowsky (University of Tokyo)
13.06.2024
Public transport providers often attempt to prevent passenger behaviours they consider dangerous, deviant, or otherwise undesirable through the use of media technologies. For example, railway companies worldwide employ posters and notices to convey desirables codes of passenger behaviour, thus orienting and directing mobility practices. This talk introduces the case of ‘manner poster’ campaigns by Tokyo railway providers: colourful and comic posters targeting a wide range of behaviours which are believed to interfere with the transit system’s safe and smooth operation, or cause nuisance to other passengers, and which form a near-ubiquitous presence in urban public transport environments in the Japanese capital. The talk examines the logics and considerations that shape such efforts to manage passenger conduct, situating them between transport provider/passenger vigilance and ideals of customer service. It draws on interviews with transport and design professionals involved in the production of manner poster campaigns, industry publications and a visual analysis of posters.
Date
Thursday, June 13, 2024, 6 pm
Location
Japan-Zentrum der LMU
Seminargebäude am Englischen Garten
Oettingenstr. 67, room 151
80538 München