Deavan
02-08-2007, 10:24 AM
Metrorail Car's Trial Run Lets Short Riders Get a Grip
By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 8, 2007; A01
It's rush hour, and riders are packed into a Metro train tighter than, well, sardines in a can. Could it be any worse? Yes, you could be the short sardine.
It's next to impossible to find something to hold on to. The floor-to-ceiling poles are filled with grubby hands. The overhead bars are hopelessly out of reach. So many wannabe straphangers stand anchorless, stuffed into the armpits of the taller throngs around them, hoping the train doesn't jerk to a stop.
After years of pleas from the height-challenged, Metro responded yesterday with a single rail car designed to help short people: It has spring-loaded overhead handles that pull down eight inches from standard ceiling bars.
The car will run on the Green, Red and Orange lines, and managers will use video cameras to monitor passenger reaction for up to three months before deciding whether to install the handles in more cars.
"I think they could be adjusted downward," said Metro board Vice Chairman Chris Zimmerman, 5-foot-9-ish, looking for the handles to be angled a touch more favorably as he tested them on Car No. 6027. "If it looks like they have the potential to improve the quality of the ride, hopefully we can deploy them on more of the fleet."
On Metro's newer cars, which operate on the Green Line, overhead bars suspended from the ceiling are 6 feet 4 inches from the floor. (The bars are even higher on older cars.) The spring-loaded handles, when pivoted downward, are 5 feet 8 inches from the floor.
It's the first time in Metro's 31-year history that managers considered height in a car design. Even on cars rolled out last fall, the short came up short.
"It wasn't on anyone's radar," said Jeff Pringle, 6 feet 7, a senior program manager.
Nationally, the average height of a man age 20 to 74 was 5 feet 9 1/2 in 2002, the most recent numbers available from the National Center for Health Statistics. The average height of a woman was 5 feet 4.
Nancy Iacomini, a bit below average at 5 feet 2, said she's a fan of the new handles. "I like them," said Iacomini, a member of Metro's Riders Advisory Council and a longtime commuter.
Brenda Estes, 5 feet 3, also gave a thumbs up. "They need those on the buses, too," she said.
Oswaldo Reyes, 5 feet 6, said the handles would give people something to grab on to and prevent falls. "Es mejor para la seguridad," he said. Better for safety.
But for riders such as Anne Herrmann, who is 85 and 4 feet 9, the handles are still too high. "I try to use those vertical poles, and I try to avoid real rush hour," she said. As the train pulled into King Street, she reached for a handle but missed by several inches. "No way," she said, as she got off the train.
Some rider advocates said Metro should test the handles in more cars. "Shorter riders shouldn't have to search for the one car in the whole Metrorail system that is equipped with these handles," said Jack Corbett, 6 feet 7, of MetroRiders.org.
The handles were installed on one of the new rail cars on the Green Line. Finding something to grab on to in those cars is especially tough, because they were designed to reduce crowding at doors, so floor-to-ceiling poles, the lifeline of the short, were removed.
People of below-average or even average height are left reaching for a seat back or an overhead bar, if anything at all.
"I always try not to use the overhead bar, because they're kind of uncomfortable, especially if you have a backpack or a shoulder strap of a purse on your shoulder," said Shelagh Bocoum, 5 feet 5, who commutes from Fort Totten to downtown Washington. Plus, she noted, "it's not fun to have people's underarms in your face."
Metro officials said they tried to make up for the lack of vertical poles by adding more seat-back-to-ceiling poles and a second row of ceiling bars. But riders said those are all hard to reach, especially in crowds.
So they rely on strategies honed over years of experience.
Iacomini goes first for the vertical poles on older trains. "It's like that game with the baseball bat, where you're trying to fit as many hands on the bat as possible, and here we are, these littler people, trying to put your hand on, and you look at these six-foot-tall people and you're thinking to yourself, 'Their hands have to go higher.' "
In the center of the car, if she reaches for a seat-back railing and misses, "you end up grabbing a woman's hair or a man's scarf," she said.
"What I try to do is get a hand on the windscreen," she said, referring to the panels that protrude from the doors, a spot where Metro officials don't want people to stand. "I bend my knees slightly and sway a little bit. It's a Zen moment. I become one with the car."
It's not so great being tall, either, some riders said.
Jeff Aron, 6 feet 5 1/4 , said he usually has to duck when he gets in and out of trains to avoid bumping his head against overhead bars. He's been riding the Red Line for 12 years, so he's used to the routine. "I'm aware of where I am and what I have to do," he said.
By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 8, 2007; A01
It's rush hour, and riders are packed into a Metro train tighter than, well, sardines in a can. Could it be any worse? Yes, you could be the short sardine.
It's next to impossible to find something to hold on to. The floor-to-ceiling poles are filled with grubby hands. The overhead bars are hopelessly out of reach. So many wannabe straphangers stand anchorless, stuffed into the armpits of the taller throngs around them, hoping the train doesn't jerk to a stop.
After years of pleas from the height-challenged, Metro responded yesterday with a single rail car designed to help short people: It has spring-loaded overhead handles that pull down eight inches from standard ceiling bars.
The car will run on the Green, Red and Orange lines, and managers will use video cameras to monitor passenger reaction for up to three months before deciding whether to install the handles in more cars.
"I think they could be adjusted downward," said Metro board Vice Chairman Chris Zimmerman, 5-foot-9-ish, looking for the handles to be angled a touch more favorably as he tested them on Car No. 6027. "If it looks like they have the potential to improve the quality of the ride, hopefully we can deploy them on more of the fleet."
On Metro's newer cars, which operate on the Green Line, overhead bars suspended from the ceiling are 6 feet 4 inches from the floor. (The bars are even higher on older cars.) The spring-loaded handles, when pivoted downward, are 5 feet 8 inches from the floor.
It's the first time in Metro's 31-year history that managers considered height in a car design. Even on cars rolled out last fall, the short came up short.
"It wasn't on anyone's radar," said Jeff Pringle, 6 feet 7, a senior program manager.
Nationally, the average height of a man age 20 to 74 was 5 feet 9 1/2 in 2002, the most recent numbers available from the National Center for Health Statistics. The average height of a woman was 5 feet 4.
Nancy Iacomini, a bit below average at 5 feet 2, said she's a fan of the new handles. "I like them," said Iacomini, a member of Metro's Riders Advisory Council and a longtime commuter.
Brenda Estes, 5 feet 3, also gave a thumbs up. "They need those on the buses, too," she said.
Oswaldo Reyes, 5 feet 6, said the handles would give people something to grab on to and prevent falls. "Es mejor para la seguridad," he said. Better for safety.
But for riders such as Anne Herrmann, who is 85 and 4 feet 9, the handles are still too high. "I try to use those vertical poles, and I try to avoid real rush hour," she said. As the train pulled into King Street, she reached for a handle but missed by several inches. "No way," she said, as she got off the train.
Some rider advocates said Metro should test the handles in more cars. "Shorter riders shouldn't have to search for the one car in the whole Metrorail system that is equipped with these handles," said Jack Corbett, 6 feet 7, of MetroRiders.org.
The handles were installed on one of the new rail cars on the Green Line. Finding something to grab on to in those cars is especially tough, because they were designed to reduce crowding at doors, so floor-to-ceiling poles, the lifeline of the short, were removed.
People of below-average or even average height are left reaching for a seat back or an overhead bar, if anything at all.
"I always try not to use the overhead bar, because they're kind of uncomfortable, especially if you have a backpack or a shoulder strap of a purse on your shoulder," said Shelagh Bocoum, 5 feet 5, who commutes from Fort Totten to downtown Washington. Plus, she noted, "it's not fun to have people's underarms in your face."
Metro officials said they tried to make up for the lack of vertical poles by adding more seat-back-to-ceiling poles and a second row of ceiling bars. But riders said those are all hard to reach, especially in crowds.
So they rely on strategies honed over years of experience.
Iacomini goes first for the vertical poles on older trains. "It's like that game with the baseball bat, where you're trying to fit as many hands on the bat as possible, and here we are, these littler people, trying to put your hand on, and you look at these six-foot-tall people and you're thinking to yourself, 'Their hands have to go higher.' "
In the center of the car, if she reaches for a seat-back railing and misses, "you end up grabbing a woman's hair or a man's scarf," she said.
"What I try to do is get a hand on the windscreen," she said, referring to the panels that protrude from the doors, a spot where Metro officials don't want people to stand. "I bend my knees slightly and sway a little bit. It's a Zen moment. I become one with the car."
It's not so great being tall, either, some riders said.
Jeff Aron, 6 feet 5 1/4 , said he usually has to duck when he gets in and out of trains to avoid bumping his head against overhead bars. He's been riding the Red Line for 12 years, so he's used to the routine. "I'm aware of where I am and what I have to do," he said.