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Muni’s “Butt Dents” Are Back!

Goodbye slippery benches! SF’s new train seats are way more comfortable. The first two trains just got upgraded this week.
By - posted 12/6/2021 No Comment

Thanks to SF Gate for letting us know that Muni’s “Butt Dents” are finally back on Metro’s light rail trains.

If you’ve ever been sitting on the bench on one of the new Muni Metro light rail cars and the train comes to a sudden halt, then you’ll probably understand why so many people complained about the new seating arrangement.

Although the sideways bench seating means that more people can fit in a train, the downside is that many people awkwardly slide into each other any time the train speeds up or slows down.

Welcome back “bucket” seats and goodbye to slippery benches!

Although this change was first announced back in December 2019, it’s going to take a while for the entire fleet to get upgraded (should we say, “butt”graded?) But on December 1st the first two LRV4 train cars with the new “scalloped” seating arrangement were put in service on the MOceanView. Look for 2-car train made up of vehicles 2014 & 2033 to test their the new seats and peep the new, larger interior monitors.

And shorter riders should be pleased to learn that the new seats have been lowered by two inches, meaning less dangling feet.

SF Gate says that Muni plans to phase in more of the new seats on trains in 2022 and 2023.