The Chicago Transit Authority is planning to remove all the seats from up to two cars on each rush-hour subway train set in order to provide more room for standees, and thus the overall capacity of the train. I feel that this is an excellent short-term response to the incredible and wonderful increase in ridership that many transit authorities are experiencing all over the country. Bravo!
For a while now, I’ve had the idea of moving the seating to the center of the subway car, and then installing large, almost full length doors on each side of the subway car. Something like overhead garage doors. That way when you come to a stop, almost the whole side of the car opens up to allow everyone to quickly and easily detrain and board as they please. We may have just become one step closer to that 🙂
Photo source: Chicagotribune.com
