As subway crowding reaches new heights, the MTA is showing signs of listening — sort of. The transit agency has designed a new subway car with many features that will allow it to accommodate substantially more riders.

R211 subway car prototypes at 34th Street / Hudson Yards.

(Rebeca Ibarra/WNYC)

The R211 model has open gangways, which means no more doors in between subway cars; many of its seats flip up to make room for wheelchairs or people; and vertical poles are looped to make room for more hands.

Seats flip up to make room for wheelchairs or people and the vertical poles have space for more hands.

(Rebeca Ibarra/WNYC)

For commuters like Linda Moran, however, there's one thing missing: enough vertical poles for short people to hold onto.

"The whole grab-bar thing I think needs to be looked at again," Moran told WNYC as she checked out the prototype Friday afternoon in Hudson Yards station. 

The new model does have more horizontal grab rails, but Moran said they're even higher than the ones in today's models, and will leave short people balancing precariously in a crowded train.

The digital strip map tells you how long to each stop.

(Rebeca Ibarra/WNYC)

The new model also has some high-tech touches. The prototype has digital line maps, for example, showing how many minutes to reach each stop. Commuter Sonny Drayton from Jamaica, Queens, liked the possibility of live updates, but was skeptical about how the map will reflect delays.

"This is under ideal conditions, and we know that in New York City transit there's no such thing as ideal conditions," Drayton said. 

The subway maps will have digital touch screens.

(Rebeca Ibarra/WNYC)

Jimmy Brienzo of Astoria, Queens, said the open gangway design feels safer than the rickety N train he takes every day.

"If there's an emergency in the car right now, you pretty much are stuck in the car," he said. "This will have a lot more room for people, which is good."

Several of the new cars will have an "open gangway" design.

(Rebeca Ibarra/WNYC)

According to numbers reported to the MTA's Capital Oversight Committee, the agency is planning on spending more than $3 billion on hundreds of R211's in the coming years. (Not all of them will have an open gangway design, however.) An MTA spokeswoman said the first ones will arrive in 2020.

The R211s will be rolled out on the lettered lines; older cars will be retired.   

The MTA is taking feedback on the design of the model until Dec. 6. The prototypes are on display from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends at the Hudson Yards subway station, at 34th Street and 11th Avenue.