OBSERVATION: The Hong Kong MTR and other public facilities have deafening prerecorded audio messages urging passengers to hold the handrail as they ride — which typically fall on deaf ears in one of the world’s noisiest cities.
SOLUTION: Provide new brightly-colored yellow rubber handrails with hand pictograms to provide subliminal visual cues for passengers to hold on — young children are very likely to place their own hand directly upon the image of the hand, and might help train them to hold on as they ride.
Could new escalator handrails be provided which improve passenger safety? Could these same handrails be of a new high-tech material that is not only anti-microbial, but might even actively cleanse one’s hands and fingertips as they grip, improving hygiene levels across the city?