People who take up two seats on the bus/train/metro - C or D?

fine on uncrowded trains

douchey on crowded trains

fat ppl = dud

DISCUSSION DONE

Ghost Rider for presidetn

he gets things done

http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/cgo/lowres/cgon34l.jpg

at least this guy knows he needs two seats. worst is the fatso that thinks he could squeeze into the single seat next to me. prompting me to get up and find some not weight challenged to sit next to

As a matter of course now, if someone has their bag on the seat next to them I'll go and stand next to them until they move the bag. Then I go and sit in another seat.

There are a lot of generously figured people on my train line who *could* probably fit into one seat but would be squeezing those next to them...so people do them the courtesy of never trying to fit into the next seat even though it's mostly empty. I can't help feeling that the rush-hour subway is not a place to be so genteel, and that people need to fit in one seat or else stand. I know, I'm a terrible human being.

Does not apply to people who really do take up the better part of two seats, I guess.

Like, I'll get on the train and there'll be two or three or four places that I can see where someone is leaving an empty seat open for a person just slightly too big. For pete's sake, you can TOUCH ARMS, OKAY? Get in there and stop wasting space.

Biggest dud ever = people who sit on the outer (aisle) seat of a two-seat pairing, leaving the window seat empty but ensuring by their presence that nobody will try to sit in it. I hate these people. Invariably, when someone DOES try to sit next to them, they always get pissed off, and always just turn their legs to the side so that you have to squeeze past them, rather than just MOVING OVER.

^^^^^ quite true, i hate it

As a matter of course now, if someone has their bag on the seat next to them I'll go and stand next to them until they move the bag. Then I go and sit in another seat.

-- Mark C, Wednesday, September 26, 2007 3:14 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Uh right on Mr Elton but actually I'd quite like the privacy and lack of outside intrusion.

I am made esp bitter by the fact that I have a several-months-running foot injury but it doesn't show on the outside (my pain is buried deep, deep within)...so every day I limp to the subway and then stand on the train for 50 mins looking at people taking up more than an MTA-manded "one person" amount of space. It's petty, yes.

i have to admit i sure like the human race a whole lot more since i quit rush hour public transport. the thing that used to get me was people sitting in the aisle seat with an empty window seat so you have to climb over them to get in there. well, not really. i preferred to stand anyway.

oh, x-posted.

yeah, if there are free seats available then who gives a fuck whether someone's got their bag on a seat

what i hate the most is having to pay 20 pounds extra for getting my ticket at the other end, fuckers

the dudes who sit with their legs spread out cos their balls are just tooo big for normal sitting should be castrated.

As a matter of course now, if someone has their bag on the seat next to them I'll go and stand next to them until they move the bag. Then I go and sit in another seat.

-- Mark C, Wednesday, September 26, 2007 3:14 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Uh right on Mr Elton but actually I'd quite like the privacy and lack of outside intrusion.

-- That one guy that hit it and quit it, Wednesday, September 26, 2007 3:24 PM

Oh get over yourself. It's an intrinsically selfish action on their part, as well as a pointless one - it's a rush hour train to central London, and by the stop after mine it'll be standing room only already. So you ain't getting any privacy, you're on a commuter train ffs.

If you really want two seats to yourself, go for the gibbering/stinking vagrant look, that seems to work.

mark, i was quoting you.

LBCZC 4 life

Biggest dud ever = people who sit on the outer (aisle) seat of a two-seat pairing, leaving the window seat empty but ensuring by their presence that nobody will try to sit in it. I hate these people. Invariably, when someone DOES try to sit next to them, they always get pissed off, and always just turn their legs to the side so that you have to squeeze past them, rather than just MOVING OVER.

I wouldn't bother doing this for a commute, but I do it every time on a plane or train to increase my chances of getting two seats to myself, for the leg-room & to avoid being squashed between window & fatso/leg-spreader.

mark, i was quoting you.

The Mr Elton bit? Wot no attribution?

the dudes who sit with their legs spread out cos their balls are just tooo big for normal sitting should be castrated.

yea these are the people who i especially had in mind in the original post. the leg-spreaders are the worse, and usually the most stubborn when indicating that you want to sit down

*worst

it is good to tolerate all sorts of commuter. i only hate fellow commuters if

-they have a cold
-they are babbling inane shit down a phone

Biggest dud ever = people who sit on the outer (aisle) seat of a two-seat pairing, leaving the window seat empty but ensuring by their presence that nobody will try to sit in it. I hate these people.

I love this, because then I get to ruin their day. It's so easy!

I do the outer aisle thing, but only because I like the extra leg room that the aisle provides. It's the curse of being v.tall.

I suppose someone will criticise me now as 'one of those people whose legs stick out in the aisle'. Oh well.

everyone should just stand. why is sitting so highly prized? standing is so much easier.

my ride is 45 minutes and i like to read.

you can get a ticket in ny now if you have your belongings on the seat next to you. I think?

i'm v. tall and i would never take the outside seat, because that would make me an asshole.

I do the outer aisle thing, but only because I like the extra leg room that the aisle provides. It's the curse of being v.tall.

i don't mind if people insist on sitting on the aisle. it's more the refusing to get up to allow someone to move into the window seat comfortably. as stated above, they often just turn their legs to the side so that you have to squeeze past them and they get all pissy when you can't get in comfortably.

maybe i don't notice this shit but nothing about aisle-sitting has ever seemed at all irritating to me

hmm. if the bus is empty, or even just half-full, i don't see why i can't stick my bag on the seat next to me. that said: as soon as it starts to fill up, i'll shift my stuff. i have, in the past, had to ask people to move their belongings and been met with glares and mumps and moans. fuck them.

i had the immense misfortune to sit next to a fat dude rocking the comedy paedo look the other month (seriously, he was a caricature: thick tinted specs, greasy hair w/ dandruff, blue anorak, shiny trousers) who FUCKING STANK in a way i've never smelt before and hope i never do again. maybe he had madeleine mccann's body in his pocket or something. after that, other mild public-transport irritations have ceased to bother me, really.

i'm v. tall and i would never take the outside seat, because that would make me an asshole

i'm v short and i wouldn't either ;)

I don't know about you, Sunny, but I really dislike standing. Maybe it's just the foot pain I inherited from my dad, or from abusing them for years but walking + standing are difficult for me. I don't go to shows anymore where I know I'll have to stand all night, try to walk as little as poss, etc. (as the NYCers well know). Plus, like bell's, my trip is about an hour long.

Twice in my life I've had episodes of bad foot and/or back pain that would NOT heal up because every day NYCers walk to the train, stand on the subway, walk to the office, etc, and nothing gets better. The first time, I got laid off and suddenly everything was fine! It stayed away for years and years...now I've reinjured one foot and the inflammation just won't go away. Very trying.

i'm v. tall and i would never take the outside seat, because that would make me an asshole

EXCUSE ME....WTF?

When I said I do the aisle seat thing, I didn't mean that I make it difficult for people to get in next to me. I don't.

are you angry?

No. Are you? Just mildly miffed at the implication that I'm an asshole.

it also really annoys me when dudes in their 20s-30s dash for the seats. it is always the yuppie/hipster white dudes that do this. i'm just like, do you not know what an asshole you look like pushing past the 50 yo woman in scrubs who has obviously been on her feet all day? grr. the blatant entitlement and pushiness really annoys me.

i offered my seat to a woman the other day. as i moved to make way for her the train lurched and i fell on top of someone. :-(

sitting next the window seat on the bus/subway feels roomier, versus the aisle. even with my long legs--but it could just be my big fat ass

bell labs otm re: castration

I always offer the aisle seat if I am traveling with someone really tall.

don't assume tall people always want the aisle.

I'm not angry

I always offer the aisle seat if I am traveling with someone really tall that does not have a fat ass.

hmmmmmm i've definitely seen people other than yuppie/hipster white dudes being assholes on trains.

i hate people who try and board the train before other people have managed to get off. Now *that's* rude.

ste otm, this is the first genuine example of bad manners i've seen on this thread

There wd be so much more room if we just sat the yuppie/hipster white dudes on the third rail.

also, step ALL THE FUCKING WAY into the car! No one, hardly, does.

As a matter of course now, if someone has their bag on the seat next to them I'll go and stand next to them until they move the bag. Then I go and sit in another seat.

As much as I hate these dudes too, that's kinda douchey. Also, a lot of them just don't move their shit. I usually just walk over to them, get their attention, awkwardly point at the seat, and more or less shame them into moving. Nobody's ever willfully stopped me from having that seat when I'm direct about it. Then again, if there are easier seats to sit in, I just do that.

Also, as a tall guy with long legs, I will take the window seat or the aisle seat. Doesn't bother me. My legs don't fit in either but I'm not about to sprawl into the aisle or something. just jam 'em in however they'll fit.

maybe it's a ny thing but the yuppie guys are the fucking worst, sorry.

No. Are you? Just mildly miffed at the implication that I'm an asshole.

-- Dr.C, Wednesday, September 26, 2007 3:19 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

hopefully i didn't give you that impression! i don't think you're an asshole -- you're tall, and thus deserving of keeping the aisle seat :)

this is all making me want to winterize my bike so i can continue to avoid public transit

awkwardly point at the seat

Surely easier and more showful to just 'tut' dramatically and shuffle off with a rushed air about you.

x-post - no you didn't, Mark. The post I referred to was the one before yours - sorry!

when I encounter a full train and someone (usually a student) has their bag on the seat and I want to sit, I usually just pick the thing up and either place it on the floor or the person's lap.
they usually look at me like i've just placed my testicles on their leg and it brightens up my day every time.

massive xpost!

also, step ALL THE FUCKING WAY into the car! No one, hardly, does.

i hate people who try and board the train before other people have managed to get off. Now *that's* rude.

they can't say i didn't try

also, step ALL THE FUCKING WAY into the car! No one, hardly, does.

yea this bothers me a lot. Especially on buses -- I've had buses drive by stops without picking me/anyone up because the drivers think the bus is full, but really people have some weird kind of aversion to actually moving to the back of the bus.

One time, I was on the first bus from work (I have to take a bus, then two metros, then a bus every day, each way). I can't find any photos, but our busses, once entered, have five "single" seats on the right side, three "double" benches on the left side, then behind the double benches there's a sideways flip-up triple bench (flipped up if someone has a wheelchair). Then, there's two steps that go up, and a raised platform that has a double bench on each side, then a backwards bench on each side. Then there is a sideways triple bench and a forwards triple bench at the back-left side, and a single double bench on the right side, and a large chunk of non-space where I presume the motor is.

The important part for this story is that there's a lot of standing space past the stairs, and people often don't walk up there. I'm not sure why. It might be because it's got fewer standing holding bars, might be because people hate being at the very back (it's tough to get off the bus from here). Anyway, I was on this one time, and here was the scene:

- three people sitting on the double bench, one basically in the aisle.
- A guy who was about 4'6" (actually, this is not an exaggeration, important to the story) standing next to her.
- a very lazy fat cow sitting on the stairs.

So I can't get up the stairs to stand, because these three are there. However, NOBODY can see past me, and assumes that there's an insane amount of real estate there, and this bus is PACKED. I get the DIRTIEST looks from the ENTIRE front of the bus for the next 30 minutes. It was the worst.

to clarify what i said earlier about tall people who take the aisle seat, it seems okay on an empty train or bus, but it seems completely douchey if it is crowded

Surely easier and more showful to just 'tut' dramatically and shuffle off with a rushed air about you

even easier to say: "excuse me, could you move your stuff?" way to go, passive-aggressive ILX :)

Yeah also when there are fucking loads of seats upstairs but cunts stand around the bottom of the stairs not letting anyone past to sit up there.

xpost to Mark

I can't find any photos, but our busses, once entered, have five "single" seats on the right side, three "double" benches on the left side, then behind the double benches there's a sideways flip-up triple bench (flipped up if someone has a wheelchair). Then, there's two steps that go up, and a raised platform that has a double bench on each side, then a backwards bench on each side. Then there is a sideways triple bench and a forwards triple bench at the back-left side, and a single double bench on the right side, and a large chunk of non-space where I presume the motor is

also: WTF, complicated bus layout! what's wrong with, y'know, two rows of seats?

i imagine ppl don't move to the back of the bus because when the bus gets packed you cannot get off anymore

grimly otm, so much can be achieved simply by asking politely. this thread = teh madness

all i want is my 20 quid back

Yeah also when there are fucking loads of seats upstairs but cunts stand around the bottom of the stairs not letting anyone past to sit up there

i hoyed past two knobs at the bottom of the stairs this morning ... and found upstairs was packed, with no seats. so i stood about like an arse, willing someone to get off. eventually they did ... and some tool came zipping up the stairs and tried to get the seat. she failed. i was resolute and determined. and had another 40 minutes' journey ahead.

even easier to say: "excuse me, could you move your stuff?" way to go, passive-aggressive ILX :)

A colleague of mine walks up and says "Let me just put that on the luggage rack for you" all friendly like, removes their bag, then sits next to them and pretends to be asleep when they're trying to get their bags back and squeeze past him to get off the train.

^ only when train is really busy and people are being cuntish btw - fight fire with fire.

hahahahahah, okay, that's funny.

fuck's sake: if there's a luggage rack, there's no excuse for not putting yr stuff up there.

yeah, people stand near the doors so they can get off first.

Laurel and Bell, I can see how you would prefer/need to sit. I just prefer to stand so I dont have to deal with people.

my way gets results faster. i don't have to wait for douche jr. to take his/her earphones out - go "huh", roll their eyes, pause their p2p/ipod/whatever and then move their shit.

xposts

SOLUTION: http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/bto/20070122/flower_01_350x262.jpg

yeah, people stand near the doors so they can get off first.

maybe they want to hang with the driver

they want to look out the front and pretend they're driving

I'm pleased that I'm in the car today.

watching knobsticks trying to get into a clearly FULL car-park and blocking roads etc in the process as i strolled to the office from the gym, i was mightily pleased i wasn't in the car ;)

if there's a luggage rack, there's no excuse for not putting yr stuff up there.

I don't like overhead luggage racks because I'm abnormally short and they're at the height where I can just reach stuff down but only in an uncontrolled kind of way, which is not good for heavy stuff directly over my head. But I don't use trains much anyway and I find somewhere else to put my stuff out of everyone else's way.

On the bus every day I put my bag on the next seat while I can still see free double seats. As soon as I can't see any left I'll put it on the floor, but it's a bit bulky for comfort and it gets covered in filth down there. On the way home usually nobody gets on once we get out of the city so it may as well stay on the seat.

Most of these tales of bus angst annoy me too, and also people who put their HANDS on the back of the seat in front so you have someone else's balled-up FIST between your shoulderblades all the way home NO NO NO

how short, if it's not a rude question? i mean, i'm a wee short-arse but i just jump up and down a bit and get used to things clouting me on the bonce as they fall down.

What utopia do you live in where busses and subways have luggage racks?

I try to always offer my seat to people who look like they could use it.

Note to pregnant women on public transit: always make it really, really obvious that you're pregnant. Wear maternity clothes and rub your belly a lot. Half the time I don't realise I have someone in their third trimester standing in front of me until they've already been standing there 20 minutes, and then I feel like an ass.

The other day I was in a subway car with the seats mostly full; the one next to me was the only clearly open one. (The guy on the other side of it had his legs spread open, but he could close them, obviously.) A pregnant woman got on. Then she stood there and looked pitifully around at everyone until a woman on the other side got up and gave her the seat. I was really, really pissed off at that woman. You're gonna stand up because pregnant-lady is unsatisfied with sitting next to me? Man, it's like you can't even poop on the subway anymore without people being all weird about.

also people who put their HANDS on the back of the seat in front so you have someone else's balled-up FIST between your shoulderblades all the way home NO NO NO

Argh I hate this so much!

x-post about dudes who spread their legs out to much... I hate when I get so fed up that I end up squidging my body out of the way, only for them to spread their legs EVEN FURTHER! Sons of biatches.

You move out of way and they spread further = they are wanting your legs to rub up together

gross
i don't hate v many people but i hate these guys

Once this guy sat next to me and stretched his arm out so that it rested on MY head rest. Like he was fake putting his arm around me! I was literally stunned for one stop, then he start breathing heavily in my ear and I pushed him out of the way and sat on another (double empty) seat. What's wrong with these people?!

Biggest dud ever = people who sit on the outer (aisle) seat of a two-seat pairing, leaving the window seat empty but ensuring by their presence that nobody will try to sit in it. I hate these people. Invariably, when someone DOES try to sit next to them, they always get pissed off, and always just turn their legs to the side so that you have to squeeze past them, rather than just MOVING OVER.

so OTM. bad commuter I stab you

i find saying "excuse me" works 100% of the time.

I started driving, but there's jerks on the road too!

There are a lot of generously figured people on my train line who *could* probably fit into one seat but would be squeezing those next to them

lol, subtext

Oh yeah, I've asked men to give me more leg room before. "Excuse me, sir, could I have a little more room, please?" On a crowded train I don't mind normal contact but blatant "I deserve this space more than you do/you can't stop me without making a scene" infuriates me.

Partly b/c I'm actually really bad at making scenes, for all my frustration. I was brought up to be well behaved, and confronting people in cold blood is not What a Lady Does.

Sanskrit, it's only a little bit subtext! Really the seats aren't THAT big, and an "average" woman, size 12-16 or so, will def be making contact with her neighbors. (I don't know what averages are for men, but they got some wider shoulders, I'll tell you that.)

Actually what confuses/frustrates me is the vibe I get that crowding someone is disrespectful to them, or that the seat outlines are meant as suggestions rather than, say, measured allotments. Because if I can get my hips on that seat, I am sitting there, I don't care where you put your shopping bags and/or the other half of your thighs. I got thighs, too, and I will make them fit.

Not long ago, I was in an aisle seat, and I stood up to let the person by the window get off the bus, and before I could sit back down, one of these shitpuddles sat down in the aisle seat with the window seat empty even though I was standing right there with a bag full of groceries in my arms that had just been in my lap, and I had to confront him about it to let me sit. There were other standing people on the bus as well, I should note.

So.

CUT THEM. CUT THEM DEEP.

Biggest dud ever = people who sit on the outer (aisle) seat of a two-seat pairing, leaving the window seat empty but ensuring by their presence that nobody will try to sit in it. I hate these people. Invariably, when someone DOES try to sit next to them, they always get pissed off, and always just turn their legs to the side so that you have to squeeze past them, rather than just MOVING OVER.

I do this.

fresh air on public transportation

http://www.spaceinvading.com/bookmarklet/Images/1308101281717738manner_poster_3.jpg