The STM revealed plans today to generate power for the Metro by installing wind turbines in it’s butterfly door entrances.
“For several years we’ve heard complaints about the butterfly doors being very heavy to open and that the wind blast that escapes when you finally manage to open a door might make it harder for elderly and disabled people to enter the metro. We’ve listened to those complaints and have decided to install wind turbines in the doorways to generate power for the Metro,” states Jean-Philippe Levesque, the STM’s head of public relations.
When asked how this would ease the use of the doors by STM patrons, including the elderly and disabled, Levesque replied with, “the force of the winds escaping from the metro when the doors open would turn the turbines which would then generate a lot of electricity. It’s really amazing science! And it’ll save us money!”
When asked whether the costs saved on electricity would go to reducing ticket prices or to making the Metro more accessible to the less capable Levesque mentioned a recent trip to Europe where he saw these wind turbines in action. “It was really amazing,” said Levesque, “they were so big.”
The hurricane gust of wind you get when coming in or out of a Metro station is one of several quirky Metro features that the STM states it is ‘proud of’ alongside others like “our unilingual service and that ghost that haunts station Papineau,” replied Levesque.
It still reamins unclear as to whether installing massive turning turbines in a Metro station doorway entrace poses any injury risks to patrons.
The wind turbines are slated to be installed during the second quarter of 2016.