Sandra Deden said the fiberglass seats on the new Blue Line cars are slippery and uncomfortable. "I don't want to have to pay attention to my posture," she said.
(Bill Greene/Globe Staff)
Slip sliding away on the Blue Line
Sandra Deden said the fiberglass seats on the new Blue Line cars are slippery and uncomfortable. "I don't want to have to pay attention to my posture," she said.
(Bill Greene/Globe Staff)
Sandra Deden has contorted her body in every conceivable position while riding to work on the MBTA's new Blue Line cars: back straight, back arched, feet flat, legs crossed, and several combinations in between.
"Today, I was sitting straight, and I just rested the top of my back on the seat," she said. "I was literally doing a yoga sit."
Deden, a 42-year-old commuter from Revere, said she is making these extraordinary efforts not only to guard against back pain, but to avoid slipping into her neighbors' laps when the subway car comes to an abrupt stop.
The reason behind her poses: the dark blue seats on the line's new $1.8 million subway cars.
Unlike the soft vinyl seats on older model subway cars, these are rigid, made of fiberglass, with a contour that makes little effort to conform to the spine.
As a result, many passengers have found themselves alternately fidgeting and slipping since the T began introducing the cars in February. Twelve are now in service and all 94 are scheduled to be online by the end of next year.
This is not to say that the new trains are without advocates. Some passengers said they look forward to catching one of the new cars, with their new-subway-car smell, the modern digital display, and not-yet-sticky floors. Some even like the seats.
"I love it," said Marie DeLorenzo, 84, of East Boston. "I find them wider."
The new seats are, in fact, wider than the older ones by 2 inches, allowing more distance between riders. But there are fewer seats per car, 35 compared with 42 on the old models.
It is also easier to spot if someone has spilled coffee on the new seats because, unlike in the old models, the material is impervious and does not soak up the evidence. And it is harder to vandalize the seats because there is no fabric to cut.
But one train operator, who declined to give his name because the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority does not allow its employees to talk with reporters, conceded that many passengers are, in fact, slipping.
"Some people do have that problem," he said with a laugh before zipping to the turnaround at the Wonderland stop.
A ride on the new Blue Line cars this week revealed what appeared to be a higher percentage of seated passengers clutching the metal poles than on other lines.
"I hadn't slid out on the floor, but I do find myself sliding," said Mark Melcher, a 41-year-old construction worker from Lynn. "Some older people, they can't handle the abrupt stop."
Melcher suspects the brakes are also at fault. "They're very abrupt," he said. "I've seen a couple of people fall."
Robert Harding, a 19-year-old who just graduated from high school, said he loves the look of the new trains, but can't stand the seats. The cushion on the old soft vinyl seats cups the passenger's backside, he said, while these have no traction.
"When I do start slipping, I just hold onto the rails," Harding said.
Katherine DiFillippo, 20, took an old train in the morning, on her way to see her parents in Marblehead. The seat was so soft it cradled her to sleep. No such luck on the trip back toward Mission Hill, aboard a new-model car.
"They remind me of the bus," she said. "If the seats were different, I wouldn't have a problem with it. It seems like the air quality's a lot better, the lighting."
Sitting across from her, Ron Wilburn begged to differ. The 65-year-old Revere retiree has seen too many young people try to vandalize the old seats.
"The kids, they do a job on these seats," he said. "I have to tell 'em: 'Don't write on these seats, don't carve on these seats.' Because it comes back to the taxpayer."
The MBTA has received seven complaints about the seats since the first Blue Line cars were introduced in February, said Joe Pesaturo, spokesman for the MBTA. Some riders also complained about jarring stops.
Pesaturo said that MBTA workers may modify the seats, if they can figure out a quick and cheap fix to give the surfaces better traction. "They're looking into whether there is some type of nonskid material that our own vehicle staff here at the car house could apply quickly," he said.
But new seats altogether? It's not an option, Pesaturo said. There are no plans to ask the manufacturer,
"We firmly believe that the small number of complaints that have come in are the result of the seats being different - not uncomfortable or not suitable - and that customers will get used to them," he said.
Deden, however, said the seats need more than new material; they need a new design, with a better curve.
"I just want to sit," she said. "I don't want to have to pay attention to my posture."
But said Wilburn, a fellow Blue Line rider: "If that's your only complaint, don't worry. You're not riding in your living room."
Noah Bierman can be reached at nbierman@globe.com.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
