From QLocal Southport:

New 777 trains seating issues discussed by Cllr Sir Ron Watson

The significant investment of nearly £500m by Merseytravel to replace the existing carriages and also level the platforms has come with some benefits and even the financing has adopted a new approach which has given some added value.

The new trains benefit from panoramic style windows, air conditioning, more room for cycles and wheelchairs and an added safety element in the sense that you can see right through all of the carriages.

However, the ‘bottom line’ – please excuse the pun – is that the seats themselves are narrower, closer together and less well upholstered and as one lady who sat next to me last week said “it was like sitting on a slab of concrete”.

The other problem is that during the consultation process, the public made it very clear that they did not want what is described as ‘airline’ seating and yet this has been introduced and is very uncomfortable and anyone sitting at the window seat has to ask the person sitting next to them to get up and stand to enable them to get out which in itself will cause congestion.

The public made it clear that they wanted the 4x4 seating to maintain the same standard from the old carriages and so spending such a significant amount of money but ending up with a more uncomfortable journey for most people puts the validity of the whole scheme in jeopardy.

There is little that can be done but at some stage there really will need to be a reassessment of the seating format and configuration to benefit the public and it is a shame that what were very clear expressions of preference were not fully recognised when the new carriages were commissioned.