Quixoticgeek2d ago

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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Show threadQuixoticgeek2d 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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Show threadQuixoticgeek2d 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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Show threadQuixoticgeek2d 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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Show threadJB (he/him)2d ago
@quixoticgeek
Radical bench accessibility at Salesforce Park in San Francisco
Show threadPalmAndNeedle2d ago
@jbm3 @quixoticgeek too short to lie down on, aggressively curved which makes them uncomfortable to sit on after about twenty minutes. Defensive architecture in disguise
Show threadNilaJones

@PalmAndNeedle @jbm3 @quixoticgeek

Yes, this is a perfect example of hostile architecture disguised as accessibility

Too short to lie on, too uncomfortable to sit on for long

Too small to sit on with a friend, unless you have your arms around each other

Too far apart to have a comfortable conversation if you are sitting on adjacent benches

A ridiculous number of benches all grouped together, presumably meeting some design spec that said they had to have that many scattered along the path. Put them all together, and then the rest of the path doesn't have to have any!

The only good thing about them, which I feel sure was done out of ignorance rather than intent, is that the spacing between and the lack of armrests means it would be comfortable for a person in a wheelchair to sit next to a person on a bench

Mar 31 at 5:39amWeb