UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN: Five types of passengers: How we respond to fines on the bus.
ENPNewswire-June 24, 2021--UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN: Five types of passengers: How we respond to fines on the bus
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Release date- 23062021 - TICKET INSPECTION As passengers we respond very differently when caught without a valid ticket on the bus.
Using video analysis, researchers have identified five typical patterns of reaction - from the apologetic to the more defensive types, who may respond aggressively. The study will help prevent conflicts.
The problem is the same - no ticket - but reactions are diverse when the ticket inspector meets a passenger without a valid ticket and consequently issues a fine.
Based on 40 videos recorded with body-worn cameras from the ticket inspectors' uniforms, researchers have made an in-depth analysis of passengers' patterns of reaction and categorised them into five types.
Patterns of reaction are ranked according to how defensively the individual passenger reacts to the fine, and they range far: from the honest passenger who admits to having made a mistake to the wronged or superior passenger who feels unjustly treated, challenges the inspector or 'knows best' (see table below).
Five passenger reactions in ticket fining events
Type of reaction Typical characteristics
The innocent passenger Shows good intentions and may have a good excuse
The honest passenger Wishes to appear as a 'good citizen'
The wronged passenger Feels like a victim, who is unjustly treated
The defiant passenger Does not seem to care and not afraid of authorities
The superior passenger Wants to control things and 'knows best'
The study clearly has a preventive focus, explains PhD Fellow Camilla Bank Friis from the Department of Sociology. She conducted the study together with Professor Marie Rosenkrantz Lindegaard from The Netherlands Institute for Crime and Law Enforcement.
'We quite simply wanted to learn how people respond when presented with a fine - and how their reactions are tied to cases where the passenger becomes aggressive. This gives the study a preventive focus, as it should help ticket inspectors identify specific patterns of reaction and avoid situations that escalate,' says Bank Friis.
Escalation to aggression
Whereas the 'innocent' or 'honest' passenger will typically try to explain that the missing ticket is a result of a misunderstanding or point out that he is a good citizen who normally buys a ticket, the 'defiant' or 'superior' passenger will react much more...
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