A different rule of thumb, would be that businesses are to make money for their owners. So by having more passengers on a train, it would seem safe to assume that the train would be netting more money.
So if SMRT can fit more people into less space on their trains, they should be able to make more money per train (at peak hours at least).
So while riding the train and trying to maintain my own pocket of space today, an idea was fell out of the air and into my head. Here goes.
I noticed that one of the groups of people who took up the least space for money paid were couples standing in loving embrace. This was because they would stand closer to each other than 2 people who don't know each other, or even 2 close friends. So if we can get people to stand closer, we can fit more people in.
Okay, but I also realized that not many of us want to be embracing random strangers.
So how? Stand back to back. Even then I don't like being touched, even if it's not by a hand.
So how? Shove a divider between us. A divider like the kind you find next to the corner seats, only here it is placed in the middle, running along the length of the carriage. But then that'll make moving within the train more difficult.
So how? Create gaps. Instead of a continuous Plexiglas divider, we have a few different dividers, probably next to the poles.
So we would have something roughly like this:
The red spots are the positions of the poles.
The green lines are the proposed dividers.
The dark gray things are the doors.
The seats aren't drawn because I was too lazy.
And to expand my idea a little more, maybe they could have raised bumps (like between seats) on the dividers so that people will follow and fit into lean-against panels.
Alternatively, just import more people from overseas. Maybe people from overseas have different expectations of personal space, or don't mind being touched.
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I think my blog is quite speed readable, this is intentional, and if you think otherwise, tell me about it.
Other than that, I'm quite happy about having random ideas again. Even if they're not the best ideas. Oh and I can open my eyes underwater in the pool, although the gray tint of everything when I come out worries me. Need to start running though :/
