Men in New York will have to keep their legs closed on the subway from now on

On public transport, leg space (and space in general) is at a premium at the best of times, in particular during rush hour.

However, that rarely stops a lot of men from sitting down with their legs spread taking up two seats, or possibly even more, depending on how often they do yoga. Those days may be at an end, at least for New Yorkers, as the Metro Transit Authority (MTA) have stepped in to put an end to the spread-eagle man on the subway.

According to DazedDigital.com, the new campaign will aim to raise awareness of the fact that displaying your groin to a train full of people is bad form, and it will be called "something new, something fresh". Don't ask us the connection there, but the MTA think it will work anyway.

It all kicks off in January, and it will also focus on getting people to remove their backpacks and bags so that they're not bashing in to other passengers with them either. Until then, you can enjoy one of the many social media pages set up to poke fun at the men who spread their legs on trains and public transport, like this rather magnificent Tumblr page.