MTA chairman announced a pilot program to remove seats on select cars across two different lines as a solution to overcrowding in on those subway lines. Here’s everything you need to know.
Just when you thought you couldn’t hate the subway more, you read a title like that. Granted, finding a seat during rush hour can be like stumbling over unicorn droppings, but is removing the seats in the subway really a solution? It is for MTA chairman Joe Lhota.
The MTA chairman held a press conference on Tuesday to announce emergency plans for fixing the New York City subway system. Among the 33-point plan in the conference was a pilot program to remove seats on select cars across two different subway lines.
Which lines you ask (with your fingers firmly crossed)? The program aims to remove seats from train cars operating on the L train (yeah the one that is about to shut down for fifteen months) and the Manhattan Shuttle.
Chairman Lhota states that the removal of the seats will help increase capacity and reduce overcrowding. You know, because a seated person obviously takes up much more space than a person who is standing… really?
The cars with no seats will be painted a separate color and have other indicators to let straphangers know that there are no seating options.
There still isn’t a timeline in place for when the seats will be removed, but the Chairman did say plans will be laid out by this time next year. Given that the L train shutdown is scheduled to begin in April 2019, you may see them take the seats just before they take the whole train.
Featured image source [Wikimedia Commons]