You've heard of hostile architecture, but what about hostile technology?
Example:
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@greg_harvey @ekes worse, it's Station Sloterdijk in Amsterdam, aka hell.
@Gina most of these cost more to operate than the “fare evasion” they claim to prevent.
@Gina I always wonder how much those cost vs how much they earn (recover?) - I bet their a net loss, which means the point is cruelty
@iagox86 @Gina yep, absolutely. Just as with nearly any "means test". It's pitched as either a sensible way to earn back costs (in the case of fares and tolls for construction), or to limit overspending (as with welfare and other social programs), but most of the time it merely serves to apply state-sanctioned exclusion. A tool for cruelty, perfectly legal, hidden in plain sight.
@iagox86 @Gina or in the case of a program here in BC for children with certain atypical neurologies, it was rolled out to fanfare about how great it was - but it was gated behind onerous and confusing paperwork. Then it was quietly cancelled due to "lack of uptake".
The means test/intentional difficulty was a useful tool to kill it, after having earned the political points of "launching" it.
@Gina
Start of a horses race? 😅
@Gina
I see another use for it.
@Gina I like branding these as hostile, finally a justification for hitting them with a flying kick
@Gina And don't forget that they've now got those at some restrooms, too, such as at gas stations.
They beep at you, and apparently expect you to carefully read the instructions while they slowly decide whether that bank card was acceptable, _while you need to pee_! (I found out walking through one after the first beep. I'm heavier than the designer expected, it seems)
@wouterla paid toilets should be considered a human rights violation. Infuriating
@Gina @wouterla both have been around at least 30 years in UK (especially cities like London), I think paid toilets existed for centuries in such places, as older Brits sometimes talk about "spending a penny" as a euphemism for going to the toilet due to the charge being 1p in early days of the railway, apparently as early as 1850 (it was 20p last time I used one in 1990s, might be even more nowadays)
@Gina In the event of a movie action sequence, how is anyone supposed to hurdle the barriers to stop the bad people from getting away...?
@Gina Dutch public transport started to suck so much after I moved to Switzerland and got used to it here. No gates anywhere ever. No checking in or out ever. Such a breath of fresh air.
@schoentoon it's all just so stupid and oppressive. Like we're all here for such a short time, why are we actively making it worse for everyone.
@Gina i usually go from/to stations without these gates (just the check-in poles which while less annoying, i could still rant about if my instance's character limit was higher) so i don't encounter them often.
and i still had an issue one time where only one side of the gate opened, so i had to squeeze into the station. if i wasn't incredibly underweight i wouldn't have been able to enter, while still having paid for the check-in.
@Gina a day at the horses?
@Gina steendijkpolder is my favourite "open prison" style metro stop 😅