Taking the passenger discomfort to new levels - Poorly Designed Seats

This morning's ride on the ChicagoDASH bus service opened my eyes further to how poorly designed these bus seats are and how the design ends up inflicting extreme discomfort on riders.  The first bus to Chicago was full enough to require a good number of customers to double-up.  I was one of the riders sitting next to someone - something I don't usually complain about.

Here are some of  flaws built into the overall design of these buses.  The seat manufacturers, IMMI,  as well as ChicagoDASH officials who purchased these buses both have to bear responsibility for the poor design.  However, our government officials can rectify the problems if they are willing...Are they?

1. As I sat down, my booty was painfully greeted by the seatbelt buckle which was strategically placed to ensure that riders can't use these seatbelts pain-free.
2. After removing the seatbelt buckle from my keister's left-hand cheek, I winched as a unidentifiable, but carefully place, metal tab introduced itself to the other cheek.
3. This metal tab, placed at the back of the seat, forced me to scooch forward a bit.  Doing so, however, forced my knees even further into the seat in front of me.
4. I then tried to straighten my legs just a few inches to relieve the pressure on my knees, but as I did so, I realized that there is another metal plate angled down from the bottom of the seat in front of passengers.  This plate digs into riders' shins preventing them from straightening their legs to remove their knees from the backs of the seats in front of them.
5. And lock riders into place, the pièce de résistance, are the limited "reclinability" of the seat backs.  This ensures that passengers cannot escape from the various features I've described here.

Most of us prefer not to complain about less-than-optimal service.  However, the situation with the ChicagoDASH buses go well beyond being "less-than-perfect."  The design flaws are so blatant that one is left wondering two things:  Have the seat manufacturers previoulsy built bus seats?  And who are the decision-makers who selected and purchased these seats?