I had never seen one of these before today. They’re great. Way better than reaching for a single pole in a crowded car and wrapping your hand around some stranger’s fingers. And If you have the whole thing to yourself you can hook your arm through it.
Bonus: You should be able to put a hook around the bottom to hold your bag/umbrella. Someone measure the diameter of the pole so we can start making 3D printed hooks for this purpose!
Bonus: You should be able to put a hook around the bottom to hold your bag/umbrella.
Or yourself!
Subway rider here. I will always have one arm through my bag handle. People often get stuff stolen on commuter trains in a lot of cities.
People yoink stuff and jump off the train right before the door closes.
Cool idea, but hooking your arm through it looks like a great way to break said arm if you stop fast.
I’m not sure it’d be worse than hooking your arm through a single pole. Presumably in that scenario you’re trying to stay put, right? If you’re getting shoved hard enough to break your arm by being yanked off the pole you’re getting shoved hard enough to crack your skull against one as well.
Realistically, the only way a commenter train is going to change direction or decelerate that violently is if something derails it or slams into it.
Trains like this don’t slow down very quickly, even if you pull the emergency break. That’s why people are allowed to stand, walk, etc.
So don’t do that…
I feel like the comment above is from someone who almost never rides commuter rail.
These trains have been designed for people to stand, walk around, and sit unbuckled. They simply don’t stop that quickly.
There’s a lot of inertia when stopping on the airport trams I’ve been on with these. It could very possibly break a weak arm.
They can take about 15-20 second to decelerate in an emergency. This is a link to some train geeks talking about it.
In my experience being stuck on a lot of light rail, those numbers sound about right. Those things never stop like a car when the e brake gets pulled. It’s too dangerous to stop them quickly since people are standing, walking, and sitting without buckles and headrests.
The existence of the handrail is proof of the potential for heavy inertia
Its existence is also kind of proof that emergency stops are slow enough that people can remain standing and squeezing a poll with 5 fingers will suffice for safety.
Unless they do.
Even if you hit emergency stop, they don’t stop like a car. They take a while to slow down.
Here are some trains nerds talking about e brake times.
https://www.railroad.net/braking-deceleration-distance-or-time-of-wmata-trains-t164252.html
I was thinking more like a crash or something…
Which is pretty rare for a commuter train system with tracks that are often underground or raised above road traffic.
Especially since I think this is in the Denver airport where the trains are all computer controlled and going in a loop
E: ah I was wrong, but the comment still applies to the ones in Denver
I ride Atlanta’s MARTA for my daily commute. There’s a few stops that will spill inexperienced riders to the floor they’re so fast.
People are allowed to stand and walk around on these things. They’re not cars. They almost never come to a violent stop. Even the emergency brake takes like 15 to 20 seconds to bring one of these things to a stop.
You say this, but I see unexpected tourists fall from stopping all the time in metro systems all around the world 😂
lol. True dat. They don’t know that you have a wide stance, perpendicular to the train’s direction. You have to ride that bitch like a skateboard.
Yup this is how you do it. I ride the train standing up without holding anything all the time. If you stand perpendicular and lean during accel/decel it’s very stable. If you are facing parallel to the trains direction you’re gonna faceplant.
If this is Sea-Tac, the rails are completely walled off. Doors open onto the tram only when it arrives. Everything else is walled off, like an elevator.
Trains like this don’t decelerate that quickly when you pull the emergency break. If they did, you’d have injuries from standing, not being buckled, not having headrests, etc.
Here’s the thing, though, I know I’ve seen them, but I couldn’t tell you where to save my life. This is gonna be killing me forever now.
Definitely not Atlanta. Never been there.
OP said Seattle, but I’ve also seen them at Denver
I just saw that the OP said Seattle airport and that’s plausible for me. I’m going to choose to think that was it and save myself the mental agony.
They’re in the Atlanta airport, in the Marta trains within the airport, if you’ve flown through ATL before.
Denver’s trams
Denver
Denver
They’re common all over Europe.
Don’t put your arm through it. Just don’t. OSHA does not approve putting your arm between metal bars on anything moving.
Okay I have a crazy radical idea that is going to disrupt the entire pole industry:
4-sided poles.
Now bodies touch each other instead of just hands.
I like how you think…
mildly drunken / jet lagged / other traveler slips hand into pole, somehow grabs the far one and positions their wrist between the other two. train stops, traveler is unfamiliar with riding trains, is thrown off by weight of bags, etc, arm snaps. what a great design.
Sucks to suck
Call me crazy but I’m gonna say if you can’t hold a goddamn pole that’s on you.
Has that ever happened lol?
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/shorts/gQyZzF5aRmY?si=hAqKYKSb5HD4TbEU
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
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Atlanta?
Don’t you dare touch my hand!
what, nobody is going to mention that this is a stripper pole for my overweight mother?
Accessibilty is important!
Damnit, Son! Get off the Google box and go clean your room! I’ll be home when the lunch rush ends.
We weren’t going to say anything out of politeness but now that you said it I’m comfortable telling we call her money bags because in the right light the dollar sign tattoos on her ass makes it look like she just robbed a bank.
Neat, I like it.
Looks kinda expensive to fabricate (relative to a plain pole), though. I’d probably value-engineer it out if I were designing the train car, TBH.
Well now how am I supposed to enjoy the sensation of someone else’s sweaty hand sliding down the pole to slowly touch mine while they remain oblivious of the entire situation?
We’re not oblivious ;)
On the other hand you can solidly grope all the bums because you have such a firm grip on the pole.
Wording.
Are we not doing “phrasing” anymore?
Same difference.
Where I’m they’re very common.
That clitic broke my brain.
A fellow Denizen of Tripostia?
These are pretty common where i live. You will be thankful to find a spot to hold on to on rush hour though.
I can still remember the awkward accidental grabbing of hands in a crowded public bus when I came back from school.
