--- title: Montreal Bus Shelter Heats Up When People Hold Hands in Viral Video Ad description: The shelter requires a human touch activate its heaters canonical: https://time.com/21640/montreal-bus-shelter-hold-hands-heat/ author: Anita Hamilton article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-13T12:00:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:07:43.598Z og:title: The Heat at This Bus Stop Will Only Work If You Hold Hands With a Stranger og:description: The shelter requires a human touch activate its heaters og:url: https://time.com/21640/montreal-bus-shelter-hold-hands-heat/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81b4a43316bf7776/6986854306f2c150c432dd8e/screen-shot-2014-03-13-at-7-28-15-am.png?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Screen Shot 2014-03-13 at 7.28.15 AM og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Heat at This Bus Stop Will Only Work If You Hold Hands With a Stranger twitter:description: The shelter requires a human touch activate its heaters twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81b4a43316bf7776/6986854306f2c150c432dd8e/screen-shot-2014-03-13-at-7-28-15-am.png?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Heat at This Bus Stop Will Only Work If You Hold Hands With a Stranger by [Anita Hamilton](https://time.com/author/anita-hamilton/) ## Anita Hamilton Mar 13, 2014 12:00 PM UTC  by [Anita Hamilton](https://time.com/author/anita-hamilton/) ## Anita Hamilton Mar 13, 2014 12:00 PM UTC Need a new reason to love your body, no matter what? Here’s one: It makes an excellent extension cord. Comprised of more than 50% water by weight, it conducts electricity really well. In most real-world situations, that would be totally useless — and potentially deadly, should you get struck by lightening — but now you can use your innate ability to activate battery-powered heaters in an outdoor bus shelter in Montreal. Here’s how it works: When two or more people step into the shelter, hold hands and press the palm of their free hand against sensors on the walls, an electrical circuit is completed and four [ceiling vents release hot air ](http://canadanightlife.ca/2013/12/duracell-quebecor-heated-shelter-stm/)into the glass-enclosed space. According to _Canada Nightlife,_ which first reported on the Duracell-sponsored novelty last December, the heat continues for a few minutes even after you stop holding a stranger’s hand, giving you ample time to whip out the hand sanitizer and go back to playing Flappy Bird until the next bus arrives. Watch the newly-released video above to see the heaters in action. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/21640/montreal-bus-shelter-hold-hands-heat/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/21640/montreal-bus-shelter-hold-hands-heat/"},"headline":"The Heat at This Bus Stop Will Only Work If You Hold Hands With a Stranger","datePublished":"2014-03-13T12:00:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:07:43.598Z","description":"The shelter requires a human touch activate its heaters","url":"https://time.com/21640/montreal-bus-shelter-hold-hands-heat/","keywords":["Newsfeed","polar vortex","Technology","Canada","bus","Electricity","Montreal","heat"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81b4a43316bf7776/6986854306f2c150c432dd8e/screen-shot-2014-03-13-at-7-28-15-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Anita Hamilton","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/anita-hamilton/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81b4a43316bf7776/6986854306f2c150c432dd8e/screen-shot-2014-03-13-at-7-28-15-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Screen Shot 2014-03-13 at 7.28.15 AM","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/21640/montreal-bus-shelter-hold-hands-heat/","name":"The Heat at This Bus Stop Will Only Work If You Hold Hands With a Stranger"}}]}] ```