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.
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.
Cool idea, but hooking your arm through it looks like a great way to break said arm if you stop fast.
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.
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 if one were stuck inside two metal bars.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
Yeah, they’re pretty common on newer train cars.
Also, obligatory San Francisco BART picture.
Where I’m they’re very common.
These are pretty common where i live. You will be thankful to find a spot to hold on to on rush hour though.
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.
Sea-tac?
I think it’s Denver. I could be wrong though.
Denver was my guess too. I vaguely remember these when I visit my home town.
what, nobody is going to mention that this is a stripper pole for my overweight mother?
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.
Don’t put your arm through it. Just don’t. OSHA does not approve putting your arm between metal bars on anything moving.
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.
Denver
Denver’s trams
Denver
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!
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.
