NotUrsula
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2002
It takes some time (45 seconds?) to zap the interior of the gondola with UV light. There would have to be some holding area big enough to hold several gondolas so a new gondola can join the end of the holding line and a freshly zapped gondola can emerge every 12 seconds or so while each gondola gets the 45 or whatever seconds of UV while in the holding area.
UV lights that don't injure eyesight in seconds will take even longer to zap germs.
UV light will not go through residues such as even faint peanut butter or jelly handprints.
There would have to be some failsafe way of ensuring no person got into or remained in a gondola when the UV lights came on.
If Lysol or similar spray is wiped off too quickly the germs don't get killed.
I think there probably is a way to keep passengers safe from light zapping. Perhaps using robots such as these: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nishan...opening-of-mass-transit-systems/#316381b1f7fc . Robot in the car equals no passengers, and when it arrives at the next station, the robot is moved to another car. If they had enough robots to put one in every 4th car, I think they could zap the entire system in about an hour. It would be important to ask if the UV-shield coating already on the cars would work inside-to-outside, though.
Also, some bus systems in China have been building UV tunnels that have powered floor rotors, like a car wash. The drivers get out and walk to the other end to pick the bus up. Obviously, using that kind of system requires rotating buses off-service several times per day, but that would be easier in a system like WDW's, where buses tend to completely empty at a single stop.
Of course, lights don't take the place of old-fashioned scrubbing; they just help in-between scrubbings. I'm guessing that WDW Transportation is about to contract for an absolute army of night workers who will carefully clean the entire fleet every single night, at a much more intensive level than they currently do. (As buses go, Disney's have always been pretty clean, but I think the standard is about to ramp way up.) Also, no more standing passengers for probably the remainder of this year, at least.
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