the seated-to-standing ratio is the ratio between the number of passengers that can be seated and the number of standing passengers on a public transport vehicle. a higher standing ratio allows for more passengers in a given area, but detracts the perceived quality of the transport, in particular over long distances. this metric is normally limited to urban mass transit, due to intercity transport normally only offering seated travel. on longer haul services, bilevel cars are often used to allow for increased seating, though this increases the dwell time at stations, making increased seating ratio versus service time tradeoffs.