The Social Psychology of (Mass) Transportation

IN being back, I have come to recognize some of the aspects that go along with the system of a "car culture" (or "individual transportation system" or ...). Simply put, I seeing many of the negative aspects of being in a place where the way with which we get around is in solitude. Both mentally (and emotionally) and physically, I see a lot of the negative sides.

I want to list some thoughts now then come back to this subject later as there are other more pressing thoughts in my mind to release:
-physically, sitting a car for the amount of time that one must cannot be good for the body (read: legs, back, arms, knees, neck). Sitting in a vehicle is not a natural position for one to be one. A memory comes to mind of being in NY on the subway. I was seated on a crowed subway ar and a woman who was maybe in her 30s or 40s and looked pretty exhausted was standing and I offered her my seat. Her replay was that she has been sitting all day and she peferred to be standing. Furthermore, individual forms of transportation seem to take more time than if one were to traveling the same distance on a mass transit medium (coupled with the time of parking and not to mention the frustration that can come with not being able to find a parking spot and the additional time it takes to have to drive aorund and look for a place to park).
-mentally.There are a couple of observations I want to tackle. First, because driving requires one's attention (full or otherwise), it negates the possibility of fully commiting to any other actviity while in the dreiver's seat of a car. By this, I intend to point out the things that one cannot be doing while driving a car that are, in fact, possible to be doing while taking a form of mass transportation: reading, writing, and being able to fully engag in one's thoughts. Another observtion with regard to the mantal implications od personal transit is the differential interaction with oters as compared to that which would occur on mass transit. There are a couple of big points here. First, there are presumably less pre-conceived notions about a person that arise when you are both taking part in mass transit versus being in seperate automobiles. By this, I mean that when you interact (and I use this term cautiously) with someone else on the road, you typically see their automobile before their face. Thus, by the time you see the person(s), you already have some snap judgment about them, whethere you like it or not. To be fair, when traveling on a train or a bus, you may have other cues to status such as clothing or accessories, etc, but the difference is that the interaction (and, by the way, I feel more comfortable refering to time spent with someone on a train or a bus versus a moment of passing in a car on the freeway- an interaction) on a train or a bus is more prolonged. Thus, while you may have some pre-conceived notion based on their appearance, in the time that takes places over the course of the trip, you also may come to notice, what they are reading or what the words on their shirt say, or the jewel that is on their ring or necklace. Going further with this, I would conject that stereotypically hostile-seeming relations such as race relations or relations based on sexual orientation are lessened, because you see that person as just another person traveling on the same bus or subway as you. You get to see different types of people for a longer period of time and more frequently, thus you (as many studies have shown) become more comfortable with those different kinds of people.
-furthermore mentally (with cultural and philosophical implications), traveling on mass transit simply allows you to be more engaged with things becase you are not responsible for the duty of driving. You can read a book or a magazine, you can look through advertisements and listings of upcoming cultural events. A sense of culture is nurtured, for example, with fashion. You have the opportunity to observe what others are wearing and experience a plethora of senses of style that you may not otherwise be exposed to.
-taking it from the micro to the macro:
-- environmentally, it makes more sense. Need not say more here.
--economically, it makes more sense. Instead of money going to privatized companies in the business of individual transportation (read: car insurance companies and oil companies and the like), money is going directly to the city. Thus, funding is being brought to the public and can then be spent accordingly back into public projects.

I think that more thought and time needs to be invested into the sociology and pyschology (on a micro and macro level) with regard to transportation. I don't believe that I have read anything ever about the sociology or psychology of transportation (garnated I haven't done any research into the topic).

That is enough on that, for now, I believe.