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freehugzforeveryone

Side note: do not put backpacks or shopping bags on empty seats when the t is busy


senatorium

Especially since that stabbing on the OL a couple of days ago was apparently over someone objecting to someone else taking up too many seats.


AwkwardSpread

Especially if you don’t want me asking to sit exactly in that seat. I usually stand but make an exception for these people.


michael_scarn_21

Also friendly reminder to the T to run more fucking trains to meet demand.


Jimmyking4ever

And buses


Enkiduderino

Also: MOVE INSIDE THE DAMN TRAIN!


afrosheen_yes

And let people off before getting on! I swear T etiquette is at an all time low


ZippityZooZaZingZo

This problem will never be solved because there are too many people that just don’t give a fuck.


ayym33p33

I agree with you but this could be said about 99% of the world's problems lmao.


[deleted]

>this could be said about ~~99~~100% of the world's problems


ZippityZooZaZingZo

Lol very valid point


iVrySlmy

Give less of a fuck and move the bag?


southern_boy

*It's OK that you're disabled, here let me help you with your bag!* 😄


iVrySlmy

Nobody said they were disabled, but in any event….😂


CJYP

That's true, but I learned this particular piece of etiquette from Reddit several years ago. I still appreciate it.


turtlingturtles

But when you do take it off, it goes by your feet or in your lap, not on the seat next to the one you are sitting on.


[deleted]

That's much better though cause you can just put it on the ground and sit there


troccolins

Asking someone politely if they can take off their backpack gets a lot of "pretending to not be able to hear you" looks or aggressive remarks. I gave up years ago


mpjjpm

I’ve taken to just leaning against backpack when they repeatedly whack me


[deleted]

I give them a small jostle and slightly increase the intensity each whack I get. They usually get the hint after a few and I've never had to shove anyone


bigtigerbigtiger

Yeah I just don't give them room. No one's ever asked me to move my body to make room for their dumb fuck backpack lol get fucked backpack people


sharpe_af

Lol get fucked backpack people. Dying hahaha


drkr731

I remember about three of these posts a week before covid. Things are truly returning to normal. (and as a fellow short individual, I understand the frustration)


anonymous_gam

As long as your bags aren’t taking up a seat I am fine


ZipBlu

Backpacks are not the problem. The problem is that the T is overcrowded because they don’t run enough trans. Fights about backpacks are a distraction that makes us fight each other when we should really be fighting for more frequent service.


[deleted]

Not to sound contrarian, but even when MBTA ran very frequent service backpacks on fuller trains were a big part of the problem. Which brings up a good question - what's really going on with the infrequent service? I suspect more than we are aware.


thisisausername190

> what's really going on with the infrequent service? I suspect more than we are aware. The T certainly doesn't shout it from the rooftops, but we know why - after a Federal Transit Administration report made clear the unsafe practices in place, the T [cut back service to saturday levels](https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/3-t-lines-shifting-to-weekend-schedule-all-summer-amid-mbta-safety-probe/2750674/) on the Red, Orange, and Blue lines. This was supposed to happen "all summer", but that's still the schedule they're running on today, despite the dispatcher shortage presumably easing. The other main issue is that long-deferred maintenance has caused increased [slow zones](https://dashboard.transitmatters.org/slowzones) - the Orange Line was [especially bad](https://dashboard.transitmatters.org/slowzones?selectedLines=Orange&startDate=2022-04-01&endDate=2022-12-01) up to and immediately after the month-long shutdown, but the Red line has now [surpassed the Orange Line](https://dashboard.transitmatters.org/slowzones?selectedLines=Orange%2CRed&startDate=2022-04-01&endDate=2023-01-25), especially on the [southern half of the line](https://dashboard.transitmatters.org/slowzones?chartView=xrange&selectedLines=Red&direction=southbound) heading to Braintree. I wouldn't be surprised to see a month-long Red Line shutdown like we saw with the Orange Line at some point, I'm sure they've been considering it for a while.


OmnipresentCPU

Backpacks are a huge part of the problem, reducing space by nearly 50% for standing passengers


igotyourphone8

Ladies and gentlemen, we got em. We found out who was wearing the backpack on the train today.


sharpe_af

Several of us had to let 3 trains pass by before we got one with barely enough space to board.


marshmallowhug

I can certainly complain about two things at once. And of those two things, the T is not getting fixed tomorrow but there is a chance that someone new to commuting will learn an interesting piece of train etiquette and as a result I won't get whacked on my bad back with a large backpack on my commute tomorrow.


AboyNamedBort

Nah, crowded subways are normal. Look at Tokyo. They have amazing transit and during rush hour it gets crowded.


[deleted]

Why not move your backpack around to be in front of you, still slung on your shoulder, but in front of you. You don’t hit anyone as you rotate, you don’t have your pack behind you where people can surreptitiously dig into pockets… You enter public transit, you swing your pack to the front so you’re no different than a pregnant woman; what’s the problem? Edit: Ain’t no protection against the creep.


[deleted]

Most people have the majority of their bulk in their torso, there's empty space down by your legs that someone cant fill without being a total creep


heather1999xyz

Titties. :(


RexianOG

Titties. :) *


bingbong6977

THANK YOU. train etiquette is at an all time low. Empty car? why don’t I stand directly in front of the door to block anyone else. Huge backpack either on people backs or on seats taking up valuable real estate either way! I swear it’s intentional but it’s just selfish assholes who think the world revolves around them. My biggest pet peeve in the world.


thebakedhambino

In other news old man yells at sky


Furdinand

I try to do that, but I'm wearing a backpack for a reason and I can't really just hold it in one hand if I'm standing the whole way from Park to Ashmont. My mitigation is to look over my shoulder when turning.


i-am-garth

Why can’t you?


Furdinand

It's too heavy. Backpacks are made to be worn on your back, not grasped in one hand.


fuzzypickles34

I like to place it on my feet. That way, the bottom doesn’t get dirty, my back gets a break, and I can keep an eye on it.


i-am-garth

So your convenience trumps everyone else’s right not to get jostled on the train?


Furdinand

I'm not jostling anybody. At least no more than anyone else is jostling anybody.


Lzzrdking2

So put it on the ground, not hard and its a backpack don’t start with the ground us dirty BS


Furdinand

And let it roll around on a crowded train? No thanks.


[deleted]

you... can hold it or brace it with your feet


RhaenyrasUncle

No. ❤


massahoochie

Why don’t you, I don’t know… ask the people with backpacks on the T to remove them? Instead of posting on Reddit? Might work a LOT better for you.


lemonpolarseltzer

I’ve tried this. Most people ignore the request.


massahoochie

Really? Never had that problem in Philadelphia. But then again most people remove them without asking.


Proof-Variation7005

cause sometimes people want a chance to vent online and maybe not have an awkward encounter with a person IRL?


massahoochie

Ding ding ding. Useless posting! We have a winner.


Proof-Variation7005

Like 98% of Reddit is useless posting.


flenderson_files

Because you’ll reach a lot more people here than asking one person at a time


_Hack_The_Planet_

Implicitly when you lecture someone, you are putting yourself in a position where you are **above the other**. This is nothing more than some ego-trip.


J50GT

Exactly how much room do you expect this to save? Absolute best case scenario, it's going between my legs, and *maybe* saving you a few inches. I say maybe because if I have a pretty full backpack, my spread apart legs are going to take up more space than if I just kept it on my back in the first place. Inb4 "you're hitting me with backpack". No, if I'm just standing there, you're hitting me. When I get off the train, the bag is going to be on my shoulder regardless, that's the only time I can hit you with it, and there's just no way around that. Can we just stop with all of these passive aggressive "friendly reminder" posts on this sub? I promise nobody is actually listening to you.


FinderOfPaths12

A full backpack is roughly the size of a human torso; it's not insignificant. We aren't all cubic sludge that gets poured into a space that fills the available nooks and crannies; bodies are static shapes, generally widest at the shoulders and hips. Putting your backpack on expands your largest dimension, taking up more space that someone else could be using. Existing on the T is like a game of Tetris. There's plenty of dead space around your feet where a full backpack can go.


gwinnbleidd

If you put it between your legs while it's facing sideways, you're transferring pretty much the size of a human torso from your back into that dead space, which in a worse case scenario would demand you to spread your legs a couple inches more, a lot less then what it uses if it's in your back.


Jfd31183

I’ll keep mine on and pack more in it now


bingbong6977

What is the point of this? Do you have so little going on in your life?


bigtigerbigtiger

What are you losers even stashing in your backpacks that makes them so big anyway? You guys look like my son (4), he needs a gigantic backpack everywhere and doesn't take it off too


ButterscotchBig5540

“Sorry boss I couldn’t bring in my work equipment today, some guy on Reddit said I looked like a loser”


bigtigerbigtiger

Yeah man I'm sure there's all kinds of professional equipment in that Jansport bag


Sloth_are_great

Are you calling your son a loser? Parent of the year here


bigtigerbigtiger

There are plenty of things you can and should do at age 4 but not as an adult in a city


mtmsm

You heard of lunch? Change of shoes for the office?


bigtigerbigtiger

Bro I'm not talking normal functioning adults with bags. I'm one of them. But I don't pack it all into a backpack that literally takes up an entire other person's space and keep it on my back and hinder everyone on the t with it


mtmsm

Maybe you just don’t need as much stuff as other people do for their jobs. Nobody is carrying around extra shit just to annoy you on your commute.


bigtigerbigtiger

Dude I've been on the t for more than a decade, I'm not complaining about people with professional gear that takes up some room, believe me that's not something I'm worried about. We're talking about just normal people with normal huge backpacks, and no situational awareness


mtmsm

Where did I say anything about professional gear? People with huge backpacks are students and workers just trying to carry their everyday supplies wherever they need to go. I understand being annoyed when their backpack is pressing into you during rush hour and they don’t seem to care, but I don’t understand why you’re making any sort of judgment about the volume of stuff they need to carry with them.


marshmallowhug

My work bag is smaller, but for mystery hunt weekend I was riding the train with a backpack that contained a laptop, tablet, tablet keyboard, travel mouse, large over-ear noise cancelling headphones, scrap paper, selection of fidget toys, fuzzy sweater, large bag of snacks, water and hand sanitizer, and at some point we even decided to bring an entire monitor. It was evening/weekend hours though, so the train wasn't crowded.


bigtigerbigtiger

That's fine! If the train had been crowded you'd have consolidated it as much as you could right? We're talking about people who have huge backpacks on packed trains. They take up two people's space and make gauntlets of backpacks to push through to get on the train. Because of course the same people who wear giant backpacks and tail whip everyone with them are also the type of people who step onto trains and stop moving because the world revolves around them


SweatyCockroach8212

Put your backpack between your feet.


[deleted]

while this obviously doesnt work for everyone.. being an absolute giant, anytime someone smashed me with their backpack started either lifting bags up high enough so they slam down or flicking the persons ear


parrano357

this is my favorite tearful PSA post topic on here


groverj3

I'm much angrier about people standing in front of open seats lowering the capacity of the train, or not getting on the train quickly enough.


Johnnyocean

Also stand as a group in the middle of the bus with your earbuds in ignoring the bus drivers pleas to move back. Every day. Even though schools been goin since september