Second Letter to Sprawl & Crawl - Oct 19, 2005

Steve,

Thank you for publishing my letter and the response from Metro.

"With the new use of eight-car trains that require perfect stops, can't the same magic be applied to all trains? It's hard to know where to stand in line for the door, as no two trains stop at the same spot. In London and other subway systems, they mark where the doors will be and people queue up for ease of boarding without accidentally blocking the doors."The reason that won't work is that Metro runs a variety of train consists (yes, consists) and the "match-up" for the doors on the four-, six- and eight-car trains are different. If you had loading areas for each, the platforms would look like the pavement at an elementary school where the kids are playing hopscotch.

My follow on question is … with the use of some simple engineering, Metro should be able to mark the pavement using lights, and not require a hopscotch board. The three ideas that come to mind are:
Embed lights or LEDs into the “bumpy domes along the platform edge” and only turn on the lights that mark the location of doors for the on-coming train.
Use laser light technology to light up the platform in the location for the doors, using a source from above embedded in the ceiling.
Use laser light technology to light up the platform in the location for the doors, using a source from the edge of the train platform.

I believe that a pilot project could provide a proof of concept at a transfer station where the benefits of this technology could provide the greatest benefit.

Thanks,
I. Michael Snyder
Applicant for RAC
metro@imsnyder.com