Where to sit?

[Мастер]

The metro trains have seats in blocks of seven. The two at the ends are "Reserved", meaning if there's an old or injured person or a prego, you're supposed to give it up.

If one enters the train, and all seven seats are available, which seat should one take?

[Heid the Ba]

First seat you come to, left rather than right. I hate it in the mornings when people get onto my train and stand and look vacantly at the carriage as if it is a logic puzzle with only one correct answer and death if they get it wrong rather than a ten minute train journey. Of course these are the same people who have no idea where the train will stop or where the doors will be when it does.

[Enzo]

I heard tales of some old lady climbing into the train car and stopping, to decide where she needed to sit, holding up all behind her. Conductor yells,"DO something lady, even if it is wrong."

[Мастер]

These are metro cars, with the seats along the sides, and an open area in the middle. So someone wouldn't be able to hold everyone up, unless it were already rather crowded. And in that case, probably a lot of the seats would be taken.

The seven seats go front to back, there is really no reason to prefer one end to the other, at least not that I can see.

RXXXXXR

where R = "Reserved", and X = a generic seat.

I think the absolute worst ones to take (in that the screw over the later riders) are the ones just off centre. For example, suppose you take

RX*XXXR

Now someone else comes in. They don't want to sit right next to you, because it's a bit crowded. But they also don't want to take the reserved seats, because then they might have to move. (Or have everyone stare at them angrily if they don't move.) So four of the remaining six seats or undesirable, leaving just two choices. So then the configuration, with two people seated, is

RX*X*XR or RX*XX*R

Either way, every single seat is now either reserved or right next to someone else. Two people, in effect, taking up the whole block. There is a configuration which allows three people, with no one in a reserved seat or next to anyone else.

R*X*X*R

So I pick one of these three if I have an open block of seven. (And I'm alone - different story if I'm in a group.)

[Lianachan]

I'm looking forward to your analysis of which urinal it is appropriate to use in varying circumstances.

[Мастер]

I'm looking forward to your analysis of which urinal it is appropriate to use in varying circumstances.

I'll leave that one up to you.