User Friendly You say?
User friendly a term scoffed at locally is really a big deal for transit customers.
The new MK.5, Innovia 300, 5-car train-sets have few seats as TransLink is playing a numbers game with capacity, due to counting more standing customers. The trains, despite the millions of dollars spent on You Tube videos and advertising saying how great the SkyTrain light-metro system is; declining ridership tells a different story.
User-friendless is the key to attracting ridership, something that TransLink refuses to understand.
Mk.5 SkyTrain stock ………………….
………….. Stadler Tram Train interior.
Government to banish 60,000 ‘ironing board’ seats on busy commuter trains
The transport secretary has promised ‘more comfortable alternatives’ for rail passengers
Natalie Wilson Friday 28 August 2026
More than 60,000 “ironing board” Thameslink seats are set to be upgraded as part of ongoing government rail reforms.
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander has announced plans to replace the seat base cushions on all 115 Thameslink trains with “more comfortable alternatives and improved backrests”.
The Department for Transport (DfT) said the move marked “an end to the notorious ‘ironing-board’ seats that have long frustrated commuters on one of Britain’s busiest rail routes”.
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), Britain’s largest train operator, transferred to public ownership in May.
GTR will move forward with plans to fit upgraded standard class seats as part of the government’s “drive to ensure Great British Railways delivers tangible improvements for passengers”.
Proposed improvements will be rolled out over two years starting in 2027.
First class seats will benefit from improved seat base cushions, but will keep their existing backrest design, said DfT.
The 70 trains currently not fitted with a seat back table will also be fitted with them.
Ms Alexander said: “This is what public ownership looks like in action. Less than 100 days since GTR transferred into public control, we’re delivering on the improvements commuters have been asking for.
“From next year, we’ll start getting rid of the dreaded ‘ironing board seats’ so passengers can enjoy comfier, more pleasant journeys on some of Britain’s busiest commuter routes.”
John Whitehurst, CEO at GTR, which operates Thameslink, said: “Our customers tell us that comfort matters, which is why we’ve been working on plans to improve seating on Thameslink services and give the millions of people who use our extensive network a better experience.
“Through customer research with everyday commuters, we’ve gathered valuable insight to help us shape the best possible solution for cushion comfort onboard our high-capacity trains. We’re pleased to move forward with plans and bring about those much-expected improvements.”
Thameslink seats: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cmt0SwOdT_0
bc Translink: https://buzzer.translink.ca/2022/08/we-have-a-winner-check-out-these-new-translink-bus-seats/
like: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground_S7_and_S8_Stock#/media/File:Bombardier_S_Stock_Circle_line_Interior_3.jpg and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier_BiLevel_Coach#/media/File:CEM_interior.jpg
Zwei replies: And your point is?
By the way comparing the circle line to the Millennium Line is an apples to oranges comparison. having traveled the Circle Line many a time, customers rarely stay on for more than 15 minutes, because it is an inner city people mover. The Millennium Line is now a very expensive commuter line, which many customers must spend a hour on.
The concept is user-friendliness and TransLink’s lack of user friendliness.
Ridership is falling – connect the dots.
It’s not user friendly if the majority of your customers have to stand, for the majority or all of their trip. Especially if you are building, muti-Billion dollar Skytrain extensions to far out destinations that, simply offer trips that are longer than the current ones going to the same downtown or central area destinations. A Mark 5 Skytrain with way too few seats are not a reason to leave my car in Langley and stand for an hour, travelling all the way to downtown. Nor is it a reason to leave my car if I have to stand for the majority my, bus to train, bus to train to bus or my train to bus commute.