Dear Sir.... A metro note

[Anonymous]

After reading this thread, I tried an experiment this morning. As I stood on the train, I took a quick scan of the seats on my half of the train car, to see whether more women or more men were sitting. (My half of the car had 40 seats total.) The women ended up "plus 4", meaning there were four more sitting women than men. I then did a similar tally of the people standing. This time, the men ended up "plus 6", meaning six more men were standing than women.

I know it's only one car, on one train, on one day. But I'd be interested in hearing what other Metro riders see on their trains.

If you want to try the experiment, it's actually pretty easy. Don't bother totaling up the actual number of people -- that takes too long. Just count those people that swing the total in favor of men or women. In other words, if a two-seat pair has one man and one woman, just ignore it, because it doesn't move the needle. Only if two women (or two men) are sitting together will the needle swing.

I will try again on the way home.

[Anonymous]

I see a lot of men standing blocking the aisles and doors because they want to be among the first ones rushing out of the train. Damn the other riders who need to enter or exit.