Story Archive

Pee You

MARTA — the Metropolitan Atlanta (Ga.) Rapid Transit Authority — has had an ongoing problem with the elevators taking passengers down to the subways. “If you’ve ever been in a Porta Potty, that’s what it smelled like before,” said MARTA Director of Elevators/Escalators Tom Beebe. Passengers had to suffer through the strong smell since people have been using elevators as urinals. But they have developed a solution: urine detectors. The city installed a test system in one elevator, which includes better lighting, a camera, and the detector, which sounds an alarm when someone relieves themselves inside, allowing police to respond quickly and catch the offender. In a month-long test, there was only a single incident — which resulted in an arrest. The city is now seeking to install the system in all 111 elevators in MARTA, at an estimated cost of $10,000 — each. Oh, and they’re also reopening the restrooms in four stations, which they hope will help with the problem. (MS/WSB Atlanta) ...Government methodology: a long, expensive fix instead of the simple, obvious solution.
Original Publication Date: 05 January 2014
This story is in True’s book collections, in Volume 20.

Is There a Problem on This Page? Let Me Know using the Help button lower right, and thanks.

I believe humanity is held back by the lack of thinking. I provoke thought with examples of what happens when we don’t think, and when we do. This is True is my primary method: stories like this come out every week by email, and basic subscriptions are free. Click here for a subscribe form.


Search for:

Category: