Ühistransport kui avalik ruum humanitaarteadustes - Public transport as a public space in the humanities

This article looks at public transport as a field of research in the social sciences and humanities. While the field of engineering is known for designing its own models, calculations and systems, the contribution of the ‘soft sciences’ to the field of mobility and transport research need to be more precisely clarified. Public transport also frequently seems too technical and specific for scholars in the humanities and social sciences interested in more cultural issues such as language, identity and modernisation. What could be public transport’s place within this context of the social sciences and humanities? Humanities researchers often approach the subject by focussing attention on words and their history. The choice of words in describing phenomena is related to ways of thinking. In other words, what is considered to be public transport and what is not forms part of the debate over the organisation of transport and mobility. This may even be a source of conflict: for example, are taxis or ride sharers public or private transport? Although they may fall within the scope of the Public Transport Act in Estonia, they are usually not talked about as public transport in plans or everyday conversations. The same issue affects passenger aircraft. It is not just a question of words, for words also have their own normative direction: if something is public transport, it is aimed at the many and is not just an elitist mode of movement for a small group. If a taxi or ride sharing constitutes public transport, it deserves the support and intervention of national institutions so that this type of transport can serve society. However, if they are considered individual transport, they are more like competitors of public transport. Although today the term ‘public transport’ (in Estonian: ühistransport) is rooted in the Estonian language, it is a comparatively new one. In the 1920s and 1930s, there was talk of trams and buses directly. Transport planning was still in its infancy. There were words for both passenger and ...