Mock bus stops look deceptively real, but a bus will never stop there. Behind this is a concept from the care of people with dementia.
The cover image is a symbolic image via Pexels.
What kind of stops are these? These are so-called dummy bus stops. These are realistic replicas of normal stops. You can often even find a timetable there – but you won’t be able to wait for a bus there.
Such a “phantom stop” has now been built in Hamburg Altona. The concept is reported on in a HOCHBAHN Hamburg thread on X.
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Wait comfortably instead of wandering around disorientated
What is the point of the stops? People with dementia often feel an urge to go somewhere. However, it can happen that along the way they forget where the trip was actually supposed to go. Those affected then have to be collected again by nursing staff.
As HOCHBAHN explains, these people would sometimes be found disoriented at the final stops (via X).
The fake stops give people with dementia a safe place where they can wait – sometimes with a carer. This is also the case with the new stop in the garden of a dementia shared apartment in Altona.
via X
Many people on X are excited about the idea. One user even admits to having waited at such a stop before. He only noticed the error when an employee pointed it out (via X).
However, there is also criticism of the concept. In a fundamental statement by the Medical Service of the Federal Association of Health Insurance Funds, it is criticized that people with dementia are not taken seriously in this way.
In addition, the stops could cause anxiety among those affected if they wait in vain for the bus. If the nursing staff were to “play along”, this could further solidify the delusions of those affected (via Internet Archive).
So far, however, there have been positive reports about the stop from Hamburg; it is used often and with pleasure (via X).
An interesting project, the meaning of which is not necessarily obvious to everyone at first glance, consists of hundreds of walled-in USB sticks. You can find out what the “Dead Drops” are all about here on MeinMMO: In Germany there are over 400 USB sticks that stick out of walls – What is the “Dead Drops” project?