"Mind the gap" is a warning to train passengers of the gap between the train door and the station platform. It was introduced in 1969 by the London Underground. The phrase is so associated with the Underground that Transport for London sells T-shirts with the phrase on a London Transport symbol.

Contents 1 Variants 2 Origin of the phrase 3 The phrase worldwide 4 Other uses 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Variants

Some platforms on the Underground curve. Since the cars are straight, the distance from the platform to the car at certain points is greater and "mind the gap" is painted in capitals along the edge of such platforms. A recorded announcement is played when a train arrives, "mind the gap" repeated several times followed by "please, stand clear of the doors" and "this train is now ready to depart".

The recording is also used where platforms are non-standard height. Deep-level tube trains have a floor height around 200 mm less than sub-surface stock trains. Where trains share platforms, for example some Piccadilly Line (tube) and District Line (sub-surface) stations, the platform is a compromise.

"Mind the gap" is played at Central Line platforms at Bank and Bakerloo Line platforms at Piccadilly Circus. The markings on the platform edge usually line up with the doors on the cars. This can be useful when catching trains.

While the message is often played on some lines over the platform's public address system, it is becoming more common as an arrival message inside the train itself: "Please mind the gap between the train and the platform."

[edit] Origin of the phrase

The phrase "mind the gap" was coined around 1968 for a planned automated announcement after it had become impractical for drivers and station attendants to warn passengers. The Underground chose digital recording using solid state equipment with no moving parts. As storage capacity was expensive, the phrase had to be short. A short warning was also easier to write on the platform.

The equipment was supplied by AEG Telefunken. According to the Independent on Sunday, sound engineer Peter Lodge, who owned Redan Recorders in Bayswater, working with a Scottish Telefunken engineer, recorded an actor reading "mind the gap" and "stand clear of the doors please", but the actor insisted on royalties and the phrases had to be re-recorded. Lodge read the phrases to line up the recording equipment for level and those were used.^[1]

While Lodge's recording is still in use, some lines use other recordings. One was recorded by Manchester voice artist Emma Clarke. Others, on the Piccadilly line, are by Tim Bentinck, who plays David Archer in The Archers.

[edit] The phrase worldwide

"Mind the gap" is used by transit systems worldwide, but most new systems avoid stations on curves.

• The French version, Attention a la marche, is occasionally written on signals on the platforms in the Paris Métro.

• In Hong Kong's MTR and Singapore's MRT, the phrase is used in announcements in three languages and on signs in stations.

• The phrase can be heard in New Delhi Metro in two languages (English and Hindi).

• It can be heard at the Athens Metro as well. In Stockholm's tunnelbana and on Stockholm commuter rail's stations two versions can be heard: "Tänk på avståndet mellan vagn och platform när du stiger av" and "...när du stiger på", meaning "mind the distance between carriage and platform when you exit", "...when you enter", respectively.

• The Tianjin Metro uses the phrase extensively: stickers on train doors, platforms and announcements mention the gap (as well as to "mind the gap") in both English and Chinese. (The Chinese phrase is 小心站台空隙.) Some Tianjin Metro stations are on slight curves. The Beijing Subway uses Mind the Gaps (note the plural). (In the recently-opened Line 4, the phrase has gained more prominence, being played in the station every time a train comes in and, in some trains, every time before arriving at a stop.) Both the Shanghai Metro and the Nanjing Metro use versions with slightly mutilated grammar ("Caution, Gap" and "Care the Gap", respectively, although the Chinese is the same).

• In early 2009 the phrase was also being used on Metro Transit (King County) buses in and around Seattle, Washington ^[2].

• At the stations of the São Paulo Metro and CPTM in Sao Paulo, Brazil the sentence that can be heard is "cuidado com o vão entre o trem e a plataforma" (beware the gap between the train and the platform).

• At almost all stations of SuperVia, Rio de Janeiro suburban trains, the driver speaks "observe o espaço entre o trem e a plataforma", and sometimes "observe o desnível entre o trem e a plataforma" (beware the level difference between the train and the platform). At Rio de Janeiro Metro, the sentence in English also can be heard.

• The New York City-area Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North use signs that read "watch the gap" on trains and platforms, particularly after the falling of passengers on the LIRR mainline.

• Due to reports of people falling through the gap, a warning is now played at every station and with automated announcements on board the trains on LIRR and MNRR.

• The MTA, which operates both railroads, retained New York personalities including Maria Bartiromo and Al Roker to recite the slogan.

• It is also used on the New York City subway and the Staten Island Railway - on trains and platforms, and in conductor announcements.

• Plaques on TTC subway platforms in Toronto warn riders to "mind the gap".

• On most Sydney CityRail stations, there is an automated announcement reminding passengers to mind the gap as well as posters informing riders about the number of people who fall down the gap each year.

• On the Manila Metro Rail Transit System, a pre-recorded message is played at certain stations reminding passengers to "watch your step and watch the gap between the train and the platform as you get on and off the train". This is simplified in its Filipino translation, which simply reminds passengers to be careful in boarding and alighting the train.

[edit] Other uses

Despite its origin as a utilitarian safety warning, mind the gap has become a stock phrase, and is used in many other contexts having nothing to do with subway safety. For example, it has been used as the title of at least two music albums by Scooter and Tristan Psionic, a film, and a novel, as the name of a movie production company, and a theatre company. It also is used in the video games Portal, and Halo 2. In the song 'Bingo' by Madness, this phrase is also used during the beginning in the song. In Metal Gear Solid 2, the AI Colonel says this quote when the virus damages the AI, George Washington (GW) and goes completely random. In Fable 2 one of the headstones outside of Lady Gray's crypt notes that an individual did not mind the gap. It was a prominent utterance by the subterranean cannibal killer of the 1972 movie, featuring Donald Pleasence and Christopher Lee, Death Line^[3].

[edit] See also

• Objects in mirror are closer than they appear, another safety warning that has become a cultural reference.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mind the gap

• Emma Clarke with demos of her LU announcements
• Emma Clarke with spoof LU announcements
• "Mind the Gap" film
• "Daily Telegraph" article by Sandi Toksvig which mentions "Mind the Gap" - accessed Sep 2007