ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses travellers’ experiences of barriers in public transport. It draws on empirical material consisting of complaints regarding accessibility made by bus passengers in Stockholm, Sweden. The chapter focuses on bus journeys, with special consideration given to getting on and off the vehicle. Using a time-geographical approach, it shows how capability, coupling and authority constraints create barriers for some travellers in public transport. The bus is a domain that should be accessible to anyone who pays the fare; however, the results of this study show that this cannot be taken for granted. Travellers describe great difficulties due to a variety of constraints, which are mostly a combination of individual capacity, power relations and the misuse of accessibility equipment on the vehicle. In some cases, the traveller must fight and negotiate just to get onto the bus; in some situations, the traveller is left behind and is not even allowed to board the vehicle. Projects in time–space are competing for access to space, which often leads to injustices.
