Thursday, February 28, 2013
Elegy for the PILIs
In the early 1970s the PILIs -Plans Indicateurs Lumineux d'Itineraires -were at every metro station in Paris. By pressing a button, you could (more or less) work out how many times you had to change to reach your destination thanks to lines of lights on a map that illuminated when you pressed a metal button. Since 2011 new indicators are being introduced and now there are fewer and fewer PILIs. Will they go the same way as those reeking open air urinals, the green metal vespasiennes, of which only one example still exists in Paris on the Boulevard d'Arago? I for one will miss the PILIS
