Subway stations are an absolutely indispensable ally for city traffic for the management of urban connections and the flow and outflow of residents and commuters. But the subway stations are not only functional to the daily life of a big city; they have a symbolic character that identifies them in a different way from what happens, for example, with railway stations. They are places that are often chosen to host public art installations, or that have relevant architectural and design characteristics.

For example, London’s Baker Street station is adorned with tiles depicting Sherlock Holmes. The Paris Metro is famous for its art nouveau entrances. Each metro station in Valencia, Spain has a different sculpture near the ticket booths. Each of the four original stations on Beijing Metro Line 2 is decorated with elements of traditional Chinese culture, while the Athens Metro is known for its display of archaeological artifacts found during its making.

All these aspects are interconnected: passenger transport and urban traffic, the design and planning of environments, all cultural and social aspects connected. In places so full of meanings and uses, digital totems and indoor monitors perform a number of fundamental functions.

Let’s see which ones.

Indoor Totem and Outdoor Totem for Wayfinding: giving directions to passengers

Especially if the subway station is large and spans several floors including shops, stores and cafes, it becomes necessary to help travelers find their way around. This is precisely the purpose of the Wayfinding Totems or Kiosks. Installed inside metro or railway stations, they provide passengers with all the information they need to find their platform and any additional services they may need.

Interactive kiosks for the purchase and validation of tickets: speed up the processes

Generally, the ticket offices of metro stations are automatic and work through the installation of multimedia totems and digital kiosks capable of printing day tickets, weekly or monthly passes. In this sense, the totems provide a fundamental service because they allow you to speed up purchases (also via ATM or POS), sorting the flows of passengers and offering a clear and complete service in multiple languages.

Speaking of tickets, subway entrance turnstiles are usually equipped with validation columns. These led screens are able to read QR codes, credit cards and subscriptions, and are directly connected with the revenue agency like a normal ATM reader.

Promotional totems and MUPI displays: improve the user experience of users inside metro stations and advertisement

The digital totems allow you to promote promotional initiatives or campaigns in a rather impactful way. All the biggest brands love to invest in marketing actions that focus on metro stations. This is because, as we said at the beginning of the article, the subway resembles in some ways a phenomenon of custom rather than a banal urban public transport system. Metro stations are the most sought after for large-scale advertising campaigns, and often being municipal spaces, they also follow very specific guidelines on the type of companies and messages that can be conveyed.

The digital totems thus perform a cultural and civil education function inside the metropolitan stations: transmit values, entertain, and improve the user experience of travelers.

Interactive kiosks and indoor multimedia totems for underground stations: creating community and improving services

I chioschi interattivi indoor consentono di creare una relazione più diretta con l’utente, e in questo modo raccogliere feedback dai passeggeri in merito alla qualità del servizio. Una mole di dati che possono tornare parecchio utili per investimenti futuri. Le potenzialità dei Totem Multimediali interattivi per stazioni metropolitane sono infinite. I più moderni Totem Indoor sono in grado di svolgere le funzioni più avanzate, fornire informazioni, permettere agli utenti di navigare online e consultare mappe in modo interattivo o comunicare un disservizio in tempo reale. 

Digital totems for tourism applications: why they are also useful on the subway

Some subway stations are set up with multimedia totems for purely tourist purposes, which provide information about the neighborhoods or different areas of the city with the relative points of interest. In this way, even the subway stations themselves play the role of info-point and the first tourist reception service, especially because underground telephones often do not function.

Digital signage on the subway: why choose Fida srl

We at Fida srl ​​have been producing digital totems, interactive kiosks and indoor monitors for underground stations for over 25 years. Our made in Italy product lines for underground stations are:

• Shop window monitor: VRM – Single-sided showcase monitor,VRW – Single-sided showcase monitor, VRZ Double-sided monitor
• Indoor digital totems for MUPI Advertising and urban furniture: THK – LCD digital totem
• Interactive kiosks: TKC – Interactive kiosk (Payment),TWI – Interactive kiosk (Wayfinding),TKI – Interactive kiosk (General use),TSK – Interactive kiosk (Self-ordering)

Contact us for an accurate quote.