Subway Video Screens to Show Real Time Train Motion

Two flat-screen monitors are being installed on the L train platform at the Myrtle-Wyckoff station in Brooklyn that will show the locations of trains in real time. Icons on the screens will indicate which direction the train is headed and how close is it to the station, with a long view of the entire L line, as well as a close-up view of nearby stations. According to NY1, riders will also see trains that are being held and trains that aren't picking up passengers.

The information will be updated every 15 seconds using the L line’s computerized operating system, which is the most technologically advanced in the subway system. If the pilot program works, officials say they'll be installed at other stations on the L and eventually city-wide. (The consoles cost about $15,000 per station to install.) Wilson Milian, director of technology projects at the transit agency, tells the Times, "There’s no end to the possibilities." Milian envisions a crazy utopian future where this train information could be displayed on the Internet! And, naturally, Milian wants the screens to display ads.

The real-time screens could conceivably be a big improvement on the electronic signs installed on L train platforms last year, which are supposed to tell you how many minutes until the next train arrives. It seems those signs use a computer program to estimate train movement based on a set schedule, not the real-time information from the L that the new Myrtle-Wyckoff consoles will utilize.

Photo courtesy Badison.

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By John Del Signore in News on October 23, 2008 10:39 AM

Comments [rss]

fauxfetus

LED Displays telling you when the next train comes is one thing, these useless diagrams are another. 5 minutes is 5 minutes, and spending so much money to show you a dot on a map to illustrate how far 5 minutes away is is silly. They're having enough trouble financing the second ave. subway project, which I think should be one of their top priorities.

WorksInDUMBO

This is the subway equivalent of the "close door" button on elevators. Most of them don't work, but are there to placate impatience.

S_R

"There’s no end to the possibilities."

How about the possibility that the f'in G train runs on some sort of schedule where it can be relied upon?!?

Politburo

Sarahlucy - Actually, those DC metro screens are available on the internet. Still not quite what Ivoryjive was talking about, but closer.

DC also has no shortage of hooligans, and the monitors are rarely defaced, etc.. but DC also isn't open 24 hours, which helps a lot, I'd imagine.

KiljoyWasHere

Why don't they put the minutes until arrival signs on some of the other lines before giving the L more toys?

NYDirk

How about getting the express/local signs correct?

whitecastlerock

This technology won't make the trains run any more efficiently. The MTA can put all of the bells and whistles they want on the platforms-the trains will still suck. This is nothing more than a polished turd...

Shinobi Shaw

Why so negative people? SUre our trust in the MTA is way down, but let's just be open to this idea.

And agree with whoever upthread said that the MTA should take some pointers from Japan mass transit.

colonelcasey

Some trains have frozen displays due to faulty equipment. They're still under warranty so that'll be addressed hopefully.

Another issue is conductors not being able to program the trains to display the correct routing for a train. There are a lot of people who aren't good at computers and a good chunk work with the new trains. They're more comfortable with just pressing the manual override button to neutralize mis-aligned announcements rather than finding the correct routing pattern in the menus.

ganghiscon

The N train displays tend to only work during the work day. They seem to always be ignored late nights and weekends by whoever is supposed to update them (unless they're automated, then I have no idea why they're not working).

birdmechanical

You know, I've been riding in the new N trains for a year and the displays for the stops haven't been right...at least for the last month.

The MTA simply can't get this electronic stuff to work. Why keep spending money on it?

babyhitler

millions spent on this? if they had wi-fi on the train and one in the station a conductor could just input where he was. he could even radio it in. If they had GPS installed it would be even easier and cheaper. The reason why they haven't done this in the 10000 years that mans' been on earth is cause they don't want you to know when the train is coming. You know those digital readouts that tell you when the NEXT stop is coming? they don't work now. It's never the right stop anymore. The MTA is a sneaky sonofabitch.

whitecastlerock

Does the shit really matter? For the past 100 years everyone has been getting about the city without this technology. Sure it is cool and helpful, but will it help to know that the trains run for shit?

sarahlucy

yeah dc has the simple readouts telling you when the next couple trains are coming, sort of like the L does already except it's an actual screen not an announcement. it's not useful in the way that #15 is talking about, but it's nice to know whether you'll be waiting forever or not.

IvoryJive

I want to be on the street, push a button on my mobile device, and instantly get a list of the closest subway stations and when the next 3 trains are coming so I know if I should walk, run, or can stop and grab a coffee. It could also highlight if there is a train coming soon but the next train is a long way off, meaning you should hurry. That's what I'm talking about.

Station______Line__Dir___T1___T2___T3

23rd/7th----------1------NB----2min--11min--18min

23rd/7th----------1------SB----5min--12min--19min

23rd/6th----------F------NB----4min--19min--22min

23rd/6th----------F------SB----4min--13min--25min

23rd/Bway-------R------NB----3min--22min--29min

23rd/Bway-------R------SB----9min--17min--28min

1987porsche944

But will it make the trains run faster and more efficiently?

Ha! Now you can watch the source of your frustration as it gets held up at a far-away station!

I spent some time in Tokyo, they had signs that told you when the next train would show up...and they were accurate! The MTA should ask Japan for some pointers here.

mrmagoo

um, why specifically the Myrtle-Wyckoff station?

whitecastlerock

#7-agreed. The fucking animals will ruin this before you know it.

David

Years (decades?) behind other cities, just like we always are.

citizenerased

#5 I agree.

$15k per station isn't that cheap when you consider the MTA's impending budget crisis that will see us pay more for metro cards while they consider removing seats from the trains.

They should use the simple LED signs like on the London underground that tell you how many mins till the next train comes.