by machpost
I'm not a big fan of the new platform lights. I feel that amber lights would have been more appropriate to send a message of "caution." Red-colored lights are better off reserved for indicating an emergency, rather than a precautionary warning.
As far as station lighting goes, I think that simply cleaning up the existing fluorescent tubes and concrete walls would go a long way toward brightening things up, and would be much less expensive and aesthetically invasive than some of the other options. On one hand, that one side of the Foggy Bottom platform with the new lights is obnoxious, while platforms such as Farragut West are too dark to read a newspaper in places. I am confident that the original lighting design is sufficient, if executed properly.
And I would rather not see every available surface plastered with ads. As I understand it, the original design for the stations and railcars made it a point to minimize advertising. If achieving more advertising revenue is a goal, then perhaps the ad boards in the stations could be converted to LCD panels that rotate a series of ads. It seems to me that this would be much cheaper in the long run, as ads could be swapped in and out electronically, not to mention the savings in printing costs.
As far as station lighting goes, I think that simply cleaning up the existing fluorescent tubes and concrete walls would go a long way toward brightening things up, and would be much less expensive and aesthetically invasive than some of the other options. On one hand, that one side of the Foggy Bottom platform with the new lights is obnoxious, while platforms such as Farragut West are too dark to read a newspaper in places. I am confident that the original lighting design is sufficient, if executed properly.
And I would rather not see every available surface plastered with ads. As I understand it, the original design for the stations and railcars made it a point to minimize advertising. If achieving more advertising revenue is a goal, then perhaps the ad boards in the stations could be converted to LCD panels that rotate a series of ads. It seems to me that this would be much cheaper in the long run, as ads could be swapped in and out electronically, not to mention the savings in printing costs.
