This will be hard to believe but it's true: for years and years, the Paris subway authority considered that people would not accept to "be transported laterally

This will be hard to believe but it's true: for years and years, the Paris subway authority considered that people would not accept to "be transported laterally", which means seats HAD to be either facing the front or the back of the train, NOT the side. It still goes on today; some of the newer trains now have a few seats facing the side, but that's as far as they'll go. This thinking, based on absolutely zero evidence but deeply ingrained, wastes an incredible amount of space aboard subway trains.