Overview
In a pendulum city, you rarely move alone. You need boosts, shared arcs, and coordinated timing. That makes social behavior part of the infrastructure. Goodwill isn’t just nice—it’s practical. Reputation affects mobility.
Cooperation as Transit
If a gap is wide, you might need a synchronized chain of swingers. If a route is congested, you rely on others to create openings. Helping someone else today increases the likelihood they’ll assist you tomorrow. The result is a culture where cooperation is constant and visible.
Etiquette in Motion
Swinging introduces new etiquette: how to merge arcs, when to latch onto a shared route, how to signal your intended direction. This etiquette is taught early, like traffic laws, but with a social flavor. The city becomes a choreography of consent and timing.
Reputation as Access
When routes are social, your relationships literally open or close pathways. People who are generous with boosts gain easier access. People who cut off others find routes subtly denied. This creates a feedback loop where kindness is rewarded in daily movement.
Social Bubbles, Real Networks
Communities form around shared routes. You are “close” not by proximity on a map but by swing accessibility. This creates a living social graph: your nearest connections are those you can reach with minimal effort. New relationships form when you open new routes.
What Changes
You stop seeing transit as anonymous. Every commute is a social interaction. The city becomes a mutual aid system in motion, where social behavior is inseparable from mobility.