Meredith Munoz of Pash
@ Fort Reno
Q:What's your song for summer?
A:"'Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before' by the Smiths, hands down."
FREE RIDE
Coming Soon: More Red Platform-Edge Lights
COMMUTERS WILL BE seeing red at more Metro stations this year — and not because of delays.
The transit agency said it's planning to replace more platform-edge lights with the red light-emitting diodes it began testing at the Gallery Place-Chinatown station earlier this year. From a Metro announcement:
The transit authority is installing new red platform edge lights at the Fort Totten, L'Enfant Plaza, Metro Center, Smithsonian, Union Station, Stadium-Armory and Eisenhower Avenue Metrorail stations during the next several weeks.The lights have had a psychological effect of sorts on commuters, keeping those waiting at the platform farther back from the edge and away from moving trains.
They're also more energy efficient. According to Metro, the bulbs are supposed to last 10-12 years, and if the pilot program to replace the lights in more stations is successful, Metro could save up to $100,000 per year. The red bulbs cost $63 each.
» "Metro to Install More Red Platform Edge Lights" [WMATA]
» "Metro Unveils New Lights at Stations, on Buses" [Free Ride/Express]
Image courtesy WMATA
Posted By Michael Grass at 12:28 PM on June 7, 2007
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Addison Road
I think this is a great idea. In fact, I would love it if they installed lights that were line-specific; i.e. Green lights at PG Plaza, Red at Takoma, etc. and since they are LED, it would be easy to configure a fixture to accomodate two colors at multi-line platforms. The aesthetic value would be widely praised, I think. It would certainly quiet the folks who complain that the brutalist architecture of the system is ugly.
By Ex-Hy Hy , Posted June 7, 2007 1:54 PMamen, i think the line specific lights would be brilliant! it would be wonderful if you were standing at shaw, let's say, and the lights blinked either yellow or green to let you know which train was coming in.
By IMGoph , Posted June 7, 2007 3:31 PMTo play devil's advocate here, if there would be line-specific colored lights, what would you do with stations served by different color lines, e.g., Orange and Blue?
By mgrass , Posted June 7, 2007 4:36 PMAre you kidding? Those lights look really awful. They destroy the whole neutral monchromatic look of the platfrom and station. There have to be white LEDs they can use. The red lights remind me of those old space-gun toys that had the tacky colored lenses. Next thing you know, Metro will be "sprucing things up" by painting rail cars with gaugy ads, oh wait, they already do that...
By Mick , Posted June 8, 2007 1:07 PM