Prague Introduces Speed Dating on Subways Cars

One of the wonderful things about living in a big city is the unexpected occurrences that happen simply by being out in the world, rubbing elbows with strangers. Sometimes that unknown is annoying—like that woman bumping into you during rush hour and saying it was your fault. But other times the unexpected can be delightful, like "making eyes" at the attractive stranger sitting across from you on a subway train. In Prague, a new initiative by Ropid, the city's public transportation authority, hopes to encourage a little more of the latter, by installing singles only "love trains." Starting later this year, these select carriages will be available on three of the city's underground lines. The idea behind them is to increase ridership, while encouraging romance.

Filip Drapal, a spokesman for Ropid told Spiegel Online, "This idea is just part of a new long-term campaign whose aim is to show what activities can you do in public transport that you cannot do inside your car (like reading, studying, listening to music, playing e-games and checking emails)." The company also understood that in this day and age, less young people are getting married than before. Drapal explains, "Simultaneously, we realize a negative trend of more and more people being single or not married. So we would like to help these people and generally draw attention to this social phenomenon as well." Love trains will be operational mostly on the weekends and evening hours, as Ropid doesn't see it as very practical to have them running during morning hours. Plus, whose in the mood for romance before you've had your morning coffee, anyway?

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Original photo via (cc) Flickr user DanielHP