Metro stops can be quite long, sometimes taking several minutes to walk end to end. Experienced riders, while waiting for their train, will walk to a specific place, so that they can exit or transfer out of the station as soon as they step off the train.
But if you're new to a line, you don't know where the exits are. The proposal is to put "ghost" exits at every metro stop, so that you know where all the exits and transfer points are for all the stops on the line. Some sort of indicator saying "if you were at the Morgan Av stop, this would be the exit to Bogart St". This could be a subtle sign or a drawn doorway like in Beetlejuice.-- calculust, Sep 26 2009 The title is alluring, and the idea appealing. +-- blissmiss, Sep 26 2009 There wasn't a ghost exit when it got on the internet, now it's lost.-- kaz, Sep 27 2009 I agree with UnaBubba.
An eminently sensible, cheap and effective way of getting people on and off trains more efficiently? Which could be implemented in a week by a few workers with spraycans and stencils? Good God man, this is the Halfbakery!
In other words, this is one of those "so simple I can't believe I didn't think of it myself" moments of pure genius. [+]-- BunsenHoneydew, Sep 27 2009 I really like the idea, it's very charming, but I worry about its practicality. One, out here, trains don't always stop in the same spot, so you might be a little off - not enough to make it completely useless, but it's not quite as cool; two, tired and disoriented tourists will spot the name of their destination and hastily hop out of their train, then mill about for hours looking for the exit whose ghost they saw.-- jutta, Sep 27 2009 Some guy in the UK has developed an app for the iPhone that tells you the exits in all of the Tube platforms based on the carriage number. I haven't bought it yet as I tend to remember the more frequently used stations. The problem cmes when you are unsure of which direction the train is coming from.-- gnomethang, Sep 27 2009 Nice - the underground trains in London always stop at the same place so you can always know where to stand on the platform to have the train doors stop right in front of you, and you can always know which door of the carriage to get off the train to line up with the exit.-- hippo, Sep 27 2009 random, halfbakery