Human Traffic Jams

Coming from Jacksonville to Hong Kong, I have exchanged vehicular traffic jams for human traffic jams. In Jax I always tried to calculate the best time to avoid automotive congestion; in HK I try to calculate the best time to avoid a human pileup. Rather than navigating around unpredictable drivers I navigate around erratic pedestrians suddenly stopping, merging into my intended pathway, and changing speed unexpectedly. These are just some of the aggravations that disrupt the human traffic flow.

Hong Kong is a densely populated city and the throng/crowd/mob that brushes/bumps/jostles represents as big a challenge to urban planners as conventional auto traffic engineering. In Hong Kong you find many elevated walkways, long corridors, and escape valves into expansive and ubiquitous shopping malls. For those who find crowds, mobs, and forced intimacy a source of frustration and/or anxiety, Hong Kong is not for you.

It is most intense in the MTR subway stations where people shift into their "MTR personalities". There is a quickened step and a low threshold of tolerance for the casual saunter or the aimless stroll. My sympathy goes out to the poor soul who only discovers that their Octopus card (the MTR ticket currency) has been drained of credit while they are trying to pass through the rapidly revolving turnstile and then must turn to face the impatient and angry queue at their rear.