November 16, 2005
Trains of the Future-- Today!
Okay, maybe not today exactly, but the MTA is unveiling the new R160 cars for public inspection in a couple of weeks:
See tomorrow’s train technology today and give us your input. On Tuesday, November 29 the New Technology Train (R160) will be parked at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Street station in Downtown Brooklyn on the A C G. From 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. NYC Transit research personnel will be there to take your comments on FIND the Flexible Information and Notice Display on-board on the R160. Be there. Don’t miss this chance to tell us what you think.
This order of cars has been rumoured forever-- and has also been the source of some headaches for the MTA. But back in 2002, when the $1 billion dollar (!) R160 order was announced, the MTA said:
The base order of 660 cars will replace equipment in service since at least 1964, including R40, R42, R38 and R32 car classes. These cars are currently running on the A, C, E, J/Z, L, M, N and Q lines. Alstom will assemble the new R160 cars at its manufacturing plant in Hornell, New York. Kawasaki will assemble the R160 cars at its plant in Yonkers, New York.The stainless-steel R160 cars will be configured in five-car units, and equipped with several hi-tech customer amenities, including state-of-the art air-conditioning systems. Like the R142/142A and R143 cars currently in service, the R160s will have bench-style seating with lumbar supports, electronic strip maps and signs that display route and station information, final destination, next stop, and time of day.
Additional features include lighted arrows indicating which side the doors will open and a “Passenger Emergency Intercom” to allow passengers to communicate with the train operator or conductor in the event of a passenger emergency. The cars also have increased soundproofing and an air bag suspension for a quieter, smoother ride.
The R160s sound pretty similar to the very cool R143s that are already in service-- but we're hoping that some new bells and whistles have been added to spice up our daily riding experience. How about a map that tells how long it will take to get to stops further down the line? Or anti-bacterial poles? Let's help the MTA think outside the box-- what are you most-desired features? [Semi-related: Metrocard Orgami, Kottke on the HK metro system.]
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Maybe special built-in Glade plug-ins, to cover up gross subway track smells?
And I wrote about the Hong Kong MTR almost three years ago.
I wish they'd invest this money on improving the system tracking, not on new trains themselves. For example, in some other cities around the world, stations have a countdown timer telling you when the next train is arriving.
Retiring the R32s of my youth? Say it ain't so! What I'd want:
1 - Conductive glass with a transparent insulating coating. Any dumb schmuck who tries scratchitti with a sharp key is in for a shock. Heh, heh.
2 - Unlocked doors with accordian bellows between cars. That would give riders the freedom to move and still prevent accidents and subway surfing.
3 - For stations, not trains: An information kiosk replacing the giant maps that could give you riding directions (including transfers) to get to the stop you want, like Mapquest or Google Maps. Just press the spot on the map indicating the subway stop you want to get to and it calculates the route based on the station you're in, complete with polyline. More importantly, updated for weekend service diversions so you're not in for any rude surprises. I've had enough of those surprises, thank you very much.
I second Subway Jared's request for a timer to let you know when the next train will arrive.
I'd also like them to finally solve the problem of intelligible announcements from the conductors. The newer trains announce the next station pretty well with the recordings. But the conductors who tell you why there's a delay, or what stops they're about to skip are still hard to understand.
And I wouldn't mind some kind of tiny screen above the doors with a news feed. There will be all sorts of political issues about what news to show, but something to watch, like what a lot of elevators in office buildings have these days, would be nice.
I'd also like indicators on the platform as to where the doors are going to open so I can wait for them instead of 20' away. Stations in the rest of the world seem to be able to stop their trains consistently on the same spot. We should be able to as well.
The R32's are great cars (they are the ones with the corrugated exteriors and the digital train letter in front) mainly because they're iceboxes in the summer. I'll also miss the R40s: they have the slant fronts at the end of the cars.
www.forgotten-ny.com
As stated before, the "Next Train" displays in stations are well underway and will be "live" on the numbered lines and L train by the end of the next year, with the rest of the lettered lines following in a few years.
I'm interested to see what the MTA means exactly by this FIND display in the trains.
The slant and straight R-40s have to have the least comfortable seats in the entire subway system. For that alone, I will not miss them. The R-42s have much better seats. I liked the R-32s better before they put in the illegible lighted signs at the car ends. And when they had blue doors.
If there's a single change that's worth making, it's moving the stanchions away from the doors to the middles of the benches. It might discourage passengers from getting on the train and then stopping in the doorways.
One thing I'd like to see (well, hear) is a new approach to the recorded announcements. It drives me nuts when the train has just barely squeaked to a stop in the tunnel, and Mr. Goofy comes on and says, "Ladies and gentlemen, we apologize for the UNAVOIDABLE delay!"
For one thing, it's a recording -- how do they know it was unavoidable? For another, if I stepped on your foot, then held up a boombox that said "sorry", you'd probably punch me, and rightfully so. How can you have a canned apology? It's just so...so...MTA.
Oh, and the "electronic" route maps that are just a painted list of stops with little light bulbs next to them are kind of underwhelming, technologically speaking, don't you think? And when the train isn't running on its regular route -- like, say, every weekend for the last year -- they just look sad and out of place.
rumour has it... jake is british!
I'd like the anti-bacterial poles as well. Maybe an alarm clock that goes off at the last stop to wake up all the people that fell asleep on their ride in.
Outside of the trains I'd like to see an improvement to the MTA website. How about an interactive feature to put in your start and destination that then give you transfers and a time estimate.
If we simply must have recorded voices to have intelligible announcements, how about making them at least sound NY-ish? Different accents? Local celebs?
The current voices are Disney-esque, soulless, vapid one-size-suburbia anytown US crap.
Roo,
That's the stupidest idea I've heard yet. Should we have once person announce in Spanglish? The next in broken English/Chinese? Or how about that horribly grating "classic" New York Brooklyn accent- EXACTLY the thing I want to hear in the morning, hungover, on the way to work. Call me crazy, but I prefer clear, accent-less, understandable by everyone annoucements over some I heart NYC patriot bullsh*t
roo,
You idiot. The voices are personalities from Bloomberg Radio who volunteered their time for free even before Mayor Mike became involved in the political game.
I'll be happy as long as they can have a horizontal standee bar that I don't hit my head on (my complaint when I went to mockups of the R142s or was it R143s) - bring back the old rebird style "grab-ons" perhaps.
And how about something to secure your bike to?
Perhaps some sort of bike rack thing which I have seen on New Jersey Transit.
The word "unavoidable" was stricken from the canned announcements in early spring. The orders that came straight from the top of NYC Transit.
"This order of cars has been rumoured forever." RumoUred? Are we British now?