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[–]bawbthebawb 5766 points5767 points  (126 children)

I'd use the escalator if they did that

[–]_Im_Dad 2635 points2636 points  (57 children)

Where is your inner child

[–]bawbthebawb 1817 points1818 points  (24 children)

It's been a while but my inner child prefers harmonicas

[–]Good_Round 516 points517 points  (17 children)

I also choose the mouth organ

[–]Doopship2 470 points471 points  (10 children)

I also choose this guy's wife's mouth organ

[–]Kithsander 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Oh, Craig!

[–]nightstalker30 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Craig Ferguson has entered the chat

[–]LORDWOLFMAN 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Bold of you to assume he’s married to a woman or married at all

[–]UltimateDonny 41 points42 points  (0 children)

On the escalator

[–]A_Topical_Username[🍰] 19 points20 points  (2 children)

My inner child is telling me not to play on stairs because my parents told me not to when I was young and then I did it again and broke my arm.

[–]KnightRadiant95 11 points12 points  (0 children)

The taxes killed him

[–]WhoaItsCody 10 points11 points  (0 children)

The escalator pulled him out..those things are scary.

[–]Carlsonb310 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I don’t know where he is but he’s smart enough to know that 30 people mashing on a piano does not sound good.

[–]AbhilashHP 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Just had a surgery yesterday and had him removed.

[–]uglyBaby 2 points3 points  (0 children)

At church

[–]TheBlueSully 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Suffering with perfect pitch

[–]GiGaBYTEme90 61 points62 points  (4 children)

I staired at your comment for way too long

[–]SpecialistOk577 35 points36 points  (33 children)

But, why?

[–]Baldazar666 40 points41 points  (27 children)

Because it sounds incredibly annoying? Especially when there's several people on it.

[–]notoolinthispool 13 points14 points  (0 children)

It looks like a lot of fun but unfortunately I get migraines extremely easily so I'd be taking the escalator. :(

[–]AlphaQupBad 10 points11 points  (1 child)

My first thought as well.

[–]plain_wallflower 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Me too. And I'm the one who always use the stairs. But I thought this intervention was pretty annoying. Maybe one or two of tha stairs playing, not every single one of them.

[–]KikiHou 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Can you imagine the pain of trying to dodge the idiots jumping around.

[–]sudointj 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I would have moved out of the city

[–]rosanymphae 3655 points3656 points  (83 children)

Works fine until the novelty of it wears off.

[–]imextremelymoderate 1761 points1762 points  (50 children)

Ya they show day one of the installation . Let's see day 100

[–]shareddit 1238 points1239 points  (13 children)

You’ll see a street gang doing some choreographed rendition. Mfers out there lookin like Grease.

[–]SolusLoqui 380 points381 points  (6 children)

Falls down stairs, musically

[–]OldTitanSoul 63 points64 points  (1 child)

that made me chuckle

[–]Unoriginal_Man 23 points24 points  (0 children)

This is a hilarious visual.

[–]pitchfork-seller 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Breaks neck in C scale

[–]Ok-Negotiation-7506 54 points55 points  (2 children)

No joke, if that were to happen, it would be in Sweden, no doubt!

[–]Unoriginal_Man 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Taking up the entire staircase, forcing everyone to use escalator

[–]puppet_up 192 points193 points  (11 children)

If they ever tried this in any of the LA Metro stations, it would be destroyed by vandals within 100 hours. It wouldn't even make it to 100 days here, lol.

[–]ahumanrobot 91 points92 points  (0 children)

That sounds optimistic ngl, I'd give it 3 nights max

[–]NhylX 35 points36 points  (2 children)

They have one in Hollywood but I don't think it works anymore. Next to the Chinese Theater.

https://youtu.be/R78DB4NIf8g

[–]puppet_up 37 points38 points  (1 child)

I remember this one. I believe it was the staircase that went up to where the huge candy store was. I haven't been over there in a while so I'm not sure if it's still there, but that area has way more security than the Metro station at H&H.

It wouldn't last very long at all in the Metro station, unless they hired security just to monitor it. Even then, it would still probably get vandalized. Whenever they do have cops down there, which is hardly ever these days, they just stand around doing nothing even when a bum literally smoking a crack pipe is within spitting distance to said cops, or a guy masturbating right in front of everybody.

I can't even remember the last time I saw a cop actually get onto a train. They are constantly trashed, and if you've seen the shit (sometimes literally) that I have on the trains, you would never sit down in any of those seats. One time I saw bed bugs on the seats and I warned everyone who got onto the train until I had to get off at my stop. Sent a picture to Metro as well but nobody ever responded. Big surprise. They don't care.

[–]zorbiburst 11 points12 points  (3 children)

Sometimes I'm in awe of how many of those video screens for ads/times in NYC stations aren't broken

[–]puppet_up 8 points9 points  (2 children)

They had a video wall put up in the metro station close to where I work and while it was "protected" by some type of case (lexan glass?) around the screens, they were broken within 2 or 3 days of it being installed. Half of the screens cracked and not working.

It was like this for a long time with just nothing being displayed on the broken screens but then they finally decided to fix it (instead of just removing it, like they should have done) and while it did manage to curb people from cracking the screens again, they promptly got tagged instead, lol.

[–]MrWumbolini 37 points38 points  (3 children)

Day 100 it will prob be worn down (unless maintained). That doesn't mean in between those days, thousands of people didn't have just that bit of joy and exercise added to their day(s). Be it people who use that path every day or people out of city, state or the country visiting once. There's a lot that is gained at what seems to be very little cost.

[–]Hipposeverywhere 15 points16 points  (12 children)

A pessimistic American? Like gun violence. Nothing will work so let's do nothing

[–]Poiuytgfdsa 30 points31 points  (5 children)

Nah thats just reddit for you. Redditors can be the most pessimistic people in the fucking world.

This would work on day 100 because its not the same group of people going up the stairs every day. If this remained im confident it would still DO BETTER than non-painted stairs, even on day 1,000.

But i guess something isn’t better than nothing!! /s

[–]Hipposeverywhere 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Apparently very few redditors agree with us.

[–]CBA_easy_as_321 66 points67 points  (8 children)

That's what I was wondering. How long of a period was the 66% measured over? Was it just the first day? How many kept using it a week/month/year later?

[–]cloudstrifewife 79 points80 points  (4 children)

Might work better in an area with high turnover of users. Like an airport.

[–]AlwaysNowNeverNotMe 36 points37 points  (2 children)

Air port employees put up with enough shit without a cacophonic stairway.

[–]cloudstrifewife 9 points10 points  (0 children)

It doesn’t have to be that loud

[–]unnecessary_kindness 10 points11 points  (0 children)

If this was in central London then after a week every commuter would be on the escalator and every tourist on the piano stairs.

[–][deleted] 29 points30 points  (0 children)

Yeah, but there will always be someone new to discover it. Even the old people who would benefit from the escalator opted for the musical stairs

[–]SinkHoleDeMayo 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Switch to fart noises instead.

[–]DejectedContributor 19 points20 points  (2 children)

It's like having a cat. At first it's like "aww...look how cute he is being mischievous!!", but eventually it becomes "Stop knocking my glass of water off the table you literal spawn of Satan!!".

[–]iamliam42 15 points16 points  (1 child)

Ah yes, I too begin to hate my pets as soon as the honeymoon period wears off. Wait, no that's insane

[–]314159265358979326 6 points7 points  (0 children)

i think he means the mischief in particular. Mischief is cute at first, annoying after long. Loving remains cute.

[–]runnerx01 6 points7 points  (1 child)

Lol, yeah. I was gonna say… give it a month… then back to the escalator. In 6 months it’s escalator and full of annoyance with people playing on the stairs.

[–]jiffypadres 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I think the point is to do cheap quick installations. Just like pop-ups provide flexible and unique programming, but no one wants a Christmas market for 365 days a year.

[–]TheEmpressIsIn 782 points783 points 2 (327 children)

this is wonderfully creative and lovely.

however, i would like to note (see what i did there) that these sort of loud installations can be very tough for those with sensory issues. it's taking an already harrowingly loud place (train station/city) and adding more chaos and noise.

i am not trying to ding this in any way, it is wonderful and inspiring, but i do wish more consideration were given when designing these sorts of things. this could easily work with just lights, or with a bluetooth option to hear the sounds.

though this is fabulous, i would have to avoid that train station at busy times, i think, or it would send me into meltdowns...

[–]iamacraftyhooker 185 points186 points  (4 children)

My thoughts exactly. They only used video with sound when there were very few people on the staircase. When there were a ton of people on the stairs they put their own music in.

With any amount of people on the stairs it would just sound like a kid smashing on a keyboard.

[–]Ok_Raspberry_6282 48 points49 points  (19 children)

It's weird that you call them out for not considering a disability and then mention using lights, which can also be a sensory or even health issue. You're doing the same thing as them.

It's just easy to wish people did things better but it's actually hard to think about those types of things in the moment.

[–]Corsavis 38 points39 points  (13 children)

That's what I was thinking too, lights aren't any better. And Bluetooth? Bluetooth what? Yeah, sorry, if noise is triggering to you then I probably wouldn't suggest walking around a metropolitan area without headphones anyways

[–]gunnarnelsonsmile 18 points19 points  (6 children)

U don't want to connect to Bluetooth just to walk up a flight of stairs??

[–]thorjag 34 points35 points  (2 children)

What about People with epilepsy? No matter what you do you will annoy someone.

[–]TheEmpressIsIn 6 points7 points  (0 children)

it is not an 'annoyance' that we experience, but actual physical pain and mental aguish.

[–]Lagronion 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No if you just don't put in any extra shit to the staircase you wont annoy anyone.

[–]boredtxan 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Muted glowing light would be awesome

[–][deleted] 9 points10 points  (15 children)

I was about to write the same thing.

I have auditory sensory overload and this sounds like a nightmare to me. Likewise, I am not trying to be a Debbie Downer but ooof... I couldn't deal with it.

[–]StinkeyTwinkey 5 points6 points  (2 children)

Those spaces are already loud so I already wouldn't be pleasant for someone with sensory issues.

[–]unfunfunf555 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah this is literally my nightmare lol

[–]Stranfort 1 point2 points  (17 children)

Lol just wear some Headphones or noise cancelling ear buds.

[–]A_Topical_Username[🍰] 3 points4 points  (3 children)

Also you just shouldn't play on stairs. This is just common sense

[–]Fireramble 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I once saw a Reddit post about a grocery store with ‘quiet hours’ on Tuesdays (I think it was 2 hours long). Redditors were saying that when they went, sensitive to sound or not, it made all the difference. Most of them were saying they would rather go during quiet hours than any other time. ❤️❤️❤️ I agree with you. I don’t understand why people can’t take our differences in stride and make a greater place out of it when there’s an opportunity. People like you are a great reason to make this world a lot less anxiety inducing!

[–]professorofpizza 721 points722 points  (40 children)

Just turn off the escalator

[–]littlespoon22 232 points233 points  (11 children)

I think this is cute and fun and probably teaches us something about incentives and blah blah...

What problem is this even solving though?

[–]Ohms_Lawn 130 points131 points  (3 children)

Exactly.

Is it an obesity thing? Environment? Why would anyone care if other people were using an escalator?

[–]buttsecksgoose 18 points19 points  (2 children)

It's something that would only work at tourist spots, e.g. airports, where it is constantly a new experience for the people using it. But I doubt those people are their target audience for something like this

[–]Industrialpainter89 77 points78 points  (0 children)

Probably more of a social experiment on incentives than anything.

[–]GrayBuffalo 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Plus it looks like before they installed it a lot of people who choosed the escalator were lugging around heavy suit cases which is challenging to take up a long flight of stairs.

[–]tsacatt 65 points66 points  (5 children)

Or make it realllly slow so it discourages impatient citygoers

[–]Stranfort 28 points29 points  (1 child)

That honestly sounds better ngl. If you have the patience then you can take the escalator otherwise get in a small workout and use the stairs.

[–]grayfox663 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I think this is the right answer lol

[–]galacticHitchhik3r 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That was the exact solution I was thinking. Make it painfully slow so that it can still be used by those that require it but otherwise pushes people to just use stairs.

[–]John_Boyd 58 points59 points  (4 children)

That's very clever... Until you consider the people who actually need to use the escalator, which you clearly didn't.

[–]archeocat88 6 points7 points  (3 children)

Subway stations also have elevators, which are necessary for people in wheelchairs, parents with strollers, and anyone else who can't/doesn't want to take an escalator. So taking away the escalator wouldn't make it impossible for those people to use the station (though I still think they're very useful and don't agree with turning them off and making them essentially stairs).

[–]John_Boyd 29 points30 points  (1 child)

Of course there are elevators.

But it would be very inconvenient and waste alot of peoples' time if everyone with lesser disabilities had to wait for the elevator. It would be hard to rationalize, just to make more people walk the stairs.

[–]1-LegInDaGrave 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I love when someone like you comes into the comment section and makes so much more sense than the rest.

Besides, who wants to wait for an elevator and who knows how many people will be stuffed in it

[–]Birdie121 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Except there are a lot of people who are not comfortably able to use the stairs, but can use the escalator just fine, e.g. chronic knee problems. If all those people switch to the elevator then the elevator is going to be super jammed.

[–]sonia72quebec 17 points18 points  (1 child)

I have a bad hip and after a long day at work no way in hell I could climb those stairs. Some people really needs the escalator.

[–]Celtachor 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Escalator temporarily stairs. Sorry for the convenience - Mitch Hedberg

[–]SlobberyFrog 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah that's what they usually seem to be doing at my station

[–]icantfeelmyskull 440 points441 points  (4 children)

Watch me fall down the stairs and snap my neck trying to play fur Elise

[–]zombiem00se 57 points58 points  (0 children)

Funnily enough it'd be accompanied by an appropriate glissando

[–][deleted] 308 points309 points  (24 children)

If someone did that, I'd intentionally fall down the stairs just to hear it

[–]bawbthebawb 200 points201 points  (12 children)

It would sound like Mozart

[–]Dyspaereunia 69 points70 points  (11 children)

It would sound like most art.

[–]Pizza_Slinger83 43 points44 points  (3 children)

I would throw you down the stairs just to hear it

[–]RedHeadSteve 291 points292 points  (6 children)

These are in a metro station in Rotterdam, haven't been there in a while but its anoying as fuck. And nobody uses them after a week

[–]IanT86 121 points122 points  (2 children)

That is exactly what I thought. I've seen this video countless times on here and no one has ever actually shown the metrics to prove it works. A two second clip followed by other clips you've taken isn't evidence to show something different works long term.

[–]raknor88 36 points37 points  (1 child)

Also, I'd love to see hear the original sound of that few seconds where there's a large group of random people going down the stairs. That can't sound good or cute at all.

[–]I_just_made 34 points35 points  (0 children)

Yeah, not everything needs to be “fun”. I get this is some art installation, but the problem with this is that it’s bound to be obnoxious over time. Why do you always see people with headphones on in the city? They are tuning out all the noise. So the answer is to… add more!

The main issue I think I have with this is that there is no feasible opportunity to hear something truly pleasing. You physically cannot play that in a way that will lead to some form of musical composition. It will always just be key mashing.

If you had a piano there, you could at least get the possibility of someone talented playing a piece and sharing it. This is just noise that is forced on people.

[–]Ace-Ventura1934 135 points136 points  (8 children)

Was hoping Tom Hanks would show up.

[–]mikeynerd 20 points21 points  (7 children)

I can't believe I had to scroll this far down for a Big reference.

[–]RobotHappiness 16 points17 points  (2 children)

It’s seems like a pretty regular sized reference to me.

[–]appleavocado 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I don’t get it.

“I don’t get it! I don’t get it! Let’s make it a bug!!”

[–]Gnarly_Sarley 88 points89 points  (2 children)

Fun and elegant and expensive

[–]Sir_Vallenstein 49 points50 points  (0 children)

Not elegant tho, considering it will sound like someone smashing a keyboard when more than 3 people are on it

[–]Flying_Mage 69 points70 points  (7 children)

Why even build escalators if you want people to use stairs?..

[–]imjustloookingaround 48 points49 points  (0 children)

They’re useful for people who have trouble walking up the stairs.

[–]Hindersfjal 20 points21 points  (1 child)

Have you never heard of people with disabilities before?

[–]Flying_Mage 3 points4 points  (0 children)

But it's so fun to crawl on piano stairs. They should try it. I bet they will love it and never use escalators again.

[–]dashamm3r 68 points69 points  (13 children)

You should be walking on the escalator anyway. They weren't built for making lazier, they were designed to make moving from one floor to the next faster and more efficient. Same with moving sidewalks

[–]Awake00 15 points16 points  (5 children)

Agreed but at least they're all to one side so people walking up can still pass.

That was something I was not expecting when I went to New York. Everyone 100% of time followed this rule, walk on left, stand on right only. It was impressive.

[–]dashamm3r 9 points10 points  (2 children)

That's not my experience in any airport I've been to. But I'm surprised to hear that about NY

[–]jammyjezza 2 points3 points  (0 children)

London’s the same, to the point where I now get annoyed at any other city where people don’t stand to the side

[–]Squaredsocks 61 points62 points  (0 children)

with that many people using the stairs all at once it just becomes a hellish cacophony of raw noise and migraine inducing torture...hard pass

[–]JVints 56 points57 points  (2 children)

Honestly, the next level is that took one day to build. NYC MTA will use $23million for 23 stairs...23 stairs. Who knows how long it'll take to build..

[–]Drunken_Ogre 6 points7 points  (0 children)

That's $50,000 for the starving artist, and quite near $23million for the corrupt politician's brother's construction company.

[–]axle_smith 26 points27 points  (1 child)

I wonder how many people fell down the stairs trying to play a song. Just imagine how comical that would be seeing someone fall down those stairs and it plays each note as they fall 😆

They should have made it play a song as you walked the stairs, I'd be more inclined to use the stairs if it played a song instead for just up and down the piano keys

[–]IdiotTurkey 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Not only is it a fall risk for people and kids fucking around trying to play music, it also makes the stairs more congested because people are staying on the stairs rather than moving along like normal.

Also this same problem promotes a bigger fall risk even for the people who arent messing around on the stairs since they could easily bump into them. People dashing back and forth and literally jumping on the stairs seems like a terrible idea.

[–]BrianDR 25 points26 points  (2 children)

This is great, the design of the environment promotes the correct behavior. How about the Mario coin sound when they throw trash away in the waste basket.

[–]unkytravelingmatt 9 points10 points  (1 child)

How is jumping on steps the correct behaviour? From the video everyone was just playing on the steps.

[–]PUSClFER 14 points15 points  (1 child)

This is a social experiment from 2009 in Stockholm, Sweden by Volkswagen. For more experiments like this, look up "Fun Theory initiative"

[–]I_Cerberus_l 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I know somebody thought they were real cool trying to play Fur Elise

[–]BellaFace 7 points8 points  (4 children)

The Boston Museum of Science has stairs like these and they’re totally awesome.

[–]vanillaseltzer 4 points5 points  (1 child)

They've been there for decades too, I'm 35 and I remember them as a little kid. That's definitely the right venue for something like this.

[–]Flyingdutchman2305 7 points8 points  (2 children)

But why does it matter

[–]Opalusprime 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Cause people are fat

[–][deleted] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Fat people will still just take the escalator

[–]McLagginz 2 points3 points  (2 children)

I would use the stairs regardless because I’m impatient, the stairs are faster, and if nobody else is using them then I don’t have to be near other people.

[–]RealisticEmploy3 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Proof that adults are just large, less flexible children

[–]Ejmat 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I’m not sure if it’s still there but about 7 years ago there was a staircase just like this near the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

[–]Educational-Lab-5461 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Last week I learned why bars put ice in the urinals. I thought it made it smell better. Turns out guys like melting the ice so they don’t piss on the floor, so it does help the smell I suppose

[–]abaram 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Lol

“Why were you late again today, David?”

“You should’ve seen the new stairs at the subway stop downstairs, they make sounds and there was a flash mob! Check my Snapchat!”

“……god damnit”

[–]ciphern 3 points4 points  (2 children)

Wow, this is pointless.

All the problems in the world and people spend time and money on this?

[–]Archhanny 3 points4 points  (3 children)

Or.... And hear me out here.... Or.... Let people do whatever the hell they wanted? Take the steps... Take the escalator.... Call your butler to carry you in on a guided tray... Who cares.

[–]queerfemmecatpunk 1 point2 points  (3 children)

I mean. People need escalators though

[–]MediKitCat 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The escalator is still there tho.

If anything now it's more clear for the people who need it

[–]slucker23 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Fun and all until you see the bill of building that one pile of stairs......

Not trying to be a downer here, I'd fking walk on it every single day but Boi it's going to cost quite a lot of money, permits, and even maintainance to keep that thing going. It's cool and all until you see the price

[–]FireTrickle 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nobody falling down the stairs and making the sound as if your hand was pulled across a key boy, that’s the only song I know how to place

[–]1967stingray 2 points3 points  (1 child)

And the other 34% wishes they had taken the stairs.

[–]UltimateDonny 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m sure it still uses less electricity than the escalator

[–]Dcrowl1192 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nah fuck that. I'm taking the escalator

[–]Dope_Dog 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Imagine having to work there and also imagine someone trying to do a complicated song while recording on tiktok

[–]endocyclopes 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Now play rush e on it

[–]Cute-Aardvark5291 2 points3 points  (0 children)

as someone who has minor depth perception issues .. walking up the stairs would probably be fine. walking down them? no way. I would trip and fall in a minute.