Usable underground – Sao Paulo

Not only is the Sao Paulo city subway clean and timely it is also particularly well thought through. Although I can’t speak or read Portuguese I had no difficulty with getting from place to place as a number of clever design elements had been incorporated to make my life easier.

• Each platform had a number of painted areas on the floor clearly indicating where the doors would open. This solved the perennial problem of trying to calculate where the best place is to stand when the train arrives.
• Once inside the train a small light above the doors indicates which side you have to exit. Something which is never clear to infrequent users of the London Underground.
• And finally, each of the different lines in the system is colour coded. But instead of relying upon signs (which I would be hard pushed to understand) there are bold coloured lines (red, blue, green etc) built into the floor to lead the traveller to the correct platform when changing from one line to another.

Experiences such as this further highlight how inadequate the antiquated underground system is in London and how confusing it must seem to first time users.

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