DENVER — The fabric seats on Colorado light rail cars will soon be a thing of the past.
The Regional Transportation District (RTD) has begun transitioning the seats on its light rail vehicles from fabric to vinyl.
When RTD debuted light rail in 1994, the wool seats were seen as plush, inviting and comfortable. However, in recent years, RTD said there have been requests from customers and employees for something easier to maintain while still providing comfort.
It takes an employee an eight-hour shift to shampoo the 48 fabric seats of a train car. The new vinyl seats can be easily wiped down. The old fabric seats also fade, show stains and need replacement more often, RTD said.
The first rail cars with the new seats were put into service on Nov. 14, but the entire conversion will take about three years.
RTD plans to complete one car per week until RTD’s entire fleet of approximately 200 light rail vehicles has been converted.
RTD said the pattern on the new vinyl seats is unique to RTD. The dots symbolize the communities RTD connects across the system and RTD’s brand colors are represented in the pattern.
The design was chosen earlier this year by employees and it was created by an in-house graphic designer.
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