Safer, Not Funner

When I first visited Berlin, the subway doors were manual. Passengers needed only pull a handle to open the doors. These cheap, wooden blocks cover the void where the handles used to be. Apparently some jerk at the transit authority decided that it wasn't safe for passengers to pull the doors open while the train was barreling through tunnels at track speed and had the old-school handles replaced with the button you see on the left leaf of the door. The button only works when the motorman activates them...and they can only be activated when the train is stopped. Safety takes all the fun out of life...