Hacker News Reader

Comment by rektide | Hacker News Reader

Far less offensive but the DC metro got screen ads & it just so cheapens the experience. Used to be a kind of impressive semi-brutalist feeling, which isn't super fancy or anything. But now just tacky.

View on HN

Im surprised there hasnt been more efforts to hack these things MaxHeadroom style and do subversive propaganda...

I cant wait until someone hacks on of these screens and does deepfakes on them - either some politicians doing crazy things, or celebrities doing crazy things, or more subtle ads that seem real, but are taking the piss.

They're slowly ruining the vibe. Several stations raised the intensity of the lighting, painted the cement coffers, changed the warning lights from yellow to red, and some have even replaced the iconic floor tiles. The new trains in general are a travesty, too. The old ones had a warm 70s color scheme, warm lighting, and carpet that absorbed some of the track noise. The new ones are steel on the outside, white and blue on the inside, with cool lighting that clashes with the stations and hard surface floors that don't dampen noise at all (to say nothing of the redesigned seating, made uncomfortable to deal with a non-existent homeless rider situation). Oh, also, the first set of them were duds with major issues.

Walking into Metro stations and onto the trains used to be a calming experience, stepping out of the stress of the city or suburbs into a chill and welcoming atmosphere. Now, I can feel my blood pressure jump.

I used to ride the red line when the Metro first opened and you're right. I miss that patterned concrete atmosphere.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com