Commuter seat choices - interesting observation

[DynamicSpirit]

Bags placed on seats (very often to dissuade others from sitting adjacent);

Aisle seat sitters when the window seat is empty (prevalent on buses as well as trains), meaning others have to ask, and get the sitter to move, before they can take a seat. Often with bags placed on the window seat too, for the same reason as above.

I wouldn't necessarily assume the bags on seats are to dissuade others from sitting there. If there is space, I often put my bag on the seat next to mine because that way I can get to it easily. And if doing that on a commuter train where people are frequently getting on/off, I may sit in the aisle and put my bag on the window seat for security: Much harder for anyone to steal the bag if I'm sitting between it and everyone else! Of course, if the train starts to get full so it looks like someone may need the seat, then I'm very proactive at getting ready to move the bag to make way for them. If someone doesn't do that, then you might be more justified in assuming they are primarily trying to claim both seats.

(EDIT: Should clarify that I use the Elizabeth line a lot. The transverse seats on those trains are set facing each other (but without a table) - not airline style, which means it's much more normal and a bit less of a faff for someone to take a free window seat next to an occupied aisle seat).

 

[Falcon1200]

If you want to sit in the window simply ask them to let you in.

Which causes extra hassle for the would-be window seat sitter, an unknown reaction from the aisle sitter, and delay while the aisle sitter, with varying degrees of willingness, stands to let the other person sit; Especially fun when others are trying to pass down the coach.

 

[The exile]

A pet hate of mine: people who sit in the aisle seat leaving a window seat free, then gets reluctant to move when someone needs that seat. I'm very much a "just sit by the window" type if both seats are free.

The reason I’ll sit in the aisle seat leaving the window seat free is because I’m not going far and in the past have got “trapped” by someone falling asleep in the aisle seat. It’s amazing how many people take ages to twig why I ask them where they’re travelling to…

Aisle seat at a table. What’s this about vetting the others sat at a table?

Written just after I’d endured a journey on which I’d been “joined” by a couple of Parisian winos.

 

[NeilCr]

Aisle seat for me - especially for longer journeys. Most trips I do these days are shorter with plenty of spare seats so not an issue

Bad back, stiff legs and a weak bladder. If I'm in an inside seat, as well, it can take ages getting out. Some people are reluctant to move and/or take time moving things around before they stand up to let me out

Then I have to unravel myself etc etc

 

[Meerkat]

I occasionally travel on Chiltern's Class 165 units and often see people sitting in the airline seats which don't have a window (in the old first class area where there used to be a luggage rack), even where the bays of four which are perfectly aligned with the windows are empty.

I get travel sick if I read whilst being able to see the outside going by, so if I had to read (and it’s daylight) then a non-window seat would be the choice.

What puzzles me is everyone who likes to stand despite there being many free seats available. I find it rather annoying having to move past them to board and leave the train.

For someone my height there isn’t a lot of space if I have to sit next to someone so might prefer to stand up. Also if I’m really hot when I get on the train I won’t want to sit down.
Also if it looks like there will be standing passengers then going halfway down the coach to find a seat creates anxiety about getting to the doors at the destination.

Absolutely, that's fine. But a proportion of people are doing that because they don't want someone next to them, not just because they prefer they aisle sear

Tumblehome and sloped heating ducts make many window seats near unusable if someone sits next to me, and you can’t spread into the aisle. One class has heating ducts you could put your foot on but now they have put the power point in just the wrong place……

Why do men preferentially choose to sit next to women on a semi-busy train, or even when there are plenty of empty seats?

Because women are generally smaller so much less likely to spread over the adjoining seat?

 

[kevjs]

What puzzles me is everyone who likes to stand despite there being many free seats available. I find it rather annoying having to move past them to board and leave the train.

After being sat down all day standing can be significantly more comfortable - especially as it can be physically painful sitting in the airline seating with insufficient leg room - I.e. Unable to have your legs straight/positioned without touching the seat in front.

Heck, the most comfortable journey I ever had on EMTs HSTs involved standing all the way from London to Leicester on a crush loaded train (after the previous 3 services had been cancelled).

 

[Falcon1200]

Some people are reluctant to move and/or take time moving things around before they stand up to let me out

Which issues of course apply equally when someone is trying to access the window seat past an aisle-seat sitter!

 

[NeilCr]

Which issues of course apply equally when someone is trying to access the window seat past an aisle-seat sitter!

Indeed - but maybe not such a pressing need when you’ve just got on the train - as opposed to wanting to get off at the next stop!

 

[Sad Sprinter]

I have noticed, at least in London since the pandemic, people on the underground will not sit next to someone so every other seat is empty. On national rail, people consider a carriage “full” sometimes if just one person occupies an entire seating bay

 

[styles]

I always choose a table seat when available.

I'm often travelling with my laptop, even on hiking trips, as I'm often working on the journey (a big advantage of taking the train over driving). If not working on way to a hiking trip, I'm travelling for leisure and have a laptop with me anyway for personal stuff and watching TV etc.

I'm not particularly bothered about people sitting next to me.

I am yet to be on a table where all 4 seats are occupied by people using laptops. I've had 2, maybe 3, at once, and the only annoying thing is there's no space to use a mouse and have to use the trackpad on the laptop. On some older rolling stock, plug sockets may be limited to two per table, but this is becoming less common, and in any case you can just take it in turns.

Even without a laptop though, the table seats are just more spacious, or at least they feel it.

Of course, I pretty much always book tables in advance where the option is there, even on flexible tickets. So I'm almost never the person rocking up to a 3/4 full table and then unfolding my laptop. I'm normally the first person to sit down.

 

[Phil R]

I always choose a table seat when available.

I'm often travelling with my laptop, even on hiking trips, as I'm often working on the journey (a big advantage of taking the train over driving). If not working on way to a hiking trip, I'm travelling for leisure and have a laptop with me anyway for personal stuff and watching TV etc.

I'm not particularly bothered about people sitting next to me.

I am yet to be on a table where all 4 seats are occupied by people using laptops. I've had 2, maybe 3, at once, and the only annoying thing is there's no space to use a mouse and have to use the trackpad on the laptop. On some older rolling stock, plug sockets may be limited to two per table, but this is becoming less common, and in any case you can just take it in turns.

Even without a laptop though, the table seats are just more spacious, or at least they feel it.

Of course, I pretty much always book tables in advance where the option is there, even on flexible tickets. So I'm almost never the person rocking up to a 3/4 full table and then unfolding my laptop. I'm normally the first person to sit down.

Au contraire, I don't find it uncommon, in fact have done so at least once in the past week. Where horizontal space is lacking I usually use book on thigh or thigh itself (mine, I might add, there may be complaints otherwise) to act as a mousemat. I cannot be doing with trackpads, they are the Devil's work.

 

[yorkie]

I have noticed, at least in London since the pandemic, people on the underground will not sit next to someone so every other seat is empty. On national rail, people consider a carriage “full” sometimes if just one person occupies an entire seating bay

This is not my experience at all.

 

[stuu]

I have noticed, at least in London since the pandemic, people on the underground will not sit next to someone so every other seat is empty. On national rail, people consider a carriage “full” sometimes if just one person occupies an entire seating bay

No, never seen this at all

 

[Statto]

I prefer airline style seats rather than table seats, (also forward facing seats to as i can get motion sickness sitting in rear facing seats) as leg room is an issue for me, as to the carriage i go in, that depends if i know the station & where the exit is, like Liverpool Lime Street, i'm always in the front carriage (as long as its not AWC service) as i can make a 3 minute connection from main line to Merseyrail.

AWC i'm in the unreserved carriage as i tend to have an off peak return, but don't reserve a seat.

 

[Sad Sprinter]

No, never seen this at all

Funny, I see it everyday. Obviously on the underground when it eventually fills all the seats are taken, but until that point people then to leave a set in between each passenger free.

 

[styles]

Funny, I see it everyday. Obviously on the underground when it eventually fills all the seats are taken, but until that point people then to leave a set in between each passenger free.

Isn't this just normal behaviour on public transport?

If you can sit down without sitting right next to somebody, you do. If the only option to sit down is next to somebody, you do that instead. If there's barely any seats or you know you won't want to bother scrambling past half a carriage to get off in a few stops time, you probably just stand.

Not sure that's really changed since the pandemic, on buses or trains.

 

[Magdalia]

I have noticed, at least in London since the pandemic, people on the underground will not sit next to someone so every other seat is empty.

Obviously on the underground when it eventually fills all the seats are taken, but until that point people then to leave a set in between each passenger free.

This is not new and is nothing to do with the pandemic, it is a basic trait of human behaviour. Given the opportunity, people like personal space and for strangers not to get too close. One of the things that makes commuting stressful is the need to suspend that wish and allow strangers to get closer than most people are comfortable with.

The best example for watching this behaviour is lifts: the first 4 people in nearly always occupy the corners, unless they are together. Once, a long time ago, two members of my team started dating. I first knew that when they started to stand close together in the lift.

 

[Adam Williams]

Given the opportunity, people like personal space and for strangers not to get too close

Particularly in London, where people are afraid of talking to talk to each other

 

[Magdalia]

Particularly in London, where people are afraid of talking to talk to each other

One of my favourite books is Watching the English: the hidden rules of English behaviour by the anthropologist Kate Fox. This is what Kate Fox says about the English on public transport:

Our main coping mechanism on public transport is what psychologists call denial: we try to avoid acknowledging that we are amongst a scary crowd of strangers, and to maintain as much privacy as possible, by pretending that they do not exist - much of the time, pretending that we do not exist either. The denial rule requires us to avoid talking to strangers, or even making eye contact with them or indeed acknowledge their presence in any way, unless absolutely necessary. At the same time the rule imposes an obligation to avoid drawing attention to oneself and to mind one's own business.

 

[Sad Sprinter]

This is not new and is nothing to do with the pandemic, it is a basic trait of human behaviour. Given the opportunity, people like personal space and for strangers not to get too close. One of the things that makes commuting stressful is the need to suspend that wish and allow strangers to get closer than most people are comfortable with.

The best example for watching this behaviour is lifts: the first 4 people in nearly always occupy the corners, unless they are together. Once, a long time ago, two members of my team started dating. I first knew that when they started to stand close together in the lift.

Possibly, I only really noticed this (and started doing it myself) after the pandemic. Certainly on national rail trains people try and avoid sitting in a seating bay with another person and will often move into the next carriage

 

[Jan Mayen]

My choice is table for four, to myself. Window seat, facing direction if travel, opposite side to the sun if possible/relevant. Bag on seat next to me so I can get things in or out easily. Also because I put a coat in the overhead on Monday, and forgot it
Before anyone complains about the bag on seat bit, I should point out that I generally wait and let other people take seats first when I board, and at intermediate stops check how many are boarding. You are unlikely to ever ask me to move the bag off the seat, as I'd have done it before you get to MY table

 

[Bletchleyite]

Particularly in London, where people are afraid of talking to talk to each other

A symptom of how crowded London is is that people like to take what opportunities they can to maintain a level of personal space, which to be honest is fair enough. You see it in other large cities across the world. I too have observed (and practice) what is suggested when in London. The North is different - attitudes are different there and people are happy to sit closer to one another and even chat.

Add to that that everyone seems to have a cold at the moment, and I always seem to catch them when one sits next to me!

 

[43066]

Funny, I see it everyday. Obviously on the underground when it eventually fills all the seats are taken, but until that point people then to leave a set in between each passenger free.

As a regular Tube user, sitting patterns have long been indistinguishable from how they were pre Covid, in my experience. If people are of a larger/taller build they may make space if the train empties out, but that was also the case pre pandemic.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Isn't this just normal behaviour on public transport?

If you can sit down without sitting right next to somebody, you do. If the only option to sit down is next to somebody, you do that instead. If there's barely any seats or you know you won't want to bother scrambling past half a carriage to get off in a few stops time, you probably just stand.

Not sure that's really changed since the pandemic, on buses or trains.

Agree; it was definitely like that for many years pre-virus.

 

[stuu]

Funny, I see it everyday. Obviously on the underground when it eventually fills all the seats are taken, but until that point people then to leave a set in between each passenger free.

Sorry I should have edited your quote - I only meant the bit about bays. You are correct about the Underground

 

[DJ_K666]

I usually prefer a table seat, since I get cramp otherwise. Plus they're usually much better matched to the windows.

I absolutely hate airline style seating, although it does give opportunity to play a prank or two...

 

[Yorkshire09876]

I'm tall and would nearly always go for an empty pair of airline seats (preferably with a window). I would only ever go for a table seat if the train was very quiet and I could be pretty sure that it would remain so (e.g. late in the evening on a weekday). And then I'd only do that if all 4 seats were empty.

 

[Ian79]

Over the years, I've done two regular commutes, both about 25 minutes, and the different rolling stock very much dictated where I sat.

The first was mostly on South Central Class 455s, when they still had the low 3+2 seats. When I got on, the train usually had about half the seats occupied, but by the time it left Balham a few stops later it was crush loaded. Like most London commuter routes, pretty much everyone got out at the final station. First preference seat on that was a window seat on the 2 side of the seats, with second preference being the middle seat on the 3 side if the two other people looked relatively slim. I never sat in an aisle seat as those seats meant you had someone else pretty much right up against your head once the train was crush loaded.

More recently was on the Transpennine Class 185s, which also were often crush loaded not long after I got on, and most people didn't get off at the same station I did. If the train looked reasonably empty when I got on, I thought an "airline" aisle seat was generally the best option. The seat design on those (and wider aisle due to it only being 2+2 seating) meant that I didn't have the same problem with other people against my head as on the 455s. Sitting by the window, particularly on tables was always fairly high risk of not being able to get out on time.
If the train looked busy though, I always headed to what a few colleagues called "Third Class" - the section of train between the 1st class and the cab which only had flip up seats and the disabled toiled in. It was surprising how often there was still space to sit down in there, presumably because people didn't realise it was there. In that section, I did avoid the flip up seat down the side of the toilet though. It often didn't smell particularly nice, and whoever sits there seems to end up being a sort of toilet monitor, telling people whether or not there was someone in the toilet as many passengers seemed unable to use the door lock controls correctly!

 

[DJ_K666]

I was coming back to Rugby from an exhibition at the NEC once. Sat by the 'small' toilet in a Desiro and the number of people going in there and then coming straight back out. There's that exchange of looks when you both know they've just seen something....unpleasant... in there, isn't there

 

[Mikey C]

Something that surprisingly doesn't seem to have been mentioned in this thread, are my favourite seats in standard the priority, extra legroom ones.

Not so much on IETs, where the regular airline seat legroom is decent anyway, but on other stock being fairly tall, I always go for these, the priority airline seats, as long as they have a good view out, as the extra legroom makes a big difference, and I rarely have to give them up. Indeed sometimes the ticket reservation computer has given me these seats anyway, so it's not as if they are held back.

I don't usually go for table seats if on my own, as they are more likely to fill up, and it feels a bit "selfish" to be sitting at one if a family of 4 comes along.