WhyNot?

Cancel Elevator Button

Category: Public
Responses: 6 (6 in support, 0 neutral, 0 in opposition)
Number of views: 2437
Tracking: Track this idea
Community Rating:Strong StrongYour Rating:

How often is it that you are waiting for an elevator -- say to go up -- and the door opens and someone is still going down. When there is only a single shaft, it would be quicker to hop on, go down and then go straight up to your floor.

However, to do so means that you will have to stop at the floor you get on.

A simple solution to this would be to have a small button next to the elevator call button that allowed you to cancel the call. This would also assist if for some reason you pressed up when you wanted to go down or got interrupted and didn't want to take the elevator.

jgans, Oct 21 2003

What do you think of this idea or comment?
(You can change your vote at any time)

agree I agree no opinion No opinion disagree I disagree

Users who liked this idea also liked:

Other ideas in category (Public):

TOUCH SCREEN FOR ELEVATOR (1 votes) Average
RFID CAR Registration (10 votes) Weak
Drug house remover (17 votes) Very weak
Your own personal ZIP code (2 votes) Average
Skyscraper safety chutes (8 votes) Average
Police taxis (7 votes) Average
Elevator 'Door Open' Buttons (2 votes) Average
Elevator DeSelect (167 votes) Very strong
Financial Incompetency (8 votes) Weak
Government Spending Cut Idea (1 votes) Average
How about zero toll booths (14 votes) Weak
Piracy bait (2 votes) Average
Eliminate the Penny! (42 votes) Very strong
Tower of Babel for Gangs (2 votes) Average
Public Service Inventions (1 votes) Average
Save the Lanes (1 votes) Average
Civil conscription (3 votes) Average
Debit System for Parking Meter (5 votes) Average
Buy custom newsreader voices? (1 votes) Average
Smart elevators (4 votes) Average
Single Global Currency (12 votes) Very weak
Kid Friendly Bathrooms (3 votes) Average
Public Transportation Switch (2 votes) Average
Government Ebay (5 votes) Strong
Library Books - New Policy (9 votes) Average
Daylight Savings Time Reform (3 votes) Weak
free gas during evacuation (2 votes) Average
burglar-proof cash register (3 votes) Weak
bad driver hotline (5 votes) Weak
Another 9-11 (9 votes) Very weak
Pay-to-Cut. (7 votes) Average
free train power (6 votes) Average
Parking bill instead of fine (4 votes) Weak
Siren Alert traffic Lights (3 votes) Weak
anti-trust via jumbo taxes (2 votes) Average
Energy Saving Street Lights (3 votes) Average
A lite version of 9-1-1 calls (3 votes) Average
Red paint that doesn't fade (2 votes) Average
Put Cockroaches On Mars (7 votes) Average
Auto Doors for Pub Bathrooms (2 votes) Average
me for president ! (2 votes) Average
National Water Balancing (3 votes) Average
save billions of dollars (5 votes) Weak
Restroom Pantyhose Dispensers (2 votes) Average
cure-all STD's (4 votes) Average
Fake Baghdad (5 votes) Weak
Airplane Ejection Modules (6 votes) Weak
No more metro cards (9 votes) Strong
New Airport Metal Detectors (2 votes) Average
Metal detector flashlight (2 votes) Average
Baby Isolator (4 votes) Average
Voluntary inner prison (2 votes) Average
Privatized Libraries (6 votes) Weak
Tax Energy - Not Income (4 votes) Weak
Traceable Spray Paint Graffiti (3 votes) Weak
Elevator Floor Number Undo (7 votes) Strong
A crook or a banditt? (4 votes) Average
Movie Seats Trash Bin (4 votes) Average
passports (5 votes) Average
Solution Radio (1 votes) Average
Easy Change (3 votes) Average
QMatic tokens (1 votes) Average
Ground Based (1 votes) Average
Triangular escalator system (2 votes) Average
internet on planes... (1 votes) Average
Video billboards (5 votes) Weak
credit cards (2 votes) Average
credit cards (1 votes) Average
Ending 2X-a-year time shifting (5 votes) Average
BusQuest (5 votes) Strong
Cancel Elevator Button (6 votes) Strong
Comments from other members:

Add your comment

There is a solution to this problem already, although it's not obvious: Always push the button opposite to the direction you intend to go.

Imagine you want to go up from the 3rd floor, so you push the down button.

1. If the elevator is on its way down, it will stop for you, and clear the button push, and not stop for you on the way back up.

2. If the elevator is on its way up, it will stop for you, and you get in. You're in control, and it will take you up to where you want. It will then return to the 3rd floor to take you down, but you won't be there, and that's not your problem.

poppamack, Oct 25 2003

Actually, why can't/don't elevator buttons simply have push on/push off behavior. Push it once, it lights up and the car will stop; push it again to cancel the request. The same behavior would apply to the buttons _inside_ the car. Push the wrong floor? Just push it again to cancel and push the right floor. Kids push all the buttons? Just push them all back off.

Knowing human mental inertia, I can imagine resistance to this idea, but it seems really straightforward and logical.

wrwadley, Oct 26 2003

Just playing devil's advocate here for a moment. It's great if you can cancel your own actions or those of a hyperactive little kid, but what about when one jerk wants to cancel another person's (or persons') actions because he's in a "hurry"? Living in New York City, which has no shortage of the type of jerk of which I speak, this cancellation feature may lead to countless altercations and the occasional homicide. In other parts of the country where people tend to be more well-mannered and more considerate, however, it may work perfectly well.

crazyjoe, Oct 27 2003

I agree that people will unpress buttons. Change the simple buttons into fingerprint scanners. Then you may unpress *your* selection but not that of others. This won't help against kids that press the buttons and get out, but biometric sensors would take of that. For those that want to go to multiple floors and throw something "Who let you into the building anyway?! I'm calling security!"

poppamack says:"Always push the button opposite to the direction you intend to go"

Bad idea. All this does is piss people off. You must be used to old single-speed elevators. All modern elevators I've encountered ignore opposite direction calls.

fruitofthehat, Oct 30 2003

In India, many elevators have an emergency-use "stop" button - that doubles up as the "cancel" button! If I wanted to cancel my own - or anyone else's - preset order, all I do is press "stop" - at which it lurches to a halt - and then press the button of my choice. Sounds sneaky, but in practice it's rarely if ever abused.

, Nov 07 2003

Useful also for when I press up when I mean to press down or vice versa!

Wimbledonian, Nov 09 2003

They do that now, and it's a very handy feature. The elevator in the Shangrila Hotel -Pacific Place HK. Push twice to toggle off.

rbalwada, Nov 12 2003