Subway Compass on Sidewalk in NYC (Photo: NY Times)
Anyone who has used a major subway system, whether or not they’ll admit it, has gotten turned around emerging from the stairwell. I’ve got a degree in Geography and I don’t mind admitting that I once exited a subway station heading towards Times Square in NYC and somehow ended up closer to Cape Cod.
The City of New York, in cooperation with local business groups and transit, has started a pilot program that involves putting pizza-sized compass decals on the sidewalk outside major stations that indicate cardinal directions and the location of nearest streets (see photo above).
From the NY Times:
One of the decals that officials showed off yesterday is on 42nd Street near Third Avenue, outside a passageway between a Starbucks and a Foot Locker store that leads to and from the subway. It got mostly good reviews from people who noticed it as they walked by.
“I know where to go, but that doesn’t mean I know which direction I’m facing,” said Kevin Boyle, a student at Borough of Manhattan Community College. “If you can put celebrities’ handprints in the ground, you can tell people where to go.”
City officials hope the decals will end a familiar pedestrian routine of squinting, walking, squinting and maybe turning around.
This is one of the few examples we’ve seen of something like this, other than signs at certain bus stations pointing to which exit faces each street. It’ll be worth watching how this works for New York, as this is a fairly inexpensive way to fight rider intimidation.
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