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Your New York City Subway Survival Guide

That said, when an end seat opens up silent hell breaks loose.  You can see it in the riders’ eyes; a grand opportunity has presented itself, particularly for a standing rider.  Unfortunately for the standing rider, they are not the most well positioned person to take advantage of the end seat.  Instead, the rider—already sitting comfortably—next to the end seat is the closest and most likely to get to it first by engaging the time honored tradition of seat sliding.

Lean Seats - Any true rider of the great New York City subway system has either directly or indirectly experienced the coveted but dangerous lean seat.  First, a quick definition.  A lean seat is when, for whatever reason, the width of the seats do not even out to the amount of people that should be able to sit down in them.  In other words, one or many people are taking up more seating space than allotted by the MTA.  The result is one or more seats that are narrower—or “leaner”—than the typical subway seat. Another characteristic of many lean seats is that the person who decides to sit in it will most likely have to lean forward if they don’t want their elbows to be pressed together and their shoulders shrugged up to their ears. The reason this phenomenon can be good is that when no one sits in the lean seat you have infinitely more room.  Sometimes this convenient seating arrangement occurs as a result of seat hogs, sometimes because one person or many people in a row can’t help but take up a little more space then allotted and sometimes they are caused by the winter jacket effect.  Whatever the case, lean seats are a common occurrence in underground transit, and while they can produce more space, they can just as drastically reduce space, comfort and neighborly relations. The drastic reduction of space occurs when a person decides to sit in a lean seat.  I personally find no fault with those that choose to push themselves into a lean seat; I’m sure they have their reasons.  I, however, have the ability to and would rather stand than squeeze myself into a less then adequate sliver of seating space.  Lean seats are part of the charm of being a subway rider in New York. Space is limited and we all have to deal with the personal intrusions that come with those limitations.  If close contact with neighbors bothers you, you probably shouldn’t be living in New York and certainly shouldn’t be using underground transit.  If that piece of advice doesn’t solve your agitation when someone occupies the lean-seat next to you then the only other options would be to say something, get up, or just be glad you’re sitting down.