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The MTA’s $20M plan to reduce subway delays includes these directional floor mats


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The MTA’s $20M plan to reduce subway delays includes these directional floor mats
 

Gee thanks, MTA

 

by Shannon Liao   Jul 11, 2017, 11:20am EDT
mtamatswelcome17.0.jpgPhoto by Scott Lynch / Gothamist

 

If you live in or have recently visited the Big Apple, you may be familiar with this phrase: “We’re experiencing train traffic ahead of us. We apologize for any inconvenience.” I have actually memorized this phrase because I hear it nearly every other day on the way to work. The F train got stuck and nearly suffocated riders in the summer heat, and then the A train derailed and injured dozens of people. The MTA delays have gotten so bad that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo had to declare a state of emergency for the subway in June.

 

As part of the MTA’s $20 million plan to repair the nearly century-old transit system, it’s now installing a solution so simple, it’s amazing how this eluded us clueless straphangers this whole time: directional floor mats. The arrows point left, right and straight ahead, guiding passengers where to move into the train.

                                                     

“The arrows encourage customers to move into the train and away from the doors in order to improve dwell times at stations,” MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz told the New York Post. The mats are currently being tested on two C trains. “Allowing customers to board and unload trains in a streamlined manner is key to reducing the amount of time a train needs to stay in a station.”

 

Never mind that the public company, overseen by the NY state government, is in massive debt ($36.7 billion as of last October) and can’t sustain the over 1.7 billion riders that use the train annually. These ingenious floor mats surely solve the problem.

 

Source: https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2017/7/11/15952804/nyc-mta-plan-subway-delays-debt-placemats-arrows

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If a comprehensive campaign on subway etiquette didn't work, what makes the MTA think these mats will?  Yes, Grand Central (the (4)(5)(6) platforms) are very efficient, but it's not just the "STEP ASIDE" tiles--there's many platform controllers at the station and at Union Square.  They really need to have more of them to enforce this, not signs or mats.

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If a comprehensive campaign on subway etiquette didn't work, what makes the MTA think these mats will?  Yes, Grand Central (the (4)(5)(6) platforms) are very efficient, but it's not just the "STEP ASIDE" tiles--there's many platform controllers at the station and at Union Square.  They really need to have more of them to enforce this, not signs or mats.

That and more civilized riders... The announcements also seem to help.  They need to run them on the trains Uptown.  Teach folks how to have manners and let people disembark before others board.

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Man this is gonna work so well.......NOT! First of all, the only reason most people are near the doorway rather than it being crowded is so they can lean on the door, thus making it the second most comfortable place on the train. They already have announcements at stations and trains but that clearly doesn't deter people. The constant announcements at Grand Central certainly helps passenger flow because they repeat it constantly when a train pulls into the station but the HVACS are mad loud.

 

 

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Bright, contrasting colors, that's how.

 

As a person who believes heavily in the scientific method, I prefer to give it time and see results before making judgement.

 

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That would be a lawsuit waiting to happen over here because of how oversensitive some people are.

Everything is sexual harassment in the West. It’s even your fault when photons bouncing off a lady’s romp happens to make it to your retina for more than a few seconds.

But how will passengers see it if people are all over it?

Repetition. Some people will board emptier trains and see these floor mats. The next time when they are on a crowded train, even though people are obscuring the view of the floor mat, their brains will automatically fill in the details.

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Everything is sexual harassment in the West. It’s even your fault when photons bouncing off a lady’s romp happens to make it to your retina for more than a few seconds.

 

Repetition. Some people will board emptier trains and see these floor mats. The next time when they are on a crowded train, even though people are obscuring the view of the floor mat, their brains will automatically fill in the details.

Glad someone else here gets it.

 

It's depressing how quick NYers are to write something off.

 

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More window dressing to avoid the systemic causes of the shortcomings of today's system which have been 60 years in the making...

And we ALL know that the people who control the money ain't trying to put it up.

 

So what's the complaint? Or rather, are you directing said complaint in the right direction?

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