train seat
23.05.04
Posted by Jun
[ Misc. ]
train seat
出掛ける時は電車を利用しますが、東京の電車はキライです。ロンドンの地下鉄はビックリするほど散らかっていたり、汚かったりする事がありますが(私の母、服が汚れそうと言って座りませんでした!)東京には無いステキなモノがあります。それは、各々の席についているヒジ掛け。これで自分のスペースは確保!
I take trains when I go out, but I don't like trains in Tokyo. The Underground in London can be very messy/dirty (my mum refused to sit down because her clothes might get dirty!), but there is something very nice about it which we don't have in Tokyo. It's the armrest on each seat. Nobody can disturb my space!


more:
久しぶりにスーツ姿の人でいっぱいの電車に乗りました。席が空いていたので座ったものの、隣りの席にドサッと座って来たビジネスマンの体温が高くてイヤでした。走ってきたのか、汗ダク。隣りに座った人が腕を開いて本などを読んでいる場合や、眠りこけている場合、もしくは横に幅が広い人の場合、肩や腕がギューッと重く密着してきますが、イヤですね〜。その点、ロンドンのシステムは良いなぁと。でも今回の旅で肘掛けのない新型車両にも一度乗りました。肘掛け、無くなってしまうのかな?だとしたらガッカリ。

7人座りのシートに5,6人しか座ってない事ってよくありますよね。ちゃんと7人で座っているんだけど、よく見ると右端の4人がギューギューなのに左端3人はゆ〜るゆるで座っていたりする事も。人事ですが、かなり気になります。「そこのあなた、もっと左に詰めて!」と言いたくなります。定員着席のために、各鉄道会社は車両に様々な工夫をしているようです。

色分け:椅子の色の一部分(7人掛けシートの真ん中だけなど)を替えて、心理的な誘導効果を狙ったもの。
バケットシート:座席に定員分の凹みを設け、ずれて座ると座り心地が悪いようにすることで正しい位置への着席を誘導するもの。
仕切り:座席の中間に1-2ヶ所の仕切りを設け、強制的に着席位置を制限するもの。仕切りには板状のものと、手すりを兼ねた棒状のものがある。

けれど、仕切りもどうなんでしょうね。7人掛けのシートを3人と4人に仕切っていても2人と3人で座ってしまうという最悪なパターンも。やっぱり一人一人に肘掛けを!(そうなった場合、ひじ掛けの争奪戦は必至)

The other day, I was on a train which was full of business people. A businessman sat down next to me and his temparature was so high (I guess he had been running). I hate when peoples' body parts touch mine! In Tokyo it happens so often that the arm of someone who is reading, falling asleep or being fat presses against us. I hate this! So the armrest in the tube is very good. But I've seen a new tube train which hasn't got any armrests. It's a shame.

In Tokyo trains, it happens quite often that only 5 or 6 people sit on a seat for 7 persons. Even when 7 people share a seat, they are often squashed on one side and sitting very comfortably on the other. If I see this stuation, I feel like saying 'Hey, you! Move a little bit more to the left!' The train companies are trying lots of things to fix this:

Colouring: Using a different colour for seats. Expecting a psychological effect.
3D seats: Each seat has a dent for the bum, it feels wrong if we get out of position.
Partition: Using a panel or a pole to divide seats. The seat will be divided for 3 and 4 people, or 2 - 3 - 2 people.

But I see often that 2 and 3 people sit on a seat for 3 and 4 people. I don't think it works as good as the armrest. (But once we have an armrest, we have to fight for an armrest with a person next to us, I guess)


Comments:
lucinda wrote:
I have to say that your pictures of the tube make it look very nice and clean! When I go back to London now I'm always totally shocked by the state of the tube ... they seem so antiquated, claustrophobic and filty. People pick the seats apart, leave their Mc Donalds food wrappings lying around and scratch graffiti on the windows. I'm not surprised your Mum didn't want to sit down! I much prefer the trains in Tokyo, they're actually civilised! I once heard that someone cut an old London Underground seat in half to see what was inside and they found layers of disgusting stuff - a dead rat, food remains, human hair and other things I wouldn't even like to mention! But I do agree about the armrests ... I'm always looking at people on the train here in Tokyo and thinking 'budge up!' ... and then I hate it when you get really wedged in between people. But I know someone in London who accidentally sat on an arm rest on the tube and permanently damaged his spine! I think they probably originally put arm rests on the tube to stop people lying across the seats. The other thing I generally dislike about the London Underground trains is the combinations of colour and pattern on the interior of the trains, it's usually really ugly. In Tokyo I really like the green seats and patterns on the Hibiya line! But I don't like the new purple interior of the express Tokyu Toyoko line, its a bit yukky ... but then again I've never liked purple!

Jun wrote:
Ha ha ha! I can totally imagine that people lying across the seats in London! I remember I was shocked to see 'do not put your feet on the seat' sign for the first time in London. Nobody put feet on the seat in Japan. Maybe we don't have long enough legs anyway... I think the London Underground's fabrics are great! So special. Actually, I'm not sure about the poles and the colour. It wasn't like that before. I used to like the old Northern line's wooden floors and the black gripping balls which were hanging from the ceiling. Do you know what I mean?

mr p wrote:
Yeah, the tube can get pretty filthy. But that 'story' you heard about what was found inside a seat is just that: another one of those stupid Urban Myths. People like to believe terrible things, it seems otherwise they'd never get passed around so much...

Jun wrote:
Hi mr p. Welcome to LDK! If I open my PowerBook to see what is inside, probably I find layers of disgusting stuff too! Not a dead rat though. But I still love my Mac :-)






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