Thanks to social media, ergonomics will become mainstream

A truck driver doing his thing. Most vehicle cabins are compliant with ergonomic requirements but the locally assembled bodies are not. Photo: Pius Maundu

Social media has given individuals an unparalleled power to express their sentiments and frustrations on pertinent issues. The other day, a Facebook friend uploaded a photograph of the interior of what seemed as a public service vehicle. 

The focus of the photo was an electric wall socket mounted on the body of the vehicle clad in green felt, the type used in pool tables, adjacent to one of the passenger seats. That a matatu could carry with it an appliance the size found in houses was more than hilarious. 

Following the concurrence that an oversized appliance inside a car was uncouth, comments pointed figures at the possible fleet represented in this photograph. Mwi Sacco, Channia, Kampala Coach, Forward Travelers, Matunda, Mbukoni, and Coast Bus were some of the names appearing in the comments following the update. But what were these people saying?

People result to social media to chide what they think the mainstream media fails to address satisfactorily. The need for ethical public transport, for instance. In this case, mounting an over sized electric socket inside a public service vehicle is both casual and dangerous. It is not rocket science to imagine the how risky such a move is to the passengers and the vehicle itself. Parading these brand names of public transport operators spoke volumes. 

Essentially, these comments were expressing the certainty that the public transport operators had the capacity of committing such reckless felonies. It could be that those commenting had not witnessed these gadgets in the vehicles, but from their experiences, it was possible to associate such unbecoming behavior with such operators. Put differently, the people had resulted to social media to report the bad experience they had had incessantly in particular public transport operators. Parading names, especially when particular names appear more than once or even attract more likes, confirms that affected individuals are certain on their sentiments. 

Considering the tone of the comments, chances are that the bad experiences resulted from structural imperfections in the fleets. They have little to do with the human aspects. Public transport operators should be worried of the justifications for the negative perception by their clients. This leads to some of the imperfections that could make travelers disgusted by public transport operators. Collectively, the explanation for the negative perception is failure to adhere to the requirements of ergonomics. What then is ergonomics?

Ergonomics is concerned with designing the environment to match human factors, thus breeding utmost comfort. It borrows greatly from anthropometrics, “the study of the sizes of people in relation to products,” according to BBC. Though widely applied in enhancing workplace productivity, ergonomics has its rightful role in public service vehicles. Take the passenger seats for instance. 

Body builders are supposed to factor in the comfort of the passenger before they bent on sketching the preliminary designs of the seats. A good number rarely think this comfort as important. Instead, they let the selfish interests of their masters dictate on the number and inclination of the seats they would install. The resulting design leaves the owner of the public service vehicle salivating while the client groaning. 

Resulting from this greed and lack of insight is a passenger car with seats that outnumber its recommended capacity. The alley is so squeezed that it is difficult for one to pace up and down the bus. Can you imagine the discomfort in breathing in such a crowded environment? Interestingly, it is possible to tell which body builder is encouraging this insensitivity from their labels on their “masterpieces.”

Whenever body builders remember to space the seats appropriately, they seldom remember to install footrests. At the end of the day, this subjects passengers, especially those on long distance journeys to untold suffering. Certainly, free Wi-Fi and snacks cannot supplant this kind of discomfort. Equally discomforting is the blaring of loud music or even mounting a television set almost on the roof so that passengers would strain their necks to follow. Nobody can forget this discomfort. They will do something.

In the wake of the discomfort, especially if it is incessant, passengers would start boycotting using the services of the notorious public transport operators. They would let others follow suit. And in the world of social media, they would let others know. Everybody knows of the word “viral” and what its potential.