Barrier free-for-all

[GomiGirl]

While we're on the subject of train station elevators, can anyone tell me why they move so fucking slowly compared to elevators in office and apartment buildings?

Don't quote me, but I think it is to discourage people from using it instead of stairs or escalators leaving it free for the people who really need it.

I can't tell you the frustrations I have had by being pushed out of the way while being pregnant or pushing a stroller or with a baby in a carrier by people - able bodied people - rushing to get to the elevator before me. It is just rude. I just ankle tap them with the stroller.

Yes yes I know having children was my choice and people shouldn't have to make allowances for my choices but at the same, the strong in our society shouldn't be pushing past the relatively weaker.
I have seen old people and people on crutches also pushed out of the way in the stampede toward the elevator.

[Coligny]

Yes yes I know having children was my choice and people shouldn't have to make allowances for my choices but at the same, the strong in our society shouldn't be pushing past the relatively weaker.
I have seen old people and people on crutches also pushed out of the way in the stampede toward the elevator.

So, let me get my files straight:
gays are born this way, is natural instinct not their fault
wimin have kids by choice, there is nothing instinctive, cats meanwhile don't choose to be in heat, they are born this way, if they were to be able to choose, they would all be nazys anyway too busy chasing djouzes to have the time to fornicate...
But !? old people choose not to kill themselves, so they should not have priority anywhere ? no ?

and what aboot pregnant gay antisemite old cat people ?


i'm reaching the point where i will either stop giving a fuck aboot humanity or just never leave home.... ehhh the bunker... anymore...

Wait... i already barely give a fuck aboot mankind... that would not be a big step...

I'll just wait for cats to take over as the dominant species... judging by the politic tabs on fark and slashdot it's already the case in the USA anyway...

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

I can't tell you the frustrations I have had by being pushed out of the way while being pregnant or pushing a stroller or with a baby in a carrier by people - able bodied people - rushing to get to the elevator before me. It is just rude. I just ankle tap them with the stroller.

I sympathize to a point, but mums (and those dads that get involved) with strollers are among the worst offenders on trains. They refuse to hold the kids and fold up the strollers, stand in the doorways and fuck things up for many other travelers.
When my kids were tots, I never failed to fold up the stroller and carry 'em. If it was too crowded, I waited until another train or time when it would be more convenient for me and other travelers. If I was lucky, I got a seat, or gave dirty looks to anyone I thought didn't deserve to be in the priority seats until their conscience got the better of them and they rose to give me one.
Still, this is yet another issue transport companies should be trying to deal with, but clearly don't give a fuck about.

[Coligny]

There is a moderate pb with strollers... They are either... usefull... with trailing arm suspension, dampened steering, underseat cargobay, auto breaking system (dead man switch). another cargo bay between the steering handle, some even got optionnal front and tail lights...

And are an absolute abomination of bulkyness once folded... so you have to deal with a toddler AND an unstable bondoogle of carbon fiber and aluminum.

Or they are lightweight, with shoulder carrying handle and fold to be barely bigger than a golf unmbrella.
But once deployed and ready to use... The only words comming to mind are "medieval torture" No suspension, hard wheels, flimsy nylon seat, no cargo space and a chassis looking like it will fall appart at the first bump...

Soo... it's a it of a lose lose situation...

As far as i'm concerned, the best stroller evar was the Whip... and with the middle height shelved trunk it even turn into an integrated diapper changing station... plus most of the interior is easily washable... explosive vomit proof... Only problem is, there is not separate switch to disabul the front passager airbag. So if you put baby seat there, it's either front facing or you have to pop the airbag fuse from the panel under the steering wheel...

[IparryU]

While we're on the subject of train station elevators, can anyone tell me why they move so fucking slowly compared to elevators in office and apartment buildings?

Don't quote me, but I think it is to discourage people from using it instead of stairs or escalators leaving it free for the people who really need it.

I can't tell you the frustrations I have had by being pushed out of the way while being pregnant or pushing a stroller or with a baby in a carrier by people - able bodied people - rushing to get to the elevator before me. It is just rude. I just ankle tap them with the stroller.

Yes yes I know having children was my choice and people shouldn't have to make allowances for my choices but at the same, the strong in our society shouldn't be pushing past the relatively weaker.
I have seen old people and people on crutches also pushed out of the way in the stampede toward the elevator.

I usually let them go in and stand right in front of them with my son in my arms... my boy loves to hit people in the face for some reason... and he is really cute (still 2) when he does it so it is hard to lash against him... especially when some FG is lookind down at your bald spot... not too comfortable.

[matsuki]

I'd love to say "haha retarded JR architects doh" but I live in hope that there's a sliver of a chance there's a valid reason why they didn't put a ramp in. I'll take a measure and a copy of the Disabled Ramp Gradient Regulations next time I pass through

Haha, more than likely someone at JR got a kickback from the elevator manufacture I'll take a pic next time I'm at baba.

Went past today and to my untrained layperson's eye there is no fucking way you can squeeze in a ramp there (OK, you could physically do it but it'd have something like a 15 ~ 20% gradient). Any other way of squeezing a ramp in would involve remodelling the entire area.

That's what I mean, remodel it. Would still have been cheaper than the elevator. If i remember right, the left side is open and plenty of space in front and behind. for length...and then there is no reason it has to be a straight shot either...

While we're on the subject of train station elevators, can anyone tell me why they move so fucking slowly compared to elevators in office and apartment buildings?

Don't quote me, but I think it is to discourage people from using it instead of stairs or escalators leaving it free for the people who really need it.

I can't tell you the frustrations I have had by being pushed out of the way while being pregnant or pushing a stroller or with a baby in a carrier by people - able bodied people - rushing to get to the elevator before me. It is just rude. I just ankle tap them with the stroller.

Unfortunately it's hard to know if they have an actual handicap...there are conditions that you can't see and are not obvious...but I started telling the sports players, they crowd in the elevators with me and all my luggage, "You know there is an escalator just over there?"

[Dreamy_Peach]

Given the aging demographic trends, I get the impression that Tokyo is poorly prepared for coping with an aged society. Either mobility/quality of life will decline or there will be a lot of broken hips or other injuries. Maybe the elderly will just hide away somewhere, like disabled people.

[matsuki]

Given the aging demographic trends, I get the impression that Tokyo is poorly prepared for coping with an aged society. Either mobility/quality of life will decline or there will be a lot of broken hips or other injuries. Maybe the elderly will just hide away somewhere, like disabled people.

Old folks homes are popping up everywhere and the trend I've seen seems to be to send them off to the inaka...but yeah, Tokyo is probably going to become livable before 2100 thanks to it's lack of elderly friendly everything...

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

I'm still in favor of a traditional Japanese solution for dealing with the rapidly aging society....


....Battle Royale Seniors. Televised live. Round up anyone too old to work and truck 'em up north.
Give us a way to put that Forbidden Zone around Fukushima back in action, too.
Seal off the Forbidden Zone, dump the decrepits in there, arm 'em all with random weapons.
Once they're in place, the rest of us can then just sit down under the kotatsu and chomp away on the mikan as we get on the idiot box and watch 'em all slaughter themselves with increasing melodrama until there's only one left.

Much more fun than watching those grotesque creatures from Neanderthal Japan playing soccer at half pace...

[Samurai_Jerk]

While we're on the subject of train station elevators, can anyone tell me why they move so fucking slowly compared to elevators in office and apartment buildings?

Don't quote me, but I think it is to discourage people from using it instead of stairs or escalators leaving it free for the people who really need it.

If that's true, that's ridiculous.

[MrUltimateGaijin]

I dun't get the problem with the last 2... 1 show those sidestair wheelchair lifts,

The wheelchair lifts are NEVER even are turned on. When encountering one you have to locate the stationmaster and then wait 20-40 minutes for them to find the key and figure out how to turn in on. Phoning ahead helps, but 50% of the lifts are broken. Can you image how many station employees and how long it takes to carry 110kg gaijin up or down the stairs? They have to call the fire department.

The funniest major stations are Shin-Yokohama's Shinkansen platform (that required two fire and rescue squads and 1.5 hours) and Shibuya's Ginza Line (after waiting an hour, I crawled up the stairs on my belly like an alligator and a random 70+ year old lady pulled my empty wheelchair up for me).

the other is aboot some loo dining etiquette !?.

Just funning you.

losing weight could have some advantages, especially in emergencies.

[Coligny]

While we're on the subject of train station elevators, can anyone tell me why they move so fucking slowly compared to elevators in office and apartment buildings?

Don't quote me, but I think it is to discourage people from using it instead of stairs or escalators leaving it free for the people who really need it.

If that's true, that's ridiculous.japan

indeed...

[IparryU]

I'm still in favor of a traditional Japanese solution for dealing with the rapidly aging society....


....Battle Royale Seniors. Televised live. Round up anyone too old to work and truck 'em up north.
Give us a way to put that Forbidden Zone around Fukushima back in action, too.
Seal off the Forbidden Zone, dump the decrepits in there, arm 'em all with random weapons.
Once they're in place, the rest of us can then just sit down under the kotatsu and chomp away on the mikan as we get on the idiot box and watch 'em all slaughter themselves with increasing melodrama until there's only one left.

Much more fun than watching those grotesque creatures from Neanderthal Japan playing soccer at half pace...

snot

make sure you the packs of C4 strapped to them for the rebels who try to escape and for fun target practice for the lucky guys who get guns

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

make sure you the packs of C4 strapped to them for the rebels who try to escape and for fun target practice for the lucky guys who get guns

I'm up for that. But we shouldn't forget Japan has a lot of clever people and geeks, too, so we should have lots of versions of Senior Battle Royal...one for the athletic types who can draw on Japan's beautiful bushido tradition and slaughter everyone else, another for the aesthetic tradition where they could perhaps put on a noh play or tea ceremony and bore everybody else to death (maybe no televising of that one unless you plug them into a power source -- Fukushima Daiichi? -- and deliver a fatal shock when they nod off?), yet another style for ninja, another where you have to have them in manufactured pop bands and still another where the only weapons are plastic hammers.
Of course, we'd have to have a different one for each season, because Japan has four distinct seasons.
And, we'd have to make sure that the rubbish left over after each games was collected and separated properly because that is, without doubt, the most pressing issue facing this cuntry.
I'm really starting to like this idea...not only would it allow the Japanese to glorify their wonderful traditions, it would be an enormous stimulus for the economy and put the Forbidden Zone to great use.

[GomiGirl]

One on the side of Fuji-san for all those seniors who trot up it every year like damned mountain goats.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

One on the side of Fuji-san for all those seniors who trot up it every year like damned mountain goats.

The only senior I can think of mountin' goats is Greji...