As a lifelong user and advocate of public transportation, I guarantee I’ve spent less time waiting for a train than you have for a parking space. On the other hand, there are other arguments that I have to concede have merit, like the fact that subway elevators will, over time, reek of rancid hobo piss. Atlanta would like to put a stop to this, and no, it won’t involve banning Falcons fans.
Instead, Atlanta has installed urine detectors on their subway elevators. Seriously. We’re not making this up. Have a somehow straight-faced report, courtesy of WSB:
It’s a urine detection device, called UDD. If a person relieves her or himself , the sensors sound the alarm and the MARTA police will be there in seconds to catch the offender in the act. There is also better lighting and a camera catching all the action. The pilot program has been in place for a month, and that daily problem dropped to one incident, in which an arrest was made. Next month, MARTA will begin installing sensors in other elevators, with the goal to have them in all 111.
So, wait, this wasn’t a custom solution? There were just urine detection devices that were ready to go out of the box? Somebody spent serious time thinking about this? Man, there’s a job you must be glad to be fired from.
Anyway, soon, you will be able to enjoy the other problems of the MARTA system without having to gag on the stench of urine in the elevators. Notice they’re not making any promises about drunken Emory students relieving themselves in the cars over New Year’s.
(Image courtesy of psuedoplacebo on Flickr.)