Kuala Lumpur is about to get what might be the classiest subway trains in the world. The city is trying hard to get more citizens to take public transportation, so they are installing 58 gorgeous new trains designed by BMW. DesignworksUSA, a subsidiary of German car makers BMW, designed the cars to be appealing both in appearance and in experience.

One of the goals in this project was to build a system that honored the area’s rich cultural identity while inspiring progress. The exterior of each train displays a pattern of lights that call to mind the faceted architecture of the city. The interior of the trains uses an LED lighting system beneath the seats to inspire a feeling of spaciousness and safety.

Even the interior of the trains will pay homage to the traditions of the area. The interior color scheme features traditional Malaysian patterns in varying shades of blue, reminiscent of the vitality of Kuala Lumpur. The trains will also be kind to disabled passengers, with hand rails, space for wheelchairs, and sound and light indicators to indicate when the doors are opening and closing.

The train cars themselves are nearly as impressive as their appearance and features. They are made of lightweight stainless steel with weight-optimized components. When the trains reach the end of their estimated 30-year lifespan, they will be approximately 95 percent recyclable. The 58 new driverless trains will be in use in Kuala Lumpur’s subway system by 2017.

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Train car graffiti can get a little out of hand sometimes – most of us can’t imagine what those letters and symbols are supposed to mean, and the spray paint art can cost a lot to clean up. Here’s one piece of fine graffiti art that we hope never gets painted over, though. Spotted by Reddit user Kgriffin88, this Nintendo-themed train car is crazy cool.

Any Nintendo player in the world will quickly point out that there is an extra red button on the controller. This wasn’t due to ignorance on the artist’s part. The creator of this masterpiece, Texer, placed three buttons with the initials of his “crew” – A, L, and B – on the controller. This might result in a bit of nerd rage, but the fact that a Nintendo controller-themed train car exists just makes our whole day better.

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Riding on a public transportation system is a mixed bag: you get to where you’re going in an eco-friendly way, but you also have to deal with sticky floors, weird people, and filthy handrails. And then there’s the fact that the handrails are way too high for some people to reach. Designer Justin Choy had enough of the handrail situation, so he invented the Rail Reach.

This simple, foldable plastic device fits into your purse or backpack. When you hop onto a train or bus and there are no seats, you just hook the Rail Reach over the handrail and comfortably hang onto it during your ride. The handle part is covered in a soft material to keep your hand comfortable; the part that hooks over the rail is lined in the same material to keep it from slipping around.

Besides being a handy way to extend your reach, the Rail Reach can keep you healthy by putting a layer between you and all of the germs hanging around on those handrails. Any regular public transportation rider will appreciate that the Rail Reach will probably cut down on the number of colds they get every year.

One version of the device features a small mirror so users can either look behind them surreptitiously or check out their appearance before getting to their stop. Choy took his project to Kickstarter to raise the funds needed for a first production run of the helpful little gadget.

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For people who have the choice between riding the train or biking to work, the realization that you chose incorrectly often hits when you’re past the point of no return. To avoid this frustrating dilemma, UK inventor Richard J. Pope built this clever bike barometer. It tells him every morning whether he should ride his bike to work or take the train based on a number of weighted factors. Based on the data collected by the barometer, the hand swings toward a picture of a bike or the Tube logo.

Weather, the status of the specific Tube lines Pope uses to get to work, and whether his nearest Tube station is open or closed all factor into the barometer’s reading. Different types of data are worth different levels of consideration: snow is considered more of an inconvenience than rain, for example, where biking is concerned. The barometer accomplishes its fortune telling using a Nanode microprocessor and publicly-available information about conditions. The instructions to make your very own can be found here.

The post Bicycle Barometer Makes Your Daily Commuting Plans Simple first appeared on Gajitz.

Traveling on a subway can be a somewhat disconcerting task. Because you are traveling underground and not seeing any landmarks or distance passing by, your brain has a harder time registering that you are, indeed, moving. Besides this, the cars tend to be rather dark and depressing.

A group of British design students has collaborated to create a digital “sunroof” for subway cars that would reconnect travelers with their surroundings. The screens would display animations of passing landmarks along with weather information for the outside world. A computer on board the train would store the vital information and update it via wi-fi.

As pictures scroll by on the “sunroof,” unobtrusive ads with scannable QR codes are displayed against the artificial skyline. Advertisers would get a completely new way to reach commuters, while commuters would get a welcome distraction from the questionable smells and worrying sounds typically encountered on the subway.

The post Overhead Digital Screens Bring Sunshine to Subway Rides first appeared on Gajitz.