Comments on: Why the blue seats?

By: The Funky Apple | A New York City Blog » Blog Archive » Revealed: Why some subway seats are blue

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:15:02 +0000

[...] know, you’re shocked, right? The MTA is cutting costs (and they damn sure need to cut costs) when they replace broken seats on the subway lines by leaving [...]

By: rhywun

rhywun — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:55:41 +0000

Well, the cars with fewer seats have fewer seats, so I have to stand longer. And like you said, the people who sit tend to sit the whole way. Now I understand the R is a local so you would think that it’s mostly for people taking short trips, but for those of us in Bay Ridge it’s the only train and transferring is only good if you’re travelling north of Canal Street–which I am not.

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 22:50:31 +0000

You can probably sit either way. I’m not sure about the R, but the 6 and 1 both have available seats for most of the inbound ride, north of about 125th Street. The standees are the people taking the train over shorter distances. So unless you live on the margins between sitting territory and standing territory, you have nothing to lose from lengthwise seating. On the other hand, higher standing capacity means people have an easier time getting on the train at the stations closer to the CBD, which means shorter dwells.

By: rhywun

rhywun — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 01:06:21 +0000

I was puzzled by this too. I got on an R42 today and about half the seats were blue. The molding was different from the old seats. These were definitely new seats, not just a new paint job.

By: rhywun

rhywun — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 01:02:57 +0000

And the lengthwise seating reduces sitting capacity. Unless I want to transfer twice and get to work late, the R is my only option. It’s a long, slow trip, and I want to sit.

By: Benjamin Kabak

Benjamin Kabak — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:45:50 +0000

Those conversation seats also create standing patterns that do not maximize available space in the car and lead people to block the doors. I am not a fan.

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:43:03 +0000

Those conversation seats reduce standing capacity on the train.

By: Jaystreet

Jaystreet — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:58:50 +0000

I’ve seen these on the R44s a few times. But I thought they were ‘replacement’ seats, not just painted over seats. The seats looked brand new and looked molded. Are they removing the seats from the trains, painting them, and putting them back?

By: rhywun

rhywun — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:18:58 +0000

Not for me. Which explains why I always get a seat. I’m not terribly short (5’8″) and there’s plenty of room. I see people shorter than me who think they can’t fit in there, cos they’re always blocking the inside seat and throwing their legs into the aisle.

By: noah

noah — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:24:51 +0000

Wow! I can’t believe how many people I disagree with here. I’ve never experienced, nor do I want to experience the 70′s but I LOVE the seats with COLOR!! it helps me get a better rest, and I love the buckets, so much more comfortable, muted lights, brights seats, red, orange, yellow, its all a very comfortable environment to get my nap in during my commute in the odd hours.

the blue seats, the bright lights, and the super cold air conditioning, feels like i’ve been sent to the mental institution. and yeah, you can’t read the LED light until it’s in the station