« FOMC statement | Main | What do you want first-the good news or the bad news? (Bureau of Labor Statistics edition) »
November 2, 2005
Another great idea whose time has come
True genius is seeing the ability to improve on something that we assume to be so simple that it can't be improved. Here's an invention that I can't wait to see in action. (NY Times)
The best way to see the future of New York elevators may be to visit the Marriott Marquis Hotel, the behemoth in Times Square.
Visitors who get into the elevators there, expecting to press a button for their floor, are stymied: there are no buttons in the elevators. Instead, there are keypads in the lobby. Punch in the floor you want, and a digital readout tells you which elevator to take (each car is identified by a letter). "I call it the express bus system," said the hotel's general manager, Michael J. Stengel.
Because it knows where people are going before they board, the computer controlling the elevators can sort passengers, eliminating a pet peeve of elevator riders: doors that open at floor after floor even though the car is full.
Already, Mr. Stengel said, a system installed in "the back of the house" - the service zone used by employees - has drastically cut average elevator waiting time.
Beautiful. Anything to make the high rise elevator experience better is an idea worth supporting.
Posted by William Polley at November 2, 2005 12:30 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.williampolley.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/417
Comments
Oh, goody. Screw up a universally understood and accepted human interface. Just jolly.
Posted by: donna at November 2, 2005 11:52 AM