There are new additions on the West 4th Avenue-Washington Sq. subway station — and never all riders are leaning into the pilot program.
For these ready for an A, C or E prepare, you may stand or you may lean on the Greenwich Village cease. However you will not be sitting.
The MTA has eliminated the previous benches, aside from a pair, and changed them with leaning bars.
“I don’t like them,” mentioned commuter Felicia Keitt.
“I feel like it’s kind of pointless. People need to sit,” added commuter Ty Evans.
The MTA mentioned the leaning bars are a part of a pilot program, put in on the high-traffic station to see how they work. Riders like Keitt say after an extended day of labor, the leaning bars simply don’t work.
“You have people who literally work all day. You’re coming home, you’re tired, you just need to sit down for a minute,” she mentioned.
“People are tired. Like we work all the time, it’s NYC,” mentioned commuter Glenda Pena, noting that everybody has the power to lean. “As the public, we view the world from our abled bodies. And it’s a privilege, but you’re right, there’s a lot of people that can’t stand for a long period of time, who just need to sit.”
“I think piloting things like this is what we should be doing to show that we are looking forward to provide the best we can for customers,” mentioned Demetrius Crichlow, president of NYC Transit. He mentioned the leaning poles simply make fiscal sense.
“The reality is they are so much cheaper than our current benches,” mentioned Crichlow.
Some riders imagine the leaning bars will forestall homeless individuals from sleeping on the benches.
“The homeless people used to sit here. The seats are booked so people who are sick or not feeling well they couldn’t sit because of those people. I think this problem is being solved by MTA,” commuter Shaif Fardin mentioned.
“You have elderly people, you have disabled people. If there’s an issue with the homeless population than the city has to find another way to deal with it,” mentioned commuter Keitt.
The MTA says that is the one location the place benches are being eliminated and changed with leaning bars.
