The Empty Yellow Seat : An Ethnological Study on Norm-Breaking Functionality and Everyday Mobility in Public Transport

This paper explores (non)accessibility within Stockholm’s public transport exemplified through ’the priority seat’ in the transport system’s design. The aim with this study is to problematize and nuance accessibility in public transport based on a broad empirical collection of material such as laws and bills, web pages, comments on social media and traveler complaints. The methods used are close text-readings, thematic analysis and Foucauldian discourse analysis. Through analytical concepts such as critical places, motility, half-hearted solutions, triviality and nontheless ableism, the opinions on and the structure of the local transport services are analyzed. This to shed light on perceptions of the body and functionality in public space and to highlight traveler’s experiences with (non)accessibility within public transport. Previous research shows that despite laws promoting accessibility, people with normbreaking functionality still encounter obstacles in their daily mobility. This paper therefore intends to draw attention to how an otherwise trivialized everyday commute can be interpreted as maintaining a marginalizing social structure. This to promote an accessible public transport for all.