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Study: Straphangers' Poor Behavior Adding To Subway Delays

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Poor behavior by straphangers is adding to subway delays, according to a new study.

The study by Hunter College found that riders at 12 percent of all subway stops are not able to exit train cars before others get on. When trains are crowded, that number jumped to 20 percent.

"When you have people that are not able to exit cars while others rush on, that can cause significant delays in subways and lead to very adverse circumstances for riders," Hunter College Professor Peter Tuckel told 1010 WINS.

The study also looked at "manspreading," a term used for men who deprive other passengers of a seat by spreading their legs in a wide V.

It found that almost 10 percent of men engage in "manspreading," but said the behavior dramatically decreases as the number of riders goes up.

"When the cars are not very crowded, the incidents of 'manspreading' is considerably higher than when the cars are crowded, so this suggests that 'manspreading' is not a biologically based phenomenon due to the body dimensions of males, as some have suggested," Tuckel said.

Other aspects of the study discovered a gender divide between men and women over who is more likely to sit or stand, finding that men are more likely to ride the subway standing up even when seats are available.

It also found that women are far more reluctant than men to ride in a car with fewer people on board.

Last year, the MTA launched a campaign to get subway riders to be courteous to their fellow passengers.

The Hunter College study was carried out in two phases in the fall of 2015 and the spring of 2016 of 40,337 passengers and 50,921 passengers respectively.

To see the full study, click here.

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