Photo: Busà Photography/Getty Images
This week, the MTA announced plans to order 435 more of the high-tech R211 trains—the ones with security cameras, brighter lights, more standing room, and those station-responsive digital maps over the extra-wide doors—that hit the tracks earlier this year. This new rolling stock will replace the R44, R46, and R68 models, which have been around since the 1970s and 1980s and are known for their charming orange and yellow bucket seats arranged in an L shape. (And for breaking down at twice the rate of their newer counterparts.)
While the gradual phase-out of these older models has always been part of the plan, each new order—this one is expected to begin delivery in 2027—brings about a fresh wave of realization that the subway system will eventually lose the best seats in the house. Cue the odes.
We’ll certainly miss them, not just for their vibrant colors, cinematic proclivities, and ability to inspire viral memes, but also because these seats are in trains that are usually more comfortable to ride in than the newer models. The lighting’s dimmer, the view from the window seat turns a bleak commute into a scenic journey, and they’re wonderfully void of those eye-searing digital ads steadily colonizing the transit system.
These older cars also symbolize a generous approach to rider experience. The L shape, also known as “conversational” seating, is meant to make it easier for passengers to talk to one another. It’s a great feature if you’re traveling in a group. But some taller straphangers have called the cramped seats a unique form of torture. (And how often do you really want to talk to your seat neighbor?).
The older subway cars have warmer finishes, like faux wood and beige wallpaper. A curator from the New York City Transit Museum told Untapped New York that most post-war trains were on the cool end of the color spectrum and the warmer hues, influenced by environmentalism and a return to nature, were a departure for the system. Lately it seems like much of the subway is losing its color, especially as the brightly hued Metrocard machines are replaced by the greyed-out OMNY kiosks.
Interestingly, the welcoming sensibility of these older cars debuted during a time when a widespread fear of crime and civic decline existed in the city. The design response back then involved making transit more humane. Today, there’s similar rhetoric and the response has been to remove benches, install bright lights to deter crime, and station more police officers (and sometimes National Guard) throughout the system. What I’ll miss most about these orange seats is the hospitality they represented.
Fonte Fast Company
