Maximum Torture In A Subway Essay

Maximum torture: How many people can fit on one train? Every day, people cram into crowded subway trains to go to work, school, or play. NYC is blessed with an excellent subway system, especially compared to other American cities, yet it's also one of the dirtiest, smelliest, most uncomfortable subway system in the world. The subway gets you there, but certainly isn't a luxury experience. One of the biggest qualms we have of the subway here is the chronic overcrowding on trains. It seems that there isn't a single time of day where one has a seat. In fact, during rush hours, getting a seat on the subway is roughly equivalent, statistically, to winning the lottery. Yes, the subway sucks when you have to stand, but what if you had to stand in a train that is 100% full? What is "the maximum torture factor?" In other words, what is the maximum of the number of people that could fit in one entire 10 car train,

We already know there are 42 seats available per car. I estimated that there could be 5 rows of these seats laid out on the width of the train. These 5 rows would of course touch, as a subway car is not that wide. So we have 42 people sitting, and 21 times 5 minus 42 people standing(63 people standing). The answer to this is 105 people. This number is calculated based on the fact that 1 row of these seats holds 21 people, and 3 of these hypothetical rows are comprised of people standing. However, we forgot about the doorway area which does not have seats. The doorway area could fit 6 rows(we could fit one extra row because people are slightly smaller than 1 seat horizontally), of 3 chairs. If we multiply that by 3 (there are 3 doors on the train), we get 6 times 3 times 3, or 54. 105+54 equals 159. Multiply that by 10 and we get 1590 people! That really is a high number, and that would be a pure torture situation. So the conductor was pretty close in his estimate of the maximum hypothetical