In the week before Christmas some subtle changes to a number of rail stations were made, the glass back wall of the shelters have been adorned with prints of various New Zealand plants. My understanding is that this serves two purposes, one is that it helps to make the stations more attractive but the other and more important function is to help prevent graffiti, both the paint and etching variety which also helps to make the stations more attractive and inviting.
I also believe that some bus stops may have had similar treatment and while it might not seem important and its only a little thing, it all adds up to helping make public transport more attractive which is one of the key things to help grow patronage. I have also seen some Fern and Kowhai images.
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Little things can make a big difference. It tells us how much “of a damn” a city gives about various parts of its transport system. We have become much much much better over the past couple of years at maintaining and doing small upgrades to the rail network – so that it now actually feels like the city “gives a damn” about it.
I like it – I hope this isnt a one off, as these should need replacing occasionally (every few years).
Good to see Ellerslie Station Coming along nicely tonight… I hope they install these there too, as Ellerslie is one of the most critical ‘faces’ of the rail network to non-train users
Noticed the ones at Ranui yesterday, and thought they looked awesome.
Excellent Post Matt
I have noticed these flora designs also at Papatoetoe, Glen Innes and Puhinui as well.
It is the small things that often count and these designs on the stations do make what it is an often open and wind beaten place that more attractive and inviting.
I wonder if the PA systems in the station shelters should be playing soft “nature” sounds of birds, trees and waterfalls or classical music like you get at some shopping malls during day light hours to act as a calming measure or a deterrent against “riff raff” on the platforms. Might sound crazy but you never know.
As for Ellersile, must remind myself to go get some pics after work today of the station 🙂
Yeah, the music stuff does make a difference to antisocial behaviour. They did this on key stations of the tyne & wear metro when I lived in Newcastle, but I’m not quite sure whether I liked classical music as a regular user 🙂
More related to the post… what’s going on at Kingsland? Now the RWC is over they seem to be pfaffing around even more, only this time it’s becoming more and more the odd one out compared to other stations – unusual canopies etc….
LOL. Yeah Classical Music might drive some bats. I was talking to a counterpart about the idea, he likes it but we should play Rock and on the stations with a heavy loading some Death Metal.
Just say my mouth dropped on that; I said “you are meant to be calming the passengers, not winding them up into some frenzy before the train arrives 😛 ”
But then again some rock and death metal could also deter the “riff raff” – and 3/4 of rail commuters!
As for Kingsland, I am looking at Kingsland now and am stumped on what they are doing there. Maybe some works for the sake of works (like road works digging a hole for the sake of digging a hole 😉 )
Wonder if he had this song in mind http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwMQcF2ZOSs&feature=fvst 😀
Don’t think they did it on any other day but the first day of RWC they were playing dance music the PA at Kingland
Kingsland got extra shelters for the RWC, the plan was always to leave the existing ones there until after the tournament then replace them with the same style as the new ones. They seemed to take the old shelters down quite carefully so I imagine that much of it could be reused at another station that needs upgrading.
Also they play classical music on the overbridge at Henderson but the intention of it is to deter bored youths gathering there and causing trouble
That reminds me of the stations in Japan that play birdsong before a PA announcement. Needless to say it is a shock to find yourself 6 storeys underground listening to birds.
that’s pretty! Good work Auckland Council. Nice for pedestrians walking past too…
Certainly like these floral patterns on the stations. All stations should get them. Speaking of design and colouring, what can we do to ensure that the external colouring of the new EMUs don’t end up looking tacky like the current DMUs? I hate the yellow on the front of the DMUs. Its awful. As the MAXX colouring is predominantly silver/grey and dark blue on their signage, I think that the EMU external colouring should also be just silver grey and dark blue.
I assume it will be AT that determines the colour of the EMU’s but there are probably requirements around how much yellow needs to be on the front for safety purposes to aid visibility at level crossings.
This tweaking train stations is the best idea since sliced bread. Overdue that they need to do it to suburban bus shelters as well.
Matt L, with all level crossings being ‘controlled’ as they say, surely there’s no need for yellow on the front of the EMUs.
I don’t know if there are rules around the amount of yellow or not. Also just because they are controlled doesn’t mean that level crossings are safe given the number of people that risk their lives by crossing even though the bells/barrier arms are activated.