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Comment by 2ion | Hacker News Reader

Because I need to isolate myself from a crowd that goes on public transport sick, coughes down my neck and sneezes into my face, doesn't wash properly and doesn't have train manners (NO phone calls, NO food, NO party, NO litter, NO loud conversations, NO music I can hear from your cans). If I don't protect myself, I'll get sick and irritated. Public transport is dirty and littered.

On metros here, there is no 1st class coach I could pay for to get some distance, quiet and respectable company.

So the personal car it is. Unless you fix people, I will use all my privilege to keep myself comfortable.

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I find the concept of a morgue on rails (no phone calls, no "loud" conversations...) pretty amazing. How'd we arrive to the point where we expect people to not be social in public places?

By letting people behave antisocial. In public transport, you cannot tell the noisy stranger to lower their volume because you risk being punched or worse. What is considered normal behavior in a typical subway is not considered acceptable where I grew up.

Well I guess you didn't grow up near the subway. It's a lot better now than it was.

A morgue is your best example of a place where people are expected to be respectful of other people in their close proximity? And yes, the fact that you’re in public and necessarily in very close proximity to other people is precisely why you would hope that people would be respectful.

There is some research that there is an immune boost to regular public transit riders. Evidence points to regular riders getting less sick than occasional riders, and that can extrapolate to occasional public interaction.

> Seasoned public transportation commuters, though, seem to be better protected against the viruses. “These data are very plausible when we think about the greater likelihood of developing protective antibodies to common respiratory viruses if repeatedly exposed,”

https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/news/20110120/catch-bus-c...

There is also evidence that broken bones become stronger and it's especially visible in martial arts practicioners who regularly break and restore bones at microscopic level.

Even though this is true, I wouldn't advice anyone to break bones: the US hospitals are really good at emptying pockets.

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