New York Authorities Are Taking A Stand Against Men Who Sit With Their Legs Wide Open On Subway (AKA Man Spreaders)

For as long as anyone can remember, man spreaders have dominated public transport.

Sitting with their legs wide open and sprawling over multiple seats, their disregard for fellow commuters has inspired Tumblr accounts and fueled many feminist rants (my own included).

But we're pleased to announce that their seat-hogging days are numbered. New York authorities are calling time on people who take up too much space on public transport and these guys are going down.

Evidence from just one of the blogs dedicated to man spreaders, yourballsarenotthatbig.tumblr.com

The campaign, headed by Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), is targeting anyone who takes up too much space on public transport - including man spreaders, big backpack wearers and those twats who pile their bags on the seat next to them.

MTA board member Charles Moerdler, told New York AM Network, that he wanted to ban backpacks after he travelled the subway with his granddaughter whose was "sticking out a mile back".

"I believe that you ought to get them off the back and onto the floor so they don't hit people when you make an inadvertent movement or the train comes to a sudden stop," Moerdler said.

The campaign's slogan is 'courtesy is contagious'. But as courtesy doesn't seem to be translating to all passengers just yet, the MTA have decided to be more forceful in their approach.

"What we need to do is focus on it so that people will understand that it's the right thing to do," Moerdler said. "When you get to the hard-core violators and courtesy doesn't work, then you have to take enforcement action."

Sounds good to us, let's just hope London Underground get the memo...