# Is public transportation a cesspool of disease? :) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 25, 2010, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-public-transportation-a-cesspool-of-disease/530450 "2010-02-25T22:49:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-public-transportation-a-cesspool-of-disease/530450/21 "2010-02-27T02:12:29Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > You’ll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. That’s so true of Bangkok buses, but that’s only the passengers. 😉 I am constantly on buses and the Skytrain in Bangkok and have yet to contract a serious disease from it. Despite the presence of H1N1 in Thailand, I generally have taken no extra precautions – no vaccine, no face mask – and have yet to catch anything from it. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-public-transportation-a-cesspool-of-disease/530450/22 "2010-02-27T02:25:28Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > Well, they do (at least in the winter, when no windows are open) - it’s just that no one (except the driver) is actually riding that bus for five full hours. 🙂 Except they don’t; the doors open every 5 minutes to let people on and off, which creates quite a bit of air circulation, and when buses are packed in the winter (which they usually are in Montreal!) windows are actually often cracked open anyways, because the heaters are on full-blast and all those bodies actually generate a lot of heat. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-public-transportation-a-cesspool-of-disease/530450/23 "2010-02-27T02:32:43Z")
Air is recirculated on an airplane out of necessity, a limitation unlikely to be encountered by your typical bus or train. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-public-transportation-a-cesspool-of-disease/530450/24 "2010-02-27T23:47:50Z")
I’ve found I’m more likely to catch something at work than on the bus. I just sit down and try not to touch anything whenever possible. When the H1N1 outbreak hit last year, I only ever saw one person wearing a face mask on the bus I always take. ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-public-transportation-a-cesspool-of-disease/530450/25 "2010-02-28T00:02:25Z")
I take buses every day, and I haven’t had a cold in over a year. I think the next one I get will probably be from a classmate, not from someone on the bus. ---
**Author:** ![Grey\_Tama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@Grey\_Tama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey_Tama)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-public-transportation-a-cesspool-of-disease/530450/26 "2010-03-02T09:13:42Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > Air is recirculated on an airplane out of necessity, a limitation unlikely to be encountered by your typical bus or train. One could always try to fly in an older plane which has 100% fresh air coming in… Newer planes circulate about half of the air through HEPA filters, rest is fresh air (apparently there is better fuel economy this way) At least that’s what [Boeing](http://www.boeing.com/commercial/cabinair/index.html) says. ---
**Author:** ![NBYodo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9a28c/32.png) [@NBYodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NBYodo)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-public-transportation-a-cesspool-of-disease/530450/27 "2010-03-02T10:25:51Z")
> [@Grey\_Tama](#): > > One could always try to fly in an older plane which has 100% fresh air coming in… Newer planes circulate about half of the air through HEPA filters, rest is fresh air (apparently there is better fuel economy this way) > > At least that’s what [Boeing](http://www.boeing.com/commercial/cabinair/index.html) says. Yep. The HEPA filters also catch most (ca. 99% [cite](http://www.iata.org/NR/rdonlyres/E81DEB5C-F3C5-4CF7-8208-9E96123D4781/0/cabin_air_quality.pdf)) of the bugs and smell, so it’s not as though the cough-air-germs from the guy in the front of the cabin is coming out of your air vent at the back of the plane. The high-pressure fresh air used to pressurize the cabin is bled off the engines (after being compressed, but before the combustion stage). This air taken out doesn’t contribute to the total thrust produced by the engine, but does rob the engine of some power, needed to compress the air. So, less bleed air needed for the cabin, slightly less fuel burn. NB ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-public-transportation-a-cesspool-of-disease/530450/28 "2010-03-02T11:02:36Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > That’s so true of Bangkok buses, but that’s only the passengers. 😉 > > I am constantly on buses and the Skytrain in Bangkok and have yet to contract a serious disease from it. Despite the presence of H1N1 in Thailand, I generally have taken no extra precautions – no vaccine, no face mask – and have yet to catch anything from it. Has Bangkok got big Goverment health ads everywhere warning people to wear masks and keep away from people with flu like symptoms, like Kuala Lumpur and Malacca do? There were entire LRT trains in KL that were fitted out in a “Beware of the H1N1 Second Wave!” theme, which seemed… excessive to me. ---
**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-public-transportation-a-cesspool-of-disease/530450/29 "2010-03-02T13:02:57Z")
I take public transport every day to and from work, and I’ve not had a sick day in two years. There are plenty of people on the bus/train coughing and sneezing but so far I’ve caught nothing. Maybe all that exposure to other folks is boosting my immunity instead. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-public-transportation-a-cesspool-of-disease/530450/30 "2010-03-02T13:09:21Z")
I take the train every day and I have only ever gotten sick from my coworkers or my SO. Generally it is easy to avoid people who look ill on the train or the bus and keep to yourself for your trip. Other than that just wash your hands every now and again and you should be good to go. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-public-transportation-a-cesspool-of-disease/530450/31 "2010-03-02T15:54:27Z")
I’m pretty careful about washing my hands, etc., but what scares me, is that we have had a lot of immigration from places where TB is rampant (places like Russia, Indochina, Africa). Now, doctors are seeing resistant strains of TB. I certainly don’t want a dose of that. The other thing about public transit-I see people spitting all the time…disgusting and dangerous. Nobody enforces that law. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-public-transportation-a-cesspool-of-disease/530450/32 "2010-03-04T06:10:37Z")
Do you live in a huge urban area? Where do they spit? Only in the stations, I hope! Anyway, as [I mentioned in another thread,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12181283) I took my first light rail commute. Not a bad ride. Certainly open enough (and opens often enough) to circulate air. Someone sitting right behind me did cough/sneeze, but they were facing to the side, and were behind me (so even if they did happen to be facing my direction, any germs would’ve had to go around the back of my head). So it seems so far that the majority opinion is panning out. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-public-transportation-a-cesspool-of-disease/530450/33 "2010-03-05T04:04:41Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Has Bangkok got big Goverment health ads everywhere warning people to wear masks and keep away from people with flu like symptoms, like Kuala Lumpur and Malacca do? There were entire LRT trains in KL that were fitted out in a “Beware of the H1N1 Second Wave!” theme, which seemed… excessive to me. Not really. I tend not to pay much attention to billboards and such. I think there are some, but nothing excessive. As a foreigner, _I_ tend to be suspect to being a cesspool of disease. A Thai hacking his head off on the bus rates nary a look, but during times of epidemic if _I_ so much as clear my throat, it feels like everyone’s attention has been turned on me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-public-transportation-a-cesspool-of-disease/530450.md?page=1)