AR/VR use in-transit is increasing due to the advantages it provides over more limited mobile and seatback displays for work and play. However, despite the now common support for “travel mode” in consumer XR headsets such as the Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro, little is known about how this emergent technology has been used in-practice by passengers - from why and how they use it, to what real-world challenges they face during usage in these very public, shared contexts. To address this gap, we contribute a novel large scale analysis of Reddit posts discussing first-hand use of VR/AR in-transit. We captured 11,150 posts, producing 437 user accounts which were synthesized into themes in relation to: in-the-wild use of immersive devices, users' positive/negative sentiment about usage, challenges they faced, and social interactions and impediments that occurred. Our snapshot of the current reality of passenger XR provides real-world insight evidencing the need for more passenger-centric designs of spatial interfaces, interaction techniques, and reality awareness.

Immersive technologies allow us to personalize our reality while traveling; however, widespread adoption remains limited. This study investigates the challenges of adopting immersive devices in transit, particularly when passengers encounter asymmetric experiences using disparate devices. These situations arise as co-located passengers adopt devices with varying levels of immersion, environmental information, and interactive capabilities. Using an enactment methodology in a transit scenario involving disparate devices, our study (N = 21) reveals that asymmetric passenger experiences create a sense of disconnection among passengers, especially with varying device immersion capabilities. When interactions require more than a basic response, for example complex verbal exchanges relying on social cues like gaze, adoption is further hindered. The incorporation of cues from reality addresses safety concerns but requires further refinement to support interactions that require complex or extended user involvement. This research advances the understanding of asymmetric passenger dynamics, contributing to the design of immersive technologies for transit settings.

Virtual Reality (VR) headsets allow us to personalise how we experience reality while travelling, offering benefits over traditional devices. VR that incorporates elements of reality could be crucial to creating safe and socially acceptable VR experiences by supporting VR users to be aware of the ever-changing transit environment, and the presence and actions of bystander passengers. Our study (N=14) examines VR in-the-wild on real train journeys to explore how VR users desire to employ passthrough style ‘portals’ to reality, and what impact these portals have on their perceived safety, social acceptability, and more in a real passenger context. We utilised a qualitative methodology with user interviews to evaluate experiences after real train journeys. Our findings indicate a favourable response to VR use on public transport, particularly when travelling alone. Portals effectively mitigate safety, awareness, and social concerns, but also pose challenges in simultaneously engaging with real and virtual environments. Users show a preference for passive monitoring of real-world changes over the more demanding active checking of the portals. However, this can lead to 'information wormholes,' where changes in the real-world slip past the portals. This study provides ecological validity to adopting VR in real transit settings and offers insights for the further development of reality-awareness systems.

Immersive technologies allow us to control and customise how we experience reality, but are not widely used in transit due to safety, social acceptability, and comfort barriers. We propose that cues from reality can create reference points in virtuality, which we call Reality Anchors, will reduce these barriers. We used simulated public transportation journeys in a lab setting to explore Reality Anchors using speculative methods in two studies. Our first study (N=20) explored how elements of reality like objects, furniture, and people could be used as anchors, demonstrating that visibility of other passengers and personal belongings could reduce barriers. Our second study (N=19) focused on journey types that emerged from the first study - self-managed vs. externally managed journeys - revealing that self-managed journeys increased the need for anchors. We conclude that Reality Anchors can reduce concerns associated with immersive technology use in transit, especially for self-managed journeys.