Suppose you step onto a train or bus and feel a strange weight in your stomach or experience difficulty breathing or swallowing. You may have an undiagnosed fear of being in public vehicles. Public transportation moves many people in the U.S., from school kids to workers to the general public. Most never think twice about stepping aboard, but some find it a grueling experience — every time.
How do you get over your anxiety about using public transportation? Here are a few tips and effective strategies for managing this often undiagnosed condition so you can travel freely.
What Is Public Transportation Anxiety?
Feeling anxious while you travel on public modes of transit could signify public transportation anxiety. This condition closely connects to a state of fight or flight fear responses. It involves your mental state, psychological mood and behavior, or physiological reactions.
Anxiety disorders can be related to a specific phobia, such as using public transportation. Having a specific phobia is the most common type of anxiety and has a 12-month prevalence rate of 12.1%. Psychologists identify the following signs as proof of this mental state:
- Intense fear despite a lack of provocation.
- Anticipate fear or worry about future actions, like riding the bus tomorrow.
- Inability to resolve the state of worry or fear without guided interventions or medication.
- Persistent anticipation of being harmed or feeling threatened.
- Struggling with daily tasks because you constantly fear using public travel methods or a specific type of transit. You’d rather stay home than go somewhere with friends if it means taking the train.
- Intense awareness of stimuli in and around public spaces that involve travel, such as the squeak of bus wheels or the hiss of the train’s brakes. These stimuli heighten your nervousness.
- Dysfunctional behavior and thinking patterns as you try to avoid the situation where the phobia happens.
How Public Transportation Anxiety Starts
A school bus is one of the first forms of public vehicle you’ll travel in. It often accompanies the first day of school, which is an equally traumatic event for most kids. As the bus drives off with you, it may cause severe anxiety and a fear of abandonment, which can last into adulthood.
School buses can be scary, and while the newer ones have advanced systems that make the journey safer, you may have been the victim of bullying as a child. In 2021, 15% of high school students report being bullied on school property.
Another huge concern for many kids is the fear of being run over by cars when leaving the bus. Manufacturers have improved safety in innovative ways, such as installing GPS on buses to help children overcome the fear of missing the bus. Stop-arm cameras aim to prevent cars from passing while kids are crossing.
Some fear may seem justified, as one study performed over 41 school days recorded 3,450 violations of the stop-arm warning. It’s easy for children to become afraid and anxious about public transportation if they’ve had a bad bus experience, but what about adults?
Adult Anxiety on Public Transportation
Any frightening incident can trigger specific fears, which can happen in adulthood or transfer from childhood. Unresolved trauma creates a fear state for the brain to protect or guard against similar situations in the future. Therefore, if getting on a train scares you, you’ll avoid doing so.
A child may cry or scream when afraid, but adults tend to internalize their fear. That mental distress may present as:
- Sweaty palms
- Headaches
- Stomachaches
- Nausea
- Inability to speak
- Heart palpitations
If you randomly experience any of these symptoms on a bus, train or plane or when you step into a taxi, you may have specific anxiety with public transportation as your trigger.
Addressing Your Public Transportation Anxieties
Resolving anxieties may require professional intervention, such as seeing a psychologist, therapist or medical doctor to identify triggers and assess what to do when nervous feelings occur. It’s more involved than just stepping onto that bus or train and expecting your anxieties to vanish. You certainly can’t wish them away.
Careful preparation and therapy can help reduce anxiety disorders. However, it’s essential to know you aren’t alone in your fear, as 40 million adult Americans suffer from this condition each year, amounting to 19.1% of the population.
7 Anxiety Managing Tips When Using Public Transit
One single technique may be a start, but using several can build a good foundation to manage your anxiety. Here are some of the most effective strategies to tackle transit terror:
1. Give Anxiety a Name
Humans fear things they don’t know. Since you likely avoid even thinking of your fear, perhaps it’s time to give it a name. Pick one that bores you. Imagine walking to the bus for your morning commute to work and saying, “Hey, Bob, I see the bus is here. Are you going to make me feel scared today?” Suddenly, Bob isn’t as scary anymore.
2. Draw Your Anxiety
Fearful thoughts tend to jump around in your mind, and you struggle to visualize them. Drawing your fear comically can help you visualize it and assign relevance to it. Consider drawing “Bob the bus terror” as an old bus with squeaky wheels that putters along the road, going 20 miles an hour.
If you don’t like where Bob the anxiety bus is going, you can choose to get off. The bus isn’t such a terrifying experience your mind has been making it out to be. Each time you feel anxious, imagine the comical picture.
3. Breathe Before You Get Aboard
When you’re afraid, you stop breathing effectively. A lack of oxygen compromises your circulation, and your body becomes convinced you are in danger. Reset your system with a few deep breaths before getting on the bus or train.
Breathe deeply each time you feel anxiety trying to strangle you. Box breathing is an effective mind reset that requires only four seconds for each phase. Take a deep breath for four seconds, hold it for four more, exhale slowly and count to four — then pause your breath for four seconds before inhaling again. Repeat this, focusing on your counting.
4. Take a Friend or Call a Friend
Social stimulation helps redirect your focus and minimize distracting thoughts that come with a fear state. If you travel the same route daily, make friends with someone you can chat with to keep your fears under control.
Alternatively, you can call someone and connect with them, which reduces cortisol levels and lowers your feelings of stress. Communicating remains an effective way to calm down and become more positive regardless of age.
Scientists call it an urge to tend and befriend, where participants in a conversation naturally offer friendship to each other, even if only through a brief exchange. Speaking to someone when anxious helps relieve stress and reduces negative cyclical thinking. The benefit of talking is also why therapy is effective in helping to resolve fear and anxiety.
5. Play I Spy
Distraction is a fantastic fix when your mind wants to turn tail and run. Play a game of I Spy with yourself, noticing abstract things like the number of yellow bags on the bus or the smell of the bakery as you drive by. Count the time it takes from one traffic light to the next or compare the number of passengers on the left with those on the right.
Other distractions that also help include listening to music or a podcast, playing a game on your phone or reading a book.
6. Use Motivational Sayings or Mantras
Words have power — specific words like “go as far as you can” have the power to encourage positive behavior. Say, “Breathe,” “It’s OK” or “You’ll get safely to your destination,” or motivate yourself with “You can do this.”
Stick to positive words, as it’s so easy to harass yourself because you feel ashamed of being afraid. It’s OK to be frightened, and negative words will only demotivate and trigger you.
7. Consult Your Doctor
Fear is a chemical reaction as much as a mental one. When you have severe trauma, your mind may already have formed robust negative neural pathways that far exceed your ability to self-regulate. If so, you may need help in the form of a mild tranquilizer to help you adjust and fight off the ingrained responses that come when you are triggered.
Consulting your doctor or mental health care professional is part of your road to recovery from anxiety.
The Anxiety Bus Stop
Can you overcome your fear of using a bus or train? You can beat negative triggers with patience, self-love, knowledge and support. Prepare yourself by roleplaying with a trusted friend, packing a good book for longer journeys and learning to spot “dear old Bob” when anxiety tries to throw you off the bus.
