Observed Customer Seating and Standing Behavior and Seat Preferences on Board Subway Cars in New York City

An observational sampling methodology was used to explore seat occupancy patterns in New York City subway cars. The study was performed under uncrowded conditions on the basis of special attributes of what otherwise were highly homogeneous plastic bench seats. Onboard seating patterns, measured as relative seat occupancy probabilities, were explained in terms of interactions between railcar design, layout, customer preferences, and resulting behavior. Earlier research focused in general on passenger distribution between cars within long trains or on the desirability of attributes common to all seats, rather than on passenger seating patterns within a single car. Results of the study reported here had their basis in seating- and standing-room occupancy statistics and showed that customers had a clear preference for seats adjacent to doors, no real preference for seats adjacent to support stanchions, and disdain for bench spots between two other seats. On cars that featured transverse seating, customers pre...