Call it a win for sensitive-nosed riders. Metro has abandoned plans to install more cucumber-melon-scented air fresheners on the Green Line.
The kerfuffle over a well-meaning olfactory endeavor came about last month, after Metro announced it had conducted a pilot to try to improve the smell on 6000-series trains by using air fresheners installed in the ventilation system.
— Read more at Your Metro train is going to smell like, well Metro, again at The Washington Post.
Too bad this didn’t fly. It would be fun for Metro to have scented and unscented cars, then see which gets more riders.
That only works if you have a choice of cars, though, and/or the time & energy to change cars!
Anyway, the Metro does smell bad lately, but cucumber / melon would not be an improvement for me 🙂
hehe, it’s been a while since I rode Metro.
and I forgot that many commuters ride the same train, board the same car, then sit in the same seat every day. Many even stand in the same spot on the platform day after day. I found out the hard way when I once stood in someone’s “spot” while waiting for a train. Oops!
And I ride it only VERY rarely — maybe a couple times a year? I think that’s actually why I’ve noticed how much the smell down there has changed over the years.
I’ve ridden the new trains a few times (they’re not a high proportion of the rolling stock yet) and noticed no odors, neither unpleasant nor cucurbitaceous.
I guess I’m relieved to hear that they won’t be adding “fresheners” to the air.
Oh, I would be relieved too, if I had to ride the metro regularly.