People are encouraged to take the stairs as a way to sneak more vigorous movement and exercise into their day. So vehicle manufacturer Volkswagen decided to figure out how to entice more people to actually take the stairs.
The solution they came up with was simply brilliant. The company calls it the “fun theory” where they test people’s clever and innovative solutions to dilemmas, such as encouraging more people to wear seat belts and prompting more people to scale the stairs.
The company selected the public transportation system in Odenplan, Stockholm, which is where hoards of people exit throughout the day. They have two options: take the escalator or take the stairs.
So late at night, a group of people snuck into the stairwell and began taping up the stairs. Then, they laid down electronic panels on the concrete steps that resembled the white keys on a piano. They also added the black keys, in essence creating piano stairs.
When people began flooding the stairwell the next morning, their responses were priceless! They could either take the escalator, which many had been doing for a long time, or they could try out the piano stairs instead.
The choice was up to them. Seeing people’s different reactions to the piano stairs in the video below is too funny, but even more comical is what they do when they stumble upon the pseudo staircase.
It’s neat to see how travelers of all ages take to the staircase piano. While you might think that the younger crowd would eagerly gravitate to the steps, it turns out a different group of people couldn’t help themselves from trying it out.
After the camera finished recording for all of us to enjoy, it could be declared that the piano stairs project was quite successful. Want to know how successful?
Watch the video to find out – and also to see the brilliant piano staircase in action!