Subway Seating II

Who knew that a Twitter posted photo of an empty subway car with the numbers 1-5 superimposed on a cluster of seats could spawn so many comments from New Yorkers (mostly) from all walks of life, that would include responses from the current mayor, Bill de Blasio, and the former mayor and one of the many Democratic presidential hopefuls, Mayor Mike Bloomberg, as to what their preferred seat would be, of course assuming there is a seat to be had?

The posting proved so popular that the evening news even carried a segment asking their viewers what seat would they most likely occupy.

The Tweet  from @gplatinum_ seems to have been given a boost when the former NYT transportation reporter, Emma Fitzsimmons, (@emmagf) tweeted her response. Emma has now moved on to become the City Hall Bureau Chief for the NYT, despite being Houston proud. She has certainly made it in New York.

Ms. Fitzsimmons chose seat Nos. 1 and 4, much to my own surprise. I waded in with a response to Emma with seat No. 1 and No.5, offering reasons for the thinking. And many, many more people waded in with their opinions, chiefly as replies to @gplatinum.

The "survey" got so big that in today's print NYT Ms. Fitzsimmons carries a story about the response phenomena, under the puzzling headline "The Best Subway Seat? 8 Million New Yorkers and 5 Choices, All Wrong." The outquote is even more puzzling, "A viral Tweet spurs a debate that would put 'Which Ray's' to shame." Who discusses Ray's pizza these days? Ray's Pizza is not even mentioned in Ms. Fitzsimmon's story. I'm not sure there are even any Ray's pizzas left. No matter. Ray's is another story.

There can be no right answer, and the choices represent preference, so how can they be wrong? Cogent logic is offered.  I wrote the prior posting about the subway seating question, and since then I trolled @gplatinum_'s Twitter feed for the responses that poured in. And did they ever pour in.

Ms. Fitzsimmons recounts some of the responses, but since I read as many of the replies to @gplatinum _as I could before my fingers cramped up, along with bringing up the profiles of the account holders (Twitter lets you do this), I was surprised at how many lawyers responded, how many offered good reasons for choosing seat No. 4 (sleep, as I mentioned) and long inter-borough rides.

Someone posted a scene from the living room in the 'Frazier' sitcom; another from inside the Star Trek spacecraft.

The 'Frazier' living room shouldn't really count since there are only four seats, and 'Star Trek' shouldn't count since there are six seats. But it's the spirit that counts.

Ms. Fitzsimmons missed the gif that someone posted (@gothamist) from the 'Seinfeld' episode that shows the mad scramble for seating that occurs when the doors open on an empty car, that leaves Kramer on the floor. A good one.

Often, the only reply to @gplatinum_'s tweet was the seat preference. Other replies were more prosaic and offered logic for each choice.

No one mentioned any desire to occupy seat No. 2, other than the photo of Mayor de Blasio who seems to be simultaneously occupying Seats 1, 2, from a link in the online version of Ms. Fitzsimmon's story. The mayor is Big Bird at 6'6" and is obviously not being transported in a black Chevy Suburban to his Brooklyn gym. He's where some New Yorkers think he should always be: riding mass transit.

A few replies offered humor.. Someone said it was obviously a trick question because the empty car meant there was an unseen smelly homeless person at the other end, or the air-conditioning wasn't working. One offered their nightmare of forever never sitting in No. 4 because it once had poop on it. Another said any seat that's not wet.

Mayor Mike, who is slight, short and who could easily fit in any seat  that has been measured out to be occupied by naked, anorexic Asian women, proclaims he always stands, although Emma chastises him for blocking the door. Somewhat unfairly, I say.

Even in his Paul Stuart suit—and I know he shops at Paul Stuart because I was in the store once when his police detail preceded him from the black Suburban double parked out front—Mike would fit in any seat and not "manspread" anyone.

The very savvy subway rider knows which sides the doors will open on. On an express train leaning against the door that does not open at express stops is almost as good as having a seat. When I rode the No. 7 for decades I usually couldn't get a seat at Main Street, but always opted for the door that opened at Willets Point, where basically no one ever got on or off. The doors on that side never opened again until Grand Central, where I wanted to get off. I thus had a door all to myself, blocked no one, and was amongst the first to get off at Grand Central.

Ms. Fitzsimmons through her chops as a reporter, has identified @gplatinum_ as Gabriel Bautista as a 20-year-old college student from the Bronx who photographed the empty car on New Year's Eve from the Bronx terminal stop on his D train.

He admits he never, ever expected the question to take off like it has. "I didn't expect it to blow up the way it did. Everyone has their own opinion."

Links from Emma's online story connect you to other cities where the seating question has been posed. Toronto and Philadelphia have begun their own informal surveys. (Note Toronto's padded seats.)

Philadelphia presents perhaps not subway seats, but rather waiting area subway seats, designer,
funhouse amusement park style.

It would be interesting if Russia would weigh in, because Ms. Fitzsimmons fairly recently toured Moscow's subway system

Obviously, trough the power of Social Media, a new parlor game has developed: numbering the seats. It will be interesting to see if it spills over to the Senate impeachment trial whenever that gets started. Which one is the hot seat?

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