Reader Michael Griffith sends us this picture and a report from his Metro ride this morning, where he encountered the new spring-loaded handles that Metro is currently testing. Older cars have gotten boring (but probably just as effective) vinyl straps, but the stainless steel is the wave of the future! From the looks of it though, they aren't really being used that much...yet. Said Michael:

No one was using nor commenting on the handles...I also gave them a tug and discovered they're spring-loaded and pull down pretty easily. They don't seem very useful the way it's implemented. I would also express minor concern of fingers and things getting caught in the joints with the way the handles pull down. You'd have to be a pretty big idiot to get anything stuck in there, but then again, there are quite a few pretty big idiots out there.