Men who can't keep to their own side of a double seat on public transport

No, but she did have her bags and coat piled up on the seat next to her while other passengers were standing, until I asked her to move them.

On the bus just now a woman just aggressively climbed over my teenage daughter and almost whacked her with her bag rather than just saying "excuse me please because I am getting off at the next stop".
But no..... it's just a man thing .

Is she sitting with her legs wide open acting like she has more right to the space than you do? Because if so, she would be a rare exception to the behaviour of women on public transport, but reflective of patterned behaviour from men. Which is why it absolutely is a sex based issue.

That’s not the same as invading your personal space. I don’t want to touch a stranger.

What about the women that use the empty seat, for their shopping bags and won't move them.
Or the elderly women with trolleys, that plonk them in front of a seat and refuse to move them.
Its really not just men.

The buses I normally get on don't have loads of other seats available.

I must say though I did have what you describe happen to me last year when I was on a bus in Glasgow and a guy got on and came and sat next to me even though the downstairs of the bus was virtually empty and there were loads of free seats And it really puzzled me, especially given the age I am.

I do that. It's certainly not entitled, it's to put off men who like to sit next to a lone woman to intimidate them when there's loads of other seats available.

I totally accept that for some people , such as yourself there could be a valid reason.

However, my local service is only one bus per hour. It's a single decker. And often when I get on there are no double seats left, or perhaps one or two at the very back - being in my 70s myself I much prefer not to have to go right to the back of the bus. And of the people already occupying the double seats routinely at least half of them are sat in the aisle seat with the window seat vacant. And I refuse to believe that all, or even the majority of these people, have health issues. Definitely for most of them the attitude is that they just do not want anyone sat next to them.

So do I , I also if say at a gig or the theatre and they sit down before me and encroach into my space just sit down and if their legs are there well I just sit on them.

A few years ago I was on a fairly crowded train sitting opposite DH in window seats. I had the arm down. A large lady came to sit beside me and tried to lift the arm up. I pushed it back down and held it. She said she need more room. I said I was sorry about that but I wanted to use all of the seat I'd paid for. I can't bear being touched by strangers.

To give a possible answer to those asking why you'd sit on the aisle seat and effectively take up two, I sit on the outside of a double seat because I've had too many creepy men sit beside me when there's plenty of free seats, trapping me against the window and forcing me to squeeze past them and have unwanted physical contact to get out, I've also been groped while trying to get out. I'll move in to the window seat to let another woman sit down or I'll stand to let a man in to the window but I feel safer being on the aisle.

Around here my pet peeve is almost always young women who put their bag(s) on the aisle seat and are then so engrossed in their phones (or pretending to be) that they don’t notice the bus filling up fast, and have to be asked to move their bags. I have no hesitation in asking, though, and the odd eye roll bothers me not at all.

Afraid to say it’s nearly always young women who plonk themselves in the first available (elderly/disabled) seats, when there are plenty further back, and ditto are so busy with their phones that they don’t notice some doddery old dear who needs the seat.

Please don’t anybody say they probably have hidden disabilities. This practice is so common around here, I simply don’t believe it, and they typically hop on and off the bus like mountain goats,

I hate to say it, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a young man doing the same.

Please don't assume we are doing this to be selfish. I have hip replacements (but I'm youngish for that so you probably wouldn't expect I would) and I can't flex the joints inwards comfortably. Often the window seats have reduced foot space/ slanted sides (at least on the trains, I rarely take a bus) which means I can't keep my hips at right angles with the floor if I sit there. I have a priority seat pass but I only use it when I have to... I never have a problem standing to let someone get past to the window seat, I just can't comfortably sit on that side.

This. Our son is 6ft 5 and our daughter is 5ft 11. They are both incredibly uncomfortable in economy. I’m only 5ft 8 and there’s never enough leg room.

I just shift my bum until so I'm taking up the space I'm entitled to. I've never had anybody complain yet.

the one i used to live with who was that tall always sat in an aisle seat and did his best not to manspread.

Or stood if it was under 30 minutes. Or tries to get one of the seats he could fit in.

Its absolutely a man thing. Makes me laugh that people are desperate to deny this. Of course there are woman who spread out and men who dont, but overall, it's more men.

The new south western trains are narrower seats so its getting worse. I now comment firmly, with hand gestures to demonstrate where the line is. Men get very defensive, denying it every time. But usually I miraculously have more space afterwards.

Rubbish. If the seat pitch is less than the distance from their bum to their knees, there is no way anyone can sit in an airline seat without splaying their legs.

It’s a physical impossibility.

Lol. When were you last in India? Saw plenty of bigger people on the bus

The people wanting to sit in them are huge compared to people in India or Thailand.

I was sitting opposite a man on a 4 seat set up on the train yesterday and even he was trying to encroach most of my space. He was slouching in the seat, then had one foot on the floor touching mine and then had one foot sort of crossed on the opposite knee which was then pushing against my bag. I literally was unable to take up any less space (im less than 5ft so my legs/feet barely need any space anyway! 🙄)

Today i had to stand for the entire journey and that was preferable

The man in this house is 6’3. From knee to coccyx he’s longer than the space between bus seats. He has to angle his legs just to sit in them.

It’s that or taxis everywhere.

Oh, and plane seats.

Yeah.
You should come to South London.
Lots of gross smelly people - male and female - all squashing and getting in personal space.