Chicago: Riders divided on CTA bench seats

By Jon Hilkevitch, Chicago Tribune reporter
7:16 a.m. CDT, October 22, 2012


The aisle-facing, bucket-style seats on the new CTA rail cars have prompted strong reactions among riders — though evenly split pro and con, an unscientific survey suggests.

More than 2,500 people participated in the online poll conducted this month by the Active Transportation Alliance, a Chicago-area group that promotes safe transportation, bicycle use and other alternatives to automobiles.

Forty-nine percent said they would prefer New York-style benches with no defined separation between passengers instead of the individual "scoop" seats that are on the CTA's new 5000 Series rail cars, the Active Transportation Alliance reported.

Forty-eight percent of respondents said they prefer the scoop, or bucket-style, seats, and 3 percent said they had no preference, the poll found. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-cta-seats-survey-1022-20121022,0,186152.story