Someone posted (@gplatinum_) the above photo and asked which is the best seat(s) to have? A former transportation reporter for the New York Times, Emma Fitzsimmons, (@emmagf) responded that #1 and #4 were the best seats since you couldn't get elbowed on both sides. Ms. Fitzsimmons is now the City Hall Bureau Chief for the NYT, which shows you she has completely acclimated to living in NYC from her native Houston.
There are no wrong answers, just preferences, really. Actually, following that logic, #5 seating also only allows one-sided elbowing. as does #3. The only real double-sided elbow seat is #2, which as anyone can see is the proverbial monkey-in-the-middle seat, always the least desirable of all subway seating.
These are the bucket seats introduced with a subway car design that found its way onto the IND line decades ago. If you don't know what the IND is, look it up.
This seating arrangement had been used before. I remember it on the BMT line, when the seats were not scooped out, but were covered in rattan. For whatever reason the scooping was done, I don't know. I only know they made the scooped size only accommodating to naked, anorexic Asian women. No regular sized New Yorker wearing even a just a t-shirt and slacks can mange to fit into one of those scoops without spilling over to their neighbor's scoop. Add a North Face puff jacket and all pre-conceived dimension needs fly out the window.
And then there's that "manspreading" phenomena, where no male of any ethnicity, in any season, seems capable of being seated without expanding their legs like goal posts ready to receive a kick. And a kick is what women want to give them, right up the alley for being so inconsiderate.
And it can be rude, but somewhat understandable. Men have a bit more of "package" between their legs than women. But no matter. That's just anatomy.
To me it's odd that Ms. Fitzsimmons listed #4. Unless you're getting off at the last stop, or plan on sleeping for most of the trip, this is really the least desirable seat. You're boxed in. You need to get past two people to get off, or get control of the seat. There's zero chance you're not going to bump into someone's anatomy doing this. And the last thing you should like to do on a subway is bump into someone's anatomy.
No. 1 is good, and No 5 is good, the only two good choices. No. 3 is flawed because you are most likely to get kneed by three people. Not a good prospect.
In all fairness to Ms. Fitzsimmons, she's a woman and has no life-long experience picking out the right urinal to head for in a men's room. Choice is everything, and it used to count for a lot before they put those dividers up between the urinals years and years ago.
Woman have been diving into their personal stalls for years—with a door no less—while guys have been left with their dingus on possible view for years. Anyone who knows anything about New York, knows that no straight guy wanted to take a leak in the Port Authority men's room before those dividers, and even then, it's still to be avoided unless you really have to go.
Straight bench subway seating puts everyone in the middle unless you occupy the ends, the catbird seats. At least with straight bench seating, variability due to "manspreading" and clothing is better accommodated. Having been a near lifetime rider of the No. 7 train, the bench seating should have always been able to accommodate 40 people—eight in the four doubles, and 4 x 8 in the facing benches.
At least that was true until they added the air conditioning support poles, which I'm not sure, perhaps are gone from newer cars. This pole, in the middle of the longest benches, supported the retro-fitted air-conditioning, a welcome addition.
However, the pole introduced a dividing line that usually meant someone sat of either side of the pole, unless they were athletic and decided that could put a pole between their legs. Not many go this route. So the eight-seat bench became a seven-seat bench. Four seats are generally lost.
So, what is perfect subway seating? Walking, if you can.
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