HarveyK400 Don't be so smug. Amtrak's business model for maximizing revenue per passenger discourages travel and greater ridership that would fill more seats than they can handle with the present equipment and seating. In short Amtrak does a horrible job in moving people which is why they rightfully get only 3 slots at New York Penn Station in the peak hours. This type of seating may be fine for trips (and flights) under 2 hours (just a guess on my part); but most Amtrak trips are longer. If true HSR was built so that many more trips would fall within that ~2 hr threshold, high-density seating would be an alternative deserving consideration. Commuter lines to New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles would do well to consider this seating option where tunnels are expensive and take time, where terminals have been shortened because former traffic levels didn't need all of the long platforms, and where the many routes handled are limited in frequency.
Don't be so smug. Amtrak's business model for maximizing revenue per passenger discourages travel and greater ridership that would fill more seats than they can handle with the present equipment and seating. In short Amtrak does a horrible job in moving people which is why they rightfully get only 3 slots at New York Penn Station in the peak hours.
This type of seating may be fine for trips (and flights) under 2 hours (just a guess on my part); but most Amtrak trips are longer. If true HSR was built so that many more trips would fall within that ~2 hr threshold, high-density seating would be an alternative deserving consideration.
Commuter lines to New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles would do well to consider this seating option where tunnels are expensive and take time, where terminals have been shortened because former traffic levels didn't need all of the long platforms, and where the many routes handled are limited in frequency.
Not to worry...the transit industry long ago figured out the seating density issue for short trips. It's called "standing". In the not-too-distant past, it applied to Amtrak NEC trains on Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons.....
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
This thing may, actually, be more comfortable than you think it is ergonomic and everything -- maybe IKEA will start selling this as furniture.
The one concern I have, however, is that one may need to be able-bodied to sit on this thing. Frail seniors may not be able to handle this thing.
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
TomDiehl bedell: Just shoot me now! I have a better idea, shoot the designer of this seating arrangement before they come up with any more stupid ideas. Or better yet, make THEM ride an aircraft in these seats.
bedell: Just shoot me now!
Just shoot me now!
I have a better idea, shoot the designer of this seating arrangement before they come up with any more stupid ideas.
Or better yet, make THEM ride an aircraft in these seats.
I'm worried they'll stumble on those old slave ship loading diagrams....
bedell Just shoot me now!
Pardon me for being rude, but what is that thing between her legs? Have we finally found the modern "dry hopper toilet?"
"Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood." Daniel Burnham
What about riding backwards?
It seems from discussion on another thread regarding Amtrak equipment plans that Amtrak wants, at least on corridor or intercity trains, half the seats one way, half the seats the other way, and no rotating seats to face forward at the end of each trip.
I prefer to face forwards. I have ridden backwards on the Chicago "El" and in the "way back" of an old-style station wagon, and also sideways on city buses and C&NW Gallery Cars. Backwards may even induce motion sickness in some people. In me in induces the strange sensation that things are still moving when the train stops.
There was some notion of backwards seating in airplanes, supposedly this is safer in a crash, and yes, there are some instances where people are rescued from a crash.
Metro Red Line oltmannd: These would fit in passenger cars, too. Nothing intrinsic in a train that it requires greater seat pitch. But if you wanted to increase passenger capacity on a train, all you need to do is couple a few more cars... The increased roominess of a train is one of its biggest selling points in today's world.
oltmannd: These would fit in passenger cars, too. Nothing intrinsic in a train that it requires greater seat pitch.
These would fit in passenger cars, too.
Nothing intrinsic in a train that it requires greater seat pitch.
But if you wanted to increase passenger capacity on a train, all you need to do is couple a few more cars...
The increased roominess of a train is one of its biggest selling points in today's world.
I did not pay much attention to the item when it was presented on network news this evening, but it seems that a European airline is at least considering installing such torture instruments. They might suitable for a flight from Salt Lake City to Ogden or Provo.
I wonder if there will be wider saddles for wider people.
Johnny
oltmannd These would fit in passenger cars, too. Nothing intrinsic in a train that it requires greater seat pitch.
Just because someone is offering these seats for sale doesn't mean that any airline will buy them or that the FAA will certify them.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
It would be interesting to find out how a seat like that would comply with FAA evacuation requirements. I also don't think that the business travel market would tolerate any airline that attempted to install seats like that.
Another reason to support more Amtrak intercity trains and high-speed rail corridors in the USA. Look what the airlines might be doing to you:
http://www.laobserved.com/biz/2010/09/say_hello_to_your_ne.php
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