standing room only

the way people are spread in the tube carriage during very busy periods just looks ridiculous. a lucky few have managed to get seats. then there will be people standing in the ailse, who have room to move and breathe. and then there will be people standing around the door area who have managed to squeeze onto the train but find themselves wedged between three people and the door in some awkward position that they can't move out of until the doors open again at the next station.

there is a lot of space on trains not being used. football stadiums used to have much larger capacities when they were terraced rather than all-seater. the same will be true for trains.

the idea is to remove all the solid seating arrangements that exist now, and replace them with flip down seats like the ones at the cinema. but before a train embarks on it's rush hour journey, a locking device will be activated that prevents the seats from being flipped down. the driver can activate this like they activate the doors at a station. this way, instead of a lucky few having a seat and so much space, while most are cramped and squashed, everyone has equal standing room. a couple of seats could be left, for disabled/elderly/children. then once the rush hour is over, the seats can be activated again.

i'm not sure if this is feasable, the seats on the tube seem to have some radiator/heater underneath them, that might be impossible to do without. i don't know.

you could also say that this might lead to dangerous overcrowding... but the way i see it is that the state things are in now is just as dangerous.