One step forward, two steps back.

I had the good fortune the other day of stepping onto the Seoul Metro into a train that, quite literally, still had its new car smell. It was a little leathery and overwhelmingly clean. The seats were stained with absolutely nothing, a bit cushy, and had the classic color scheme of gray and yellow.

However, this was no ordinary new subway car. It was quite clearly a CAR OF THE FUTURE. Check out the picture above. This is the panel above one of the doors to the train, with a shiny new video screen in it. Now, I remember first being impressed by video screens on trains... 5 years ago, on the Yamanote Line in Tokyo. Here was a screen that let me know the weather, the entire route that the train was gonna take, any potential delays nearby, and length of time to the next station in both English and Japanese.

This video screen, though? What you see above is what you get. The station you're going to is displayed nice and big on the center of the screen, with your previous station on your left and the next-next station on the right. The name of the station you're hurtling toward fades between its name in Korean and English. That's it. No other pertinent information other than, oh hey, you're on a train, a-goin' this way.

So, I'm not entirely positive why the Seoul Metro found installing these screens to be a good idea. In fact, I find it a pretty poor idea. Where these screens now sit, there used to be maps of the entire subway system, and maps of the line you're currently on. If you're sitting on one of these new trains, wondering, 'Gee, I wonder how many stops until my destination?' or 'Crudmuffins, where do I transfer again?' or 'O GOD AM I ANYWHERE NEAR WHERE I MEAN TO BE?!', you're crap out of luck. Hopefully, you've got a copy of the map handy, and no need to second-guess yourself. All of the maps are gone out of the car entirely, to be replaced by the future of subways: even more confusion.