Sideways Seating
The Chicago Transit Authority is testing new seating arrangements on many CTA lines, the Tribune reports. Almost all of the 39 seats per car will be rotated to face inward, rather that forward or backward, making CTA cars look more like NYC subway cars rather than D.C. Metro cars. These new trains are being tested on all of the rail lines, except one, but aren't being used to replace all cars -- they're simply being added to the back of existing trains, so that the CTA can test response to them. The sideways seats allow approximately 10 people more to board the car.
It's an excellent and logical change. While the front and back-facing seats create a more comfortable ride (and allow you to avoid eye contact with other riders), it makes no sense not to maximize the space on these trains, especially for intracity routes. The only times when front-facing seats make more sense are on long trips, such as with London's Metropolitan line. Otherwise, you're going to get tons of people shoving in during rush hour anyway, so you might as well maximize available space.
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amg | 1:00 PM |
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I've never been on the Chicago system, but if it is anything like the Washington DC Metro then they must be doing something wrong if they can only get 10 more for crush capacity.
