Mastodawn

My train journey home starts with another accessibility rant (sorry, I've got an hour on a train and I didn't bring a book). Time to talk about something few think of as an accessibility aid

Benches

Most people take for granted that they can stand for half an hour or an hour to wait for a train. But for a surprisingly high number of people. Standing for even a few minutes can be agony. These people might not look like they need accessibility aids. But not being able to sit can be a problem
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Quixoticgeek 2d ago

As part of the ongoing enshittification of the built environment, benches have been disappearing. This is because people moan that the benches get used, by homeless people who use them to lay down on. Or youths who hang out on them. The former is often countered by seat designs that stop a person laying down. It's called hostile architecture. People put effort into making bother people uncomfortable. Rather than solving homelessness. Which is something that's really easy to solve.
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Quixoticgeek 2d ago

How? Give people homes. I know, it's radical isn't it.

Don't want youths hanging around. Give them a viable 3rd place. But that would require effort.

Much easier to remove benches. Or replace them with leaning planks. Which somehow make for a position even more uncomfortable than standing.

The station I just got on at has some benches. But they are positioned poorly. Either where there's no shelter from the wind/rain. Or towar the rear of the train. When I need to be at the front.
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Quixoticgeek 2d ago

The worst one for this is Schiphol. Which last time I was there had benches at the end of the platform. But beyond the stopping point for the train. So when your train arrives you have to get up and hurry back down the platform to the front door to get on. All stations should have properly sheltered waiting facilities, with comfortable seats, protected from the sun, the wind, and the rain, which somehow today we have all three at the same time...

It's basic accessibility. It's just polite.
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Charlie Stross 2d ago

@quixoticgeek I thought the whole idea at Schiphol was that the station is just there to ferry passengers to/from the airport, so it's very much an afterthought?

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Lalufu

@cstross @quixoticgeek It is, and as such I think it does a somewhat reasonable job of it given the constraints. It's as close to the airport as it could possibly be, it's protected from the elements and can be accessed without going outside as well.
Could it be larger? Not sure, honestly, although I think I've heard talks about adding a 4th platform. It's not very large for the amount of traffic it sees, which may explain the lack of benches as well.