Riga Tram System: Observations

After spending more time than I'd like to admit sitting on the Riga tram system, I've noticed some curious observations. First, Latvians seem even more depressed than usual while taking public transportation in Riga. Sometimes I'm not sure if the tram I'm on is going to Old Town, or descending into hell itself after seeing their faces!

On the Riga tram system, there is almost always a female talking loudly on her cell phone in Latvian or Russian. I find this interesting, because their conversations are easily audible. I do not know the Latvian or Russian languages, so I'm very curious as to what these conversations are about? Did Ieva and her boyfriend Vlad break up? Or has the washing machine exploded at Aunt Vera's house? Who knows! Whatever the conversation is about, I'm sure the entire tram is happy to hear about it!

Probably the strangest observation I've made on the Riga tram system is just how soon people seem to get up for their stop. I've seen people get up more than an entire stop ahead of their destination! What for? Do they enjoy standing for 5 minutes? Are they impatient? I'm not sure what the reason is, but almost everyone stands up and walks towards the exit long before their stop comes up. Why wouldn't they wait for the tram to stop before getting up? My only guess is that they're worried they will miss the stop, or want to get off the tram before people start loading on... Still, I've never had a problem and I usually wait until the tram stops to get up and depart.

After a week on the Riga tram system, I decided I wanted to be like the locals, so I too got up extra early for my stop! The first time I did this, I was on the tram with some people from the couchsurfing.com meeting I attended. One Finnish man poked fun at me and said, "Hey why are you getting up so early? The stop is far ahead!" Hah, just my luck! I said to the Finnish man, "Yes but this is what everyone does here!".

Of course there's also the whole phenomenon with paying or not paying on the tram. The locals seem to have some secret schedule that shows when the ticket control inspectors will come aboard! I swear they do, because half the tram routinely does not pay! Yet when the tram is checked by ticket control inspectors, magically everyone remembered to pay for the trip!