The San Francisco Bay Area's BART rapid transit system is being remodeled, which requires new seats. Planners are getting riders to weigh in -- literally -- on seat comfort.
BART's designers infamously made the decision when the train was being built to have 2 sliding doors per car instead of 3, which slowed down loading and unloading considerably. Now BART staffers are working to remedy that, but a move to 3 doors will mean a narrower seat. Planners opened a "mobile seat lab" to solicit opinions on the change:
"Vince Cabrieto twisted his body into different positions, but he just couldn't find the right fit in the test seat for the BART train car of the future.
No matter what he did, he bumped shoulders or sides with the slender woman seated next to him.
"There's not enough elbow room," said Cabrieto, an Antioch man with a medium build. "I can't see sitting in this seat on my regular BART ride to Oakland.""
FULL STORY: BART to bring mobile seat lab to public
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UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research