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In February, NYC Transit installed video screens on the platform in the Myrtle-Wyckoff station in Brooklyn, showing the locations of every L train on the line, updated every 15 seconds. And now we know from the Twitter machine that the screens have arrived at Bedford Avenue. NYC Transit posted these photos, and we're told the screens have been installed at various points throughout the station.
The screens cull data from the L line’s computerized operating system, which tracks exact train locations and then shows them advancing (or not!) along the screen. Pretty cool stuff, but this is hipster central; the MTA needs to make these screens interactive and let us play some L train Frogger while we wait.
If the pilot program goes well, it may be expanded to other stations. The MTA also points out this is part of new MTA Chairman Jay Walder's plan to bring "accurate arrival information and modern fare technology" to riders.
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Great, let's waste a few billion on these shiny blinking lights while the infrastructure that actually allows the trains to run continues to crumble.
Well I for one like these things...have you been outside of America? These things are pretty much standard. We (NYC, and the country) are like 50 years behind the game. Any improvement is an improvement.
I've seen them in Europe, and they're not a bad thing. But those systems get funding from their national governments, while ours barely gets any money from anywhere. This is a luxury option, and the MTA is broke. These screens do not make the trains go faster or make them more reliable. You're still going to wait just as long, if not longer because that money was diverted from fixing a ceiling that collapsed onto the train or from repairing a water pump that broke down and didn't prevent a torrent of water from flooding your line.
Anything that does not directly improve or maintain subway service itself should be put on hold. Same goes for SAS and the 7 extension. All the decrepit stations (read: nearly all of them, even those in "nice" neighborhoods) should be fixed before building any new stations, and it could be done for a lot less money. Building subways is something you do when a city is growing. NYC is certainly not growing, nor will it ever again in our lifetimes.
Maybe you missed the memo, but NYC is poised to add another million people by 2030...
You don't build subways when a city isn't growing? what?
just because the current system exists doesn't mean it can't be improved upon. Have you not noticed that the lexington avenue line is VERY over capacity
Improving subways is much more than just focusing on little things, you've got to focused on a whole bunch of things, and the customer experience is defiantly one.
This project rocks.
What's the symbol for the crowed train is coming, but 4 of the cars have bums who reek?
Sad Panda what?
Tough crowd here, judging by the last two comments. You can't make everyone happy, I guess.
I think this is excellent, and hope they expand this to the rest of the system.
Eh, it's a subway thread, which attracts the ignoramuses like moths to a flame.
In broad strokes, it goes:
Cab-related story: Cabbies are the scum of the earth! They drive too fast and they smell! Why would anyone take a cab!?!? Ban cabs, lynch drivers, draw and quarter their first born sons! Kill kill kill!
Subway-related story: Subways are filthy and always have bums in them! I'm a fucking whiner who will complain about anything, ignoring any inherent value of one of the best transit systems in the world! Also, anyone who does anything interesting on the subway (performs, strips, etc) should be burned alive with acid! PS: Fucking hipsters.
Bike-related story: http://paycreate.com/perry/wharrgarbl.jpg
Ah, Gothamist commenters. Salt of the Earth.
I think this may be the best post on gothamist ever. hahah.
Actually, I thinks it's great idea that will take some of the frustration of waiting.
Would be nice if they could at least have a much bigger picture.
This, on the other hand, is just retarded.
HAY WHY DONT THEY HAVE TVS S IN THE LITTLE TRAINS ON THE SCREEN THAT U CAN ZOOM INTO AND LOOKA T SO U CAN SEE THE BASEBALAL GAME WHILE U WAIT
But at least one commuter yesterday was unimpressed, telling NY1, "If they're broke right now, and they're cutting service, I'm not sure they should put money into something like this." An NYC Transit rep tells us the screens were bought at Circuit City (LG 42”) and the system cost "way less than $100,000" to implement.
I can't imagine buying the screens at Circuit City was the most efficient way to go about things, and 42" seems a little excessive, but if the information is already there - which, at least for the L, appears to be the case - it's just a matter of some light hardware expenses and throwing together an interface, which certainly isn't "billions".
It may not change the reality of anything going on, but it's something (assuming it's ever implemented on a line I'd actually ride) that would save me a lot of frustration regarding just not knowing, which is one of the biggest problems I have with the MTA.
Haha Circuit City. Has the MTA heard of procurement, or do they just hire 50 union guys to each go out, buy the most expensive TV they can find, and go home without clocking out until midnight?
I don't care if they bought these TVs at the going out of business sale at the Union Square Circuit City, they should still have a procurement department and not bother with a retail chain. What fucking geniuses.
Wow! That booth attendant sure is helpful!
Just another thing for them to hide behind...
Monitors, oyster cards, you name it-the service will still suck and the MTA will say they are broke
You need to understand the objective and basis for an authority, such as the MTA. Authorities are basically private agencies funded by the public and charged with provided a public service. They're free to have their own board, complete with a CEO with a hefty salary. They basically send a bill for any amount to the city which has to pay for it.
This is what you get when you entitle an authority (MTA) to basically do whatever they want, let unions run CRAZY, unleash overtime for anyone, expense anything you want, and never have to worry about being on schedule. Perhaps if they called themselves by their full Metropolitan Transit AUTHORITY, people would be reminded of just how fuck up the MTA is allowed to be.
I say dissolve the MTA altogether and let NYC be in charge of NYC's buses, subways, etc. With the right leadership, it CAN be done for a LOT less.
Sweet, Now we can be fully aware which station has people holding the doors open causing delay. All we really need is an intercom button so we can yell at that damn Lorimer stop!
Now to scrape the rust off the walls. Bedford is one of the most decrepit subway stations ion the system
www.forgotten-ny.com
more smoke and mirrors to distract ridership from deplorable conditions...
Why does the damn L train get everything? And by everything, I mean something as simple as the LED screens that tell you how many minutes away your train is. That's a pretty common option elsewhere in the world, but apparently if you don't live in Williamsburg or along 14th st, you're SOL.
The "countdown" screens would be especially helpful at stations where multiple trains stop at the same track. At my station, knowing that the next train is the B and not the Q means I could hop out to the Dunkin' Donuts and still make my train. Can you imagine? Donuts AND being on time? ...a girl can dream.
I was thinking the same thing. The L gets everything. They have nicer trains and more technology. Why not the B Q or D? Seems a little fishy.
The (well-publicized) answer is the L train shares NO track with other trains, making these upgrades much easier (supposedly, it's taken so many years!) on it, versus any other train. Maybe the S, but who needs that? I can only imagine the clusterf*ck that would happen if they tried installing this on a train that shared tracks, given the problems already installing it on the L.
As said previously, it's being put on the L train first because it doesn't share tracks with any other lines. The 7 can't be done because the cars aren't new enough.
Also, arrival information IS coming to other lines, specifically the 4/5/6 soon.
Great news about the 4/5/6. But the (well publicized!) answer that the L is easier is still bullshit. The whole reason multiple train tracks are difficult is the same reason they NEED the screens. More complicated, yes, but infinitely more helpful. I don't care when the L is arriving--it's always late, as people have mentioned. Maybe the B and Q (or the N/R/W, or whatever) are late, too, but all I'm talking about is knowing which train is next.
Ugh, that was supposed to be a reply to Alex, up above. Sorry, fools.
I was wondering what that was, but didn't want to look like a herb staring at it. Thanks gothamist ;)
So this system, costing God knows what, shows us that the trains are late. Great. WE KNOW THE TRAINS ARE LATE. How about putting that money toward more trains and better service.
It's not like we'll see that trains are a little behind and can reroute. We still have to wait and wait and wait.
Sad.
good idea, bad timing. i would imagine it would have been a boat load cheaper to just get a digital box that simply says the next train is arriving in xxx minutes. why do we need a 42 inch lcd for that
I realize that comment threads on the internet don't always lend themselves to thoughtful commentary, but it's really disappointing to see people dismissing these screens as a *luxury*. The MTA desperately needs to bring this technology to all of its lines, and more importantly, the web. There's a reason why every other major subway system in the world has been doing this for years.
Adding realtime tracking on all the lines costs money, but it costs a heck of a lot less money than significantly ramping up service. Meanwhile, it adds a ton of value to the existing level of service. Think how much more pleasant it would be to travel during off peak hours if you could check via your phone/computer exactly when a train was going to arrive in the station. No one wants to spend 10 or 15 minutes waiting for a train to come, but waiting that same 10 minutes at your house or where ever your hanging out is no problem. Even once your in the station, knowing how long you need to wait definitely makes people less anxious.
But are there real time screens for the shuttle buses as well?
Imagine if the trains could actually stick to real time schedules? No need for this bullshit-this is polishing a turd... Fix the leaks, the ceilings, rotting columns, cracked floors, and provide more trash cans. Oil the squeaky cheese grater exits once every five or ten years, scrape the filth off of the walls. What I find disturbing is that many who embrace this shit haven't ridden the trains for 10-15 years in a row. They haven't witnessed firsthand the downright shameful neglect on some subway lines.
We don't need 42" LCD displays, showing fancy pictures.
What we need is an approximately 20" display, mounted outside the paid area (maybe even on the street...you know, where they have advertisements today), that shows simply in big numbers how many minutes until the next train. That's it. People are in a hurry in the subway, and this display looks way too complex. Just give me a countdown that actually reflects real conditions, instead of the current countdown system on the L train, which only reflects the pie in the sky schedule.
Whoever's in charge of their public projects needs to calm down. They should complete the countdown clock installation across the system before adding newer, shinier technology.