Bah! Let them figure it out!
The BART train in the San Francisco Bay Area (I refuse to call it "Bay
Area" like it's the only place in the world that has a bay) has finally
added service to the San Francisco Airport. However, trains heading to
that location have placards that read "SFIA". Apparently this is
causing confusion, no doubt because interpreting those letters as "San
Francisco International Airport" is too much cognitive work.
To me, this smells of a "design by consensus" decision. Nobody calls
the airport SFIA, it's an acronym I've never heard before (and I've
lived here over 7 years) so they shouldn't be surprised that riders
can't figure it out. Especially when the pressure is on ("Is this my
train? Should I board? It's pulling away!") and mistakes are costly in
terms of lost time and the ability to "undo" the decision.
So why don't they label the trains "SFO" (it's TLA from the FCC) or,
duh, "Airport". It's not rocket science, but I'm betting the Committee
couldn't agree on those.
8:54:18 AM 
|
