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

[Pavementworrier]

This is getting worse right? It's getting to the point where they just launch themselves halfway across both and crush the person sitting at the window and don't seem to see anything wrong with this. Guy just did that to me so I elbowed him away and he turned to look at me in outrage.

I think part of the issue is people who used to drive are getting public transport more. Which is good overall but it also means a lot more selfish pricks in enclosed spaces.

I have been known to wedge my bag down the side of me to create a barrier and more space

Its alright 😄

I amused myself at least 🤭

It’s usually men sitting with their knees splayed. I ask them to move their legs now - very loudly. I can probably only get away with it because I’m old.

Yes it is. I've never had a personal space issue sitting next to another woman.

I wonder what happens when two manspreaders sit together.

Not where I live (outskirts of London). The only time I struggle with actual people taking up too much is when they are too large for just one seat. Quite a few people sit there and don't move their bags off the neighbouring seat unless they are actively asked, however..

But then you end up in the aisle and getting in the way of people getting on and off the bus.

Come travel on some buses in South London.
You will definitely get the "not just men" experience.

Likewise! I give them a look and push back with my leg, and if that doesn't work, I point out where the seat demarcation is and tell them they need to keep to their own side.

I'd never have done that when I was younger, but now I'm older my sense of outrage and assertiveness is way stronger than any need to people-please, not be a nuisance, or risk having people get cross with me. I'm all out of fucks now about any of that.

I still resent the woman who squashed me up against the window in a bus when I was 12. There were empty seats but she wanted to sit close to her friends and didn't want to admit that her but was two seats wide. I was too timid to say anything and her friends didn't say anything either despite the fact that their faces showed that they were aware and appalled at what she did.

Besides the pain, I feel that she treated me like I was nothing and that felt dehumanizing

I have to use a stick and I just say 'Excuse me' if people are in my way. It doesn't always work though

I prefer that to feeling trapped in by a stranger. I do have bit of a thing about it though and hate any invasion of my personal space.

Lol. They are huge compared to buses in India or Thailand

it's sex not gender

and i will sit on the aisle seat of a double if i want, i often do. I don't mind standing to let someone sit next to the window, but i want an aisle seat.

Manspreaders are annoying. I ust make sure to push right back.

Gosh, OP! You clearly don’t belong on this site. It’s all 6-figure salaries, rural living and Range Rovers. This is not the place for public transport users.

@BrokenWorldRecord just why would you post that?🙄

Why do you hog a whole double seat to yourself? There must be aisle seats available next to someone already sat next to the window?

Getting on a bus and seeing so many people hogging double seats by plonking themselves in the aisle seat is really daunting.

It's very condescending of you to say you " don't mind" standing up to let someone access the window seat. Unless you have paid double fare whether you mind or not shouldn't come in to it because you don't have the right to stop anyone sitting there.

So many people these days have no idea about the etiquette of bus travel. An etiquette that used to make travelling by bus less of the ordeal it is now.

It really is a man thing. I saw a bloke today manspreading on his mobility scooter. His knees were so far apart, he could have taken out passing pedestrians.

This. Seats are generally pretty small even for slim people.

How come I and other women manage then?

To be fair the bloke in the op was later replaced by a small guy who was very much in his legitimate footprint

Someone on here suggested using their encroaching knee as a handy table to perch your bag on!

I had that a while a go on a train and asked them, politely, to close their legs so I had space. I was told they needed the space due to their...balls basically...I responded that I expected them to walk down the aisle the same way they sat if their balls could never touch their legs.

Move over dick shit and stop being a prat.

Was he fat or just spreading his legs?

Had this on a very recent flight . DH at window , me in middle and man in aisle seat with legs spread . Asked him politely twice to move . He didn’t. Third time I told him to move his fucking legs . I am nearly 70 , rarely swear . He was so shocked he moved muttering about crazy old women!

Yes me too!

Peiole who can’t help it - like the example a pp gave of women who are just larger widthways than the seat only tend to do it if by the window. You don’t get women launching into your window seat, if larger women are by the aisle they just sit partly into the aisle.

I never ever sit by the window though.

Mostly it's a gender issue. The op is talking about entitlement not size