Train crowding debated

Sometimes the difference between perception and reality depends on who's doing the talking.

Joe Grossman's been riding the train to work for 11 years. The Montebello database manager says trains on the Main Bergen line feel more crowded since Metro-North and NJ Transit put brand new cars on the run between Suffern and Hoboken.

The railroads' officials say they've actually added seats to the service and they constantly monitor their trains to make sure customers have a good riding experience.

They also say yesterday's ride on the 7:05 a.m. out of Suffern was an anomaly.

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http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/ ... there.html

MNCR and others still do not realize that the 3 seaters never have 3 occupants unless its a mother with children or one of the 3 is a very hot looking girl
You can sample any rush hour train and find all middle seats unoccupied so why keep ordering them ????

Aren't NJT's new bilevels being delivered with 2x2 seating downstairs? I assume any new MetroNorth west of Hudson order will use the same protocol.

Middle seats are terrible. Nobody likes them, and few people sit in them.

Though I'll admit I don't like sitting in the middle, I often see cars packed to the gills on the NH line MUs. The last seats to go are the middle seats in the five-seat areas. The middle seats in the other rows go fairly quickly.

Of course, there are usually plenty of seats open in other cars, but you can't force people to go looking for them.

Sounds like the Comet seats aren't as wide, or those Jersey folks need to suck it up a bit. I just look for a female on either side (smaller frame than a male), and I go for it. Not the best, but better than standing.

NH Chris

When I would take the train from Greystone all the seats would be filled. I'd mostly stand the whole way into GCT as it was an express in. But when I'd ride in from Poughkeepsie, the middle seat was almost never used, so in essance, you have a 2x2 arrangment (why put in 2x2 on a single level then?). Atleast they got rid of the low backed aisle seat on the 3 seater. I've been on the bi-levels on LIRR and NCTD and I like the 2x2 arrangment.

DutchRailnut wrote:MNCR and others still do not realize that the 3 seaters never have 3 occupants unless its a mother with children or one of the 3 is a very hot looking girl
You can sample any rush hour train and find all middle seats unoccupied so why keep ordering them ????

Just what I wonder. I am 6'5" and always hit the two seaters in trains, if I can – I have a hard time just fitting into those as it is so I steer clear of 3-seaters unless its the aisle seat.

A three seater is meant for three people. Whenever i am sitting on a packed train with someone else and see someone desperate for a seat, we let that third person sit. I don't know what goes on some people's minds, but you share the seat. Don't blame the crew because right there, you know you are at fault when you don't share the middle seat. I myself raither not sit in the middle but that can be life. It can be like riding a greyhound bus.

njt/mnrrbuff wrote:A three seater is meant for three people. Whenever i am sitting on a packed train with someone else and see someone desperate for a seat, we let that third person sit. I don't know what goes on some people's minds, but you share the seat. Don't blame the crew because right there, you know you are at fault when you don't share the middle seat. I myself raither not sit in the middle but that can be life. It can be like riding a greyhound bus.

It's like the middle seat on a plane. No one wants the middle seat, but if you have to, you sit there. But I guess the difference is, on the train, you don't have to sit. I never minded not sitting grom Greystone as it wasn't more than 30 minutes, and I'd usually be in the first car so I could look out the railfan window (even if I wasn't right up at it).

On my last visit to the NYC area, we stayed in New Jersey and rode several weekend trains on the Northeast Corridor line that were packed to the gills. On the return trip in the evening, almost all of the middle seats were occupied. To me, it's no different than riding a crowded bus or subway train - if I'm tired enough and a seat is available, I'll take it.

JD

All I know is I take the 5:27pm (Harlem Line) train home it is a 10
car train. When it is running 8 its a meat grinder. There is no way
they will make it 12 car M7 train so I dread the day it goes to m7's