(via) Read in Wired, a sociologist, Esther Kim from Yale University was interested in the tactics employed by people to keep a free seat in the bus:

• Avoid eye contact
• Lean against the window and stretch out your legs.
• Sit on the aisle seat and listen to music to pretend not to hear people asking for the window seat.
• Place a large bag or multiple items in the empty seat to make it time-consuming to move.
• Look out the window with a blank stare to appear crazy.
• Pretend to be asleep.
• Put your coat on the seat to make it appear already taken.
• If all else fails, lie: Say the seat has been taken by someone else.

Why do I blog this? A fascinating example of how people adopt very simple behavior to avoid a proximate interaction with strangers. The underlying reasons for doing that is also relevant. Potentially intriguing for designers interested in playing with this situation.