What if buses had bench-style seating?

score:5

Accepted answer

For very short trips, open layouts are ideal, with very few seats and a lot of standing space. Think airport buses. airport bus interior

For longer trips, benches become preferred. This is what subways target since most of rides on one line are sub-30 minutes.

For long trips, around an hour, rows of chairs become preferred. This is what in the buses that you refer to.

For longest trips yet, but still within the realm of public transit and not coach, rows of benches come into play, such as in ex-USSR electrichka trains. elektrichka interior

So it's the matter of targeting usage patterns. You can also see a range of varieties. Some buses have low floor section with bench-oriented chairs, space for permambulator or wheelchair. enter image description here

Upvote:4

Just thinking aloud...

Right now, with forward-facing seating, in the event of a sudden stop or accident, passengers will tend to be stopped by the seat in front of them, and are reasonably well contained should the bus flip over laterally. In long bench-style seating along the length of the bus, I think passengers are far more likely to be propelled along the length of the bus, which would dramatically exacerbate any injuries.

Also, bench seating reduces seating capacity at the expense of standing capacity. Standing passengers are far more in danger of injury than are seated passengers.

Subways/metros of course use these styles of seating but collisions are far rarer due to the controlled traffic of the train lines, and the trains can run in either of two directions, so facing passengers forward is more challenging - you never know which direction "forward" is until the train runs.

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