New LED's at DTX

I noticed the new orange LED signs at DTX today.
Other than the size and color, are they any different than the old red signs?
That is, are they actually going to tell us anything other than not to smoke?
How much more money can the T waste on stuff like this?
Whose brother works for the sign company?

They just installed new ones on the inbound platform and fare collection area at Porter, but doesn't look like they're hooked up yet. Guess these signs are going to be regular features.

Can't wait until they start malfunctioning and become incomprehensible. Remember the old TV sets at Park St.?

They are part of a systemwide PA system upgrade. They will relay delays, train location and the no smoking signs

I was waiting for a train at South Acton about 2 weeks back and to my surprise the LCD signs they have that tell you train information actually was working! It amazed me i had never seen any one on the entire T system work until i saw that one

You know I always wondered why the T didn't have LED signs letting you know how much longer you'd have to wait for the next train. It seems like such a simple piece of equipment to install. Hopefully this will be a systemwide improvement.

mattster wrote:You know I always wondered why the T didn't have LED signs letting you know how much longer you'd have to wait for the next train. It seems like such a simple piece of equipment to install. Hopefully this will be a systemwide improvement.

Just speculation, but $$$ and too many things to spend them on. Also, this system might be enabled by the AFC system and all its subsystems. The T is basically installing a wide area network (I believe that's the correct technology term) throughout the system for the first time, to support the AFC system. I suspect that before this network existed, it just wasn't worth the cost to do that just for information displays (esp. knowing that AFC is coming sometime soon).

octr202 wrote: Just speculation, but $$$ and too many things to spend them on. Also, this system might be enabled by the AFC system and all its subsystems. The T is basically installing a wide area network (I believe that's the correct technology term) throughout the system for the first time, to support the AFC system. I suspect that before this network existed, it just wasn't worth the cost to do that just for information displays (esp. knowing that AFC is coming sometime soon).

Totally agreed. The WAN was probably one of the better investments the T has made lately. It not only enables the AFC system (including credit card authorizations) but a new PA system, CCTV system, LED sign system, and could potentially support an upgraded VoIP phone system in the future.

JS

sabourinj wrote:

octr202 wrote: Totally agreed. The WAN was probably one of the better investments the T has made lately. It not only enables the AFC system (including credit card authorizations) but a new PA system, CCTV system, LED sign system, and could potentially support an upgraded VoIP phone system in the future.

JS

If they were smart they went with fiber. Fiber has almost infinite bandwidth, you just need to keep upgrading the equipment on both ends.

According to an article on Wikipedia that is what they did. It certainly does make the most sense.

They already had a bunch of dark fiber in the tunnels from back when the cell companies were battling about getting service in the tunnels. If my memory serves me right anyways I remember reading that somewhere.

willfh wrote:They are part of a systemwide PA system upgrade. They will relay delays, train location and the no smoking signs

I'll believe it when I see it. Will this be just like the "stations" on the silverline washington branch?

I also saw them at Back Bay. So far, it's been only on the Orange Line, hopefully the Blue and Red Lines will have them as well.

Also, danib62, FYI willfh is an MBTA expert, so he's right about it, more likely to be like those on the Silver Line Wash St branch.

Never been on the SL Washington St. branch.
What are the signs there telling you?

helium wrote:Never been on the SL Washington St. branch.
What are the signs there telling you?

They were supposed to give you all kinds of information about the route, delays, and when the next bus would be at the station. Now they only show canned messages that say "Busses run every xx to xx minutes". Granted they do change them during peak and non-peak hours to show an appropriate time range.

They did at one point get GPS data from the busses, but were rarely accurate. I hope the wired system for the subway works more often since it doesn't have to deal with wireless issues and GPS problems.

JS

i just got this from the T. april seems a little soon, if they need the automatic stuff done for it to work, as the orange line has 2 years to go:



Thank you for your interest and for taking the time to write to us
regarding the new LED signs.

The new signs are part of an on-going project which is updating our PA
and LED announcement capabilities at key stations. The signs you
mention will provide service-related information, such as approaching
train information, next train designation and service announcements.
The information will begin transmitting in early April.

Thank you again for your inquiry and for your continued support of
public transportation.

Sincerely,
Caroline


Caroline Dunne
Infrastructure & Engineering
500 Arborway, Second Floor
Jamaica Plain, MA. 02130
617 222 1820 - Tel
617 222 3918 - Fax
[email protected]

I saw those signs at Downtown Crossing today, too. Unfortunately, they weren't displaying useful information. They were only displaying generic stuff like "visit mbta.com" and "Please report any unattended bags to the nearest MBTA employee" or other things like that. Maybe it displays more useful stuff during rush hour, or maybe not.

Ok, technically that type of display is standard and useful maybe to new riders and as a reminder to current riders, but by "useful stuff" I mean locations of trains, delays if any, etc.