The seathog crisis

Let's start the week out with the really heavy stuff. The WashPost runs today (finally) with something that's been on my mind ever since I moved to this city, and in fact going back to my New York days as well, which is the problem of passengers who take up two seat on a crowded subway or Metro car.

Few things piss me off more. You have 20 or 30 people standing in a car, and there's someone who has sprawled his gangly body across two seats, or has defiantly placed her purse on the seat next to her. On the Washington Metro, where unlike on your Tube seats are typically two abreast, you also often have this situation where a person takes an outside seat, being sure to spread her or himself just a bit across the second seat, daring anyone else to try to sit there.

The Post's macro assessment of the growing problem is thus:

As Washington's public transit network grows more congested, with Metro projecting "unmanageable" levels of saturation on its rail system by 2020, the phenomenon of people taking up more than their share of space is becoming increasingly touchy...

...Metro is researching design options for its new generation of rail cars, the 7000 series, and plans to gather rider feedback to maximize seating and comfort, said David Kubicek, head of Metro operations.

That doesn't necessarily mean relief for the Metro passengers of tomorrow. By 2020, Metro projects that the Red, Blue and Yellow lines will be "highly congested," with 100 to 120 people per car, and that the Orange Line will be "unmanageable," with more than 120 riders per car.

In New York, for a decade or so, they've been fining people $50 for taking up two seats. I'm good with that, although I think a smart public relations campaign could probably take care of much of the problem, maybe in part featuring some of these photographs, from

Don't these people understand that they're violating Mill's harm principle and Rousseau's social compact in one fell swoop, one grandly grotesque anti-civic gesture? Well, they probably don't. But I do. And I let them know it, indirectly. I stand at the edge of their seat and stare and say "excuse me" really rudely, and they begrudgingly move their stuff. But the key moment comes next. Do not say thank you. You don't thank people when they stop doing something offensive.

The problem is far worse on Amtrak trains. In the old days, maybe 15 years ago, Amtrak (to my eye) didn't have as many passengers, and you could usually count on having two seats to yourself. And don't get me wrong, it's nice.

But it's virtually impossible these days, unless you're traveling at really off hours. And so the announcers are in the habit of saying, repeatedly, as a train is boarding in New York or Washington, we expect a full train today so please remove your bags from the seat next to you. And still people keep their bags next to them.

Do you have this problem in London? This country is going to hell.