ABSTRACT

Despite the world’s aspiration to move, waiting and interim pausing form key constituents of the modern everyday transit experience. Exploring the temporal phenomenon of waiting through the lens of public transportation, the chapter investigates the supposed banality of waiting situations by retracing systemic origins, historical trajectories of waiting-related passenger handling, as well as planning and management strategies of avoiding and reducing waiting times. Highlighting the indissoluble interrelatedness of speed and waiting, the chapter finally advocates for rethinking conventional transport policies that perceive travel time solely as a cost resulting in and manifesting a primacy of speed.