There's a genuine reason why bus seats are covered in crazy patterns

If there's one thing that public transport is well known for, it's their bold - and often hideous - seat patterns.

And you've probably never question why that is - perhaps the seat designer just had a preference for garish colours?

However, a video has been doing the rounds on social media that shows the amount of dust that has accumulated in a bus seat in Poland.

Take a look:

Now, you maybe wondering what this all has to do with the patterns on a bus seat?

And you never know when you might need this info - after all, pub quizzes are only getting more difficult.

Plus, it's always worth remembering how generally bad fashion and design was in the 80s, so we never return to those times.

Anyway, the actual reason they design the seats so badly is to hide just how minging they are. That doesn't make any sense, right? Give us a moment.

Bus seats are ugly because they're designed in such a way, using complex, mind-altering algorithms, so that our eyes are distracted from all the actual muck and grime that can be found on them.

YouTube/KubulMKM

To the commuter's eye, it almost always seems relatively clean, when in actual fact, there is all kinds of dirt and grime on there that we would only be able to see if the seat fabrics were plain. It's an illusion, basically, because we absolutely dread to think what kinds of things are on there.

The BBC also reported that this is one of the key reasons - but also explained that there are several others, too.

First up, there's the fabric to consider.

"Transport for London has historically adopted a wool moquette fabric," Harriet Wallace-Jones, co-founder of Wallace Sewell - the UK-based design studio that's designed fabrics for TFL - told the BBC in 2018.

"Wool is naturally flame retardant, and moquette is a pile fabric which has more durability than a flat woven cloth. The fabric is usually a mix of cut and uncut pile, which also makes it more durable."

The London Transport Museum also backs this up, writing on their website: "Moquette was chosen for public transport for two reasons.

Getty Stock Images

"First, because it is hard wearing and durable. Second, because its colour and patterns disguise signs of dirt, wear and tear.

"On top of this moquette had the advantage of being easy and cheap to mass-produce."

There's also the problem that fashions and trends often pass pretty quickly, so if you go for something that looks great at the time, chances are it'll look naff within months.

Thankfully, someone's managed to see the beauty in all of it, having chosen to craft some unique trainers from some upcycled bus seat fabric.

The distinctive shoes were a publicity stunt by First Buses in Ashton, Tameside, as the latest step in the firm's green policy, Manchester Evening News reported.

Aimed as an interesting way of using up old materials no longer needed, the shoes - which were designed by recycling company Above and Beyond - were not only made using fabric from bus seats, but also the rubber from the tyres of disused buses.

Definitely a look, eh?

Topics: Travel, Weird

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Senior Journalist at LADbible. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign. He is in charge of the LADbible Australia editorial content and social presence.

@stewartperrie