By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Metro rail cars with two new designs -- one without carpet and the other with New York-style bench seating -- were rolled onto the tracks yesterday, part of an effort by the agency to trim costs and fit more riders in cars.

Carpetless cars 6104 and 6105 and Car 3283, with the new seating pattern, were officially unveiled at Reagan National Airport and will initially run on the Green and Yellow lines. Both designs have overhead stainless steel grab handles for shorter passengers.

Officials will monitor rider reaction by video and through surveys for the next several months. Metro also plans to test several more types of floors and bench seats in three or four more colors and materials before making a final decision about whether to change its cars in the middle of next year.

The cars without carpet, which riders complain gets dirty and smells when wet, came with a gray skid-resistant floor. Officials say the flooring is cheaper and easier to maintain. Wool carpet costs $5,200 per rail car. The carpetless cars were put into service yesterday.

The other redesign features far fewer seats than Metro riders are accustomed to. As the system's ridership grows, that redesign might be a harbinger of what trains will look like once all trains are eight cars long and Metro can no longer add capacity. Metro runs six-car and eight-car trains during rush hours.

Instead of having 70 two-by-two seats, known as transverse seating, the redesigned car has 54 seats, including 20 bench seats in groups of five on both sides of the center doors. There are fewer seats but room for about 20 more people to stand, for a capacity of 200 passengers, compared with 180 in the traditional layout. This car has been running for about four months.

The new bench seats are contoured and made of molded plastic covered in a burnt orange cloth, though they are not cushioned. The seats are three inches narrower than traditional cushioned seats, which are 18 inches wide. Two men, each 6-foot-4 and at least 250 pounds, sat side by side on the bench seats for a demonstration yesterday and found themselves squeezed uncomfortably.

The rail car also adds two sets of leaning rests at one end of the car and a special three-pronged floor-to-ceiling pole with more space for people to hold on to at the other end.

Initial reviews were mostly positive, especially among passengers who boarded with luggage at the airport.

"I like it because there's room to put my suitcase in front of me," David Saywell, a Cleveland elementary school teacher attending a conference in the District, said after he settled in the new bench seats. Saywell has visited the city before and is familiar with the traditional layout of forward-facing and backward-facing pairs of seats. He doesn't like riding backwards.

Metro's new rail chief, Dave Kubicek, said officials will be evaluating the bench seating, noting that the redesigns might not be ideal. Some of the bench seats fold up -- something that will be left to the discretion of passengers, Kubicek said -- to allow for more people to squeeze into the car.

"This definitely is an experiment," he said.

Metro also wants rider feedback on the overhead grab handles installed in each of the redesigns. Officials decided to test the more expensive stainless steel -- $100 a handle -- because it is more durable than nylon or leather and easier to keep clean. Metro is considering adding the handles to rail cars as they come into service.

The new cars have more overhead and seat-back-to-ceiling handrails but no floor-to-ceiling poles at the center doors. Those were removed to discourage crowds at the door, but riders have complained of falling or being thrown off balance when trains stop suddenly.

"Oh, I like this," said Mary Mayfield, 57, as she reached up to hold onto a grab handle in a carpet-free car. "I need it," said Mayfield, who is about 5-foot-2 and commutes on the Green Line from Fort Totten to her administrative job at Howard University.

As for carpet, many riders agree with Metro General Manager John B. Catoe Jr. that the subway is no place for it. But some riders said they were reluctant to support its removal until they could see how comfortable its replacement would be.

"After you're standing for a long period of time, you don't know how your feet are going to feel," said Wanda Lee, a D.C. resident who commutes from Eastern Market to her accounting job in Crystal City.