We understand that Boston’s public transit agency has started an experiment that may help accommodate for more transit riders as gas prices for automobiles stay high.

The experiment?  Take out all the seats.

They are only running the experiment on two public transit cars, dubbed the “Big Red” cars, since they travel the transit line named after the same color.  They will be attached to one of the twenty-eight trains that run during rush hour.  The Big Red cars will keep at least two seats, presumably to provide for the elderly and disabled.  They have also added more handrails, so people will not have to hang off the overhead handles like monkeys.

Transit officials hope that the modified cars will provide space for at least 27 more customers, which would be about a 10% increase in capacity.  They hope that by packing in more people, they can keep up with the 5.5% increase of passengers since last year.

New York City is also planning to try a seat-less subway program.  The exception with their cars is that the seats can be lowered when it is not rush hour, so commuters will be able to sit down at other times of the day.  Outside of the country, Tokyo has been using seat-less cars in above ground trains since 1990.  Japan also has “women only” cars during night hours to protect women from possible molesters.

Our car accident lawyers, in general (and it has to be a city by city analysis), believe that getting more people to ride mass transit is a good idea.  It gets more cars off the road which can reduce the risk of car accidents occurring.  It helps air pollution, and we are not  wasting as much fossil fuels and can use green technology.

However, we are concerned about the safety of packing so many people into a small space.  We believe that if Boston’s and other cities’ transit officials end up implementing these modified cars for all the trains, they will be sacrificing the safety of customers just so they can get more money.  What if someone has a medical emergency on the train?  What if they get trampled on?

Call us now at 1-800-655-6585 or click here for a free consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney after you get into a car accident and find out how we can help you.  We speak English and Spanish, and we look forward to providing advice for your case.  No fee if no recovery.

About Michael Pines

Michael Pines is a former insurance company attorney who specializes in car accident injury. While he was an insurance attorney, he learned from behind the scenes on how insurance companies work and how they decided to pay injured people. Now that he works against insurance companies, Michael's inside knowledge has resulted in significant benefits to his clients injured in car accidents.

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