Beijing subway now offers interactive fitness

Passengers give a thumb's up to the new 3D interactive staircase at the Jintailu station on the Beijing subway. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A 3D interactive staircase in a passageway at the Jintailu subway station in Beijing, designed by Beijing MTR Co (BJMTR), made its debut today, as part of an initiative to celebrate National Fitness Day on Monday.

The M Physical Activity Initiative, launched inside the Jintailu subway station, is intended to guide more people to choose public transportation, to have more physical activity, and to establish healthy attitudes toward life, according to Bernhard Schwartländer, World Health Organization representative in China.

BJMTR and WHO jointly launched the initiative.

The 3D staircase with its fun pictures painted on the stair risers, started attracting passengers immediately after its presence. Some commuters expressed their plans to rely less upon escalators and to increase physical activities in metro stations, according to BJMTR.

BJMTR statistics have shown passengers' preference for escalators in subway stations. Take Jintailu station as an example. The station sees about 126,000 transfers between the two lines daily. During rush hours, about 70 percent of the passengers rely upon escalators, while only about 30 percent of them take the staircases, the company said.

"Physical activity is one of the keys to living a healthy life - and protecting against noncommunicable diseases like heart disease and cancer. Getting enough physical activity doesn't mean running a marathon; it can come from simple decisions we all make every day, like taking the stairs instead of the elevator and walking instead of taking a car or the bus," Schwartländer said.