Puget Sound ferry officials' standard for how much space the average person needs – known as the 18-inch rule – may not last much longer. (By Daniel Sheehan for The Washington Post)

By Rene Sanchez
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 15, 1999; Page A1

SEATTLE – The polite way to describe the change being made to seats on Puget Sound ferries is to call it a refitting, or just a small but vital adjustment to suit the times. But that hides the plain truth: So many riders are so fat they need more room.

There was a day when the ferries carried 250 people with ease. Ferry officials had figured out how much space the average person needed to sit by using a precise formula – known as the 18-inch rule. It has been a kind of national standard in seating for generations, but it may not last much longer.

And in its demise is a story of the bulging of America.

From planes to stadiums, in church pews and cinemas, and here on Seattle's ferries, the growing girth of the populace is slowly but surely redefining what comfort means across the country and prompting many industries to look anew at the shape of Americans. What they have found is a problem of sizable proportions.

In response to how wide many riders are getting, ferry officials recently reduced capacity on some boats and are installing more benches and bigger seats on others. For the same reason, a movie theater opening soon in Seattle will have some seats for obese patrons. And at a ballpark being built downtown, many seats will be four inches wider than seats at the old Kingdome.

"The old seats don't seem to be working anywhere," said ferry rider Craig Gagner on a trip across the sound to Vashon Island one recent afternoon. "My butt still fits the 18-inch rule they say they use, but so many others are so huge they're crunching us. We're definitely not as lean as we used to be."

Nationally, some airlines are lifting tray tables higher on new planes to accommodate burgeoning bellies. Restaurants are buying wider booths and apparel makers are promoting more clothing with elastic waistbands.

The Society of Automotive Engineers is even working with Air Force researchers on a $6 million study on the changing shape of Americans. As part of it, more than 5,000 volunteers nationwide are being measured in over 100 ways with laser technology. The study, the most elaborate of its kind in decades, is being sponsored by about two dozen top companies in virtually every industry where knowing the width of Americans is vital: General Motors, Ford, Boeing, Levi Strauss, even Caterpillar tractors.

"Nothing like this has been done in a long time," said Gary Pollak, a coordinator of the three-year study. "Everyone senses the shape of Americans is changing, but we really need to know exactly how."

That they are getting heavier is hardly a secret. A number of recent government and university studies have warned of the trend. Some have reported that the average daily calorie intake of men and women is rising sharply, that over half the country's adults are overweight and as many as one-third are obese – figures much higher than they were decades ago.

The weight increases are apparent, to varying degrees, in every region of the country. And with baby boomers settling in to the weight-gaining prime of middle age and many teenagers tearing into endless "super-size" fast-food meals, scales across the nation are expected to tip even more in the years ahead.

For seatmakers and companies who are their clients, the implications are profound.

"We don't want someone sitting in one of our cars or trucks being reminded every day that they're getting bigger," said Marilyn Vala, an analyst for Lear Corp., which designs seats for some of the nation's leading automotive manufacturers. "Across the industry, we're realizing that with demographics and sizes changing, we're going to have to be more accommodating."

Kevin McGuire, who runs a national consulting firm that advises performing arts centers on seating, said that industry has begun to learn the same lesson.

At his urging, the restoration of Seattle's old Cinerama theater downtown includes a few dozen seats 24 inches wide and tailored for the obese. Many other seats in the theater also will have armrests that lift and more space between rows, all to make bigger people comfortable. McGuire is even training staff members in how to make subtle overtures to obese patrons who might not be aware of the special seating available to them at the theater.

"More of my clients definitely are starting to understand that more people are having a difficult time getting into seats," McGuire said.

But some seating critics say the signs of change evident here in Seattle are still the exception. In many industries, providing bigger seats often means having fewer customers and thus earning less profit.

Space in some new sports arenas is even getting tighter. To pack in more fans – and to make more money to keep up with escalating player salaries – some arenas are stacking seating rows closer together and offering seats that are wider than 18 inches only to their "premium" ticket subscribers.

"Our society is changing, but our seats aren't really changing with it yet," said Vicki Wood, the vice president of the Washington state chapter of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. "Most fat people don't want to draw attention to themselves by making a big issue of this, but it should be obvious that more people are uncomfortable."

Even analysts in industries that depend on fitting people into seats say the measurement data they use is a bit vague, or becoming obsolete. Pollak said that the main reason so many prominent companies are paying so much for a new study on Americans' size is that they are losing confidence that their seats fit customers' needs.

"They all want new averages so they can feel more secure with new products," he said.

Doug Oswald, who manages product research and design at American Seating, a leading manufacturer of bus and stadium seats, said that standards the company has used for years also are being revamped. For example, the company introduced a new office chair last year that is two inches wider than previous models.

"The population has grown faster than the products being designed," he said. "Everyone is trying to catch up."

Some seating standards date back to military studies during World War II. Others come from academic studies of American shapes in the early 1950s. Edward Tenner, a Princeton University researcher who studies the history of technology, said many transportation companies still take their cue from a Harvard study completed around that time on passenger trains in New England. He said it concluded that 18 inches would contain the American backside comfortably.

Since then, many companies often have tried to survey diverse samples of Americans about their height and weight, even though seating specialists say that data has proved to be notoriously unreliable.

"You can't trust it because people lie," Vala said. "When the people we study come in to get measured, sometimes they're 20 pounds heavier and two inches shorter than what they told us over the phone."

Vala said that although automakers are already ordering seats with more plush features, many are waiting for the results of the Society of Automotive Engineers' study, scheduled next year, before they make any other more significant seat changes.

In Seattle, the size of seats began causing uproar late last year on the Puget Sound ferries, which shuttle more than 25 million riders annually. Day after day, and especially during rush-hour trips, officials said they kept noticing growing numbers of passengers either standing in the aisles or plopping on the floor because they had no place to sit – even though, as always, no more than the requisite 250 riders had been allowed on board.

In part, ferry officials attributed the overcrowding to how much stuff many passengers tend to carry on board these days. But after taking a fresh look at the size of their customers as they lined up on the dock or piled onto the boat, there was no mistaking the prime reason: They were getting wider.

"Everyone in transportation has made seats mostly the same way for a long time," said Susan Harris Heather, an official with Washington State Ferries, "but we're seeing that it's no longer as effective. It's quite a phenomenon."

At first, ferry officials tried to give people more room by reducing the number of riders allowed on board to 230. But that move won mixed reviews.

Some riders praised it, but others complained that they would have to take later ferries in the morning and not get to work on time. A few riders angry with the change mocked it by bringing tape measures on ferries and starting a petition denouncing the "Butt Police." Later, ferry capacity was raised to 240.

More benches and wider passenger seats – the new standard is 21 inches – also have been added to a several new ferries in the past few months.

Some heavyset passengers say they are relieved to see the changes. But others say with resignation that the space crunch persists.

"In rush hour, it still gets pretty bad; that's why people get here so early to stand in line for a good seat," Julie Hall said as she waited on a Seattle pier to catch a ferry home to Vashon Island. "It can be frustrating for everyone on board, so I'm glad they're finally trying to do something."

"Maybe having the bigger seats now will make a difference," added Randy Yount, another ferry rider. "At least they're not measuring everyone's butt before they're allowed to get on board – yet."