This week is the last week to vote on your favorite MetroGreater finalists! Before voting closes at midnight Friday, we’re telling you about each finalist idea. Today’s featured finalists: Compass rose decals at station exits and more direct priority seating signs.

Photos by the finalists.

Compass rose decals at station exits

Have you ever been disoriented upon exiting a Metro station, unclear which way you need to go to reach your destination? This finalist idea offers a solution: install compass rose decals outside stations. A compass rose is a figure which indicates the orientation of north, south, east, and west cardinal directions. Installing compass rose decals outside stations with multiple exits could help Metrorail riders get their bearings after exiting a station.

Photo by finalist Robert B.

Here’s the original submission:

Exiting at an unfamiliar metro station, but know the direction you need to head next? Use a compass rose to quickly orient yourself.

Keep sufficiently far away from station exit that tourist won’t stand over and block escalator exits. In fact, if decals are 10 feet forward from exit, it could draw unfamiliar visitors forward and out of the way of escalators as they orient themselves.

Decals would be best if they gave primary prominence to the north direction, so they could be read from a distance and were not dependent on reading the letters.

Robert B. shares that “downtown [DC] stations can be especially confusing since there are often multiple exits and infrequent riders may not realize that they are exiting at a different exit than they took last time.” He thinks installing compass rose decals at certain station exits would help. Commenter “thm” agrees.“Start with Farragut North! I always get confused when exiting there because it’s 17th street on both sides of Farragut Square, and occasionally I’ve wanted to walk towards 16th street but made it halfway to 18th street before I got my bearings.”

Robert foresees some potential challenges with this idea, but offers proactive solutions. To avoid having passengers clog up the exits by stopping to look at the directional decals, Robert suggests placing them away from the escalators to “pull visitors forward.” Also, some commenters have suggested including local landmarks or neighborhood attractions on the decals. Robert thinks that’s a great idea, but, taking the long view, he notes that “one of the advantages of the compass rose is that north won’t be changing direction anytime soon, while construction and destruction of roads and landmarks could leave the decals out of date.”

What do you think? Which stations would benefit from compass rose decals? Vote at MetroGreater.org and share your thoughts in the comments section below.

More direct priority seating signs

Federal law requires that rail cars have signs which designate certain seats as priority for people with disabilities and seniors. These priority seating signs should also indicate that other passengers give up these seats if asked to do so.

This finalist idea proposes stronger language on Metro’s priority seating signs to make sure that able bodied people relinquish their seats to those who need them more.

Photo by finalist Matt F.

The original submission explains:

While traveling in Portland and Seattle last year I noticed that the priority seatings signs used much stronger language than those on Metro. Portland MaxRail says you are “required” to give up your seat for someone who needs it.

I see a lot of people on trains and buses unwilling to get up from their seat for someone who is elderly, pregnant or could otherwise use a seat.

Metro has tried to address Matt F.‘s concerns about priority seating in the past. In their 2009 “If trains were planes” video about Metrorail etiquette, the animated attendant notes that “all seats are not created equally.” She notes that passengers should make the designated priority seats available to seniors and people with disabilities.

This video appears to be part of a campaign Metro rolled out in 2009 to remind riders to make priority seats available to people with disabilities and seniors. In January 2015, Metro worked with the Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC), which represents the needs of elderly people and those with disabilities, to encourage people to keep priority seats open for these folks through an ad campaign.

Making priority seating available to those who need it seems to be a perennial problem on Metro. Perhaps, changing the language on the signs can help keep priority seating open for those who need it?

What do you think about this idea? Tell us with your vote at MetroGreater.org or in the comments below.

You can also check out the other finalist ideas we’ve profiled here, here, and here.