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What the Tram Taught Me About Latency
Tram 28 is slow, loud and always full. It is also the most honest progress indicator in Lisbon.
From the series · A Lisbon Notebook
By Mara Ellison · Lisbon
Nobody in Lisbon complains that tram 28 is slow. They complain when they can't see it coming. I spent most of a winter riding it across the old town, and it taught me more about waiting than any article on loading states.[1]
Visible waiting
You can hear the tram before you see it: a grinding on the rails two streets away, a bell at the corner. That sound changes everything. A three-minute wait you can hear feels shorter than a one-minute wait in silence. People relax. Someone finishes a coffee.
Honest progress
The tram never pretends to be faster than it is. It stops, it waits for a car to move, it climbs. Every delay is visible and has a reason. Compare that to a progress bar that races to ninety percent and then sits there, lying.[2]
What I took home
Show that something is coming before it arrives.
Never animate progress you haven't made.
Give people something to do while they wait.[3]
Notes
I do not recommend riding it at noon in August.
There is a whole literature on perceived waiting time. The tram summarises it better.
The pastry shop at the Graça stop is, I would argue, a loading state.
Written by
Mara Ellison
Product designer in Lisbon. Writes about quiet software, attention and the slow craft of making things.
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