Campaigning at Victoria

So on Tuesday Katy, Hamza, and I went to Victoria station to talk to commuters about our campaign and see what they thought about it. We chose Victoria because it is a busy station with lots going on. We printed out some leaflets that can be seen in a previous post by Katy which stated some staggering facts about abuse on TFL. Our aim was to raise awareness of these facts and hopefully create a happy positive atmosphere for staff and commuters. So our visit to Victoria was a test run for our main intervention, which in short, is to transform a normal plain bus stop into a happy place that will brighten people's day and hopefully they will pay this happiness forward to the staff that are driving their bus or other method of transport. It also helped us practice and become comfortable with approaching the public and getting their opinion.

So we started outside the tube station and because we were nervous we only started by handing our leaflets out but obviously this wasn't very effective. Therefore, we decided to start approaching commuters just for a chat about our idea. Hamza even asked the woman behind the Krispy Kreme counter what she thought! We asked them questions such as:
1. Do you engage in conversation with anyone when at the bus stop or waiting for the tube?
2. Do you acknowledge your driver?
3. How do you feel on your daily commute?
4. If the atmosphere you were waiting in was more happy and comfortable do you think this would impact on your experience and day?
5. Would you be likely to pass this happiness to other people?
The response we got was great! Currently, next to no one engaged in conversation with another commuter or even acknowledged their driver, only if they needed to ask a question or complain about delays. We also found that most people feel tired and miserable in the morning commute but drained and stressed on their evening commute. The commuters general consensus was that they would like to think that a nice atmosphere at the bus stop, for example music, coffee, comfy seats, would increase their mood and sociability. When observing the bus stops at Victoria, it was a depressing sight with everyone on their phone and their headphones in. Time for a change!

Tasha

Share: