Railroad Forums
Moderator: GirlOnTheTrain
protrain wrote:I came upon the new train again on the A on Sunday at Broadway-Nassau heading uptown (didn't remember if it was the same set, although I guess it probably was). As noted in another thread, weekend service has been changed around quite a bit on the 8th Avenue Line as part of the current work going on (i.e. with the C train not running). The understanding I had was that the A was supposed to be running express through Brooklyn and Manhattan to 145th Street, then local. Well, after Canal Street we switched over to the local track; and the wonderful, dynamic strip map signage didn't change at all! It continued to show (and announce) express stops and service. Each time before a local stop the conductor had to hit the intercom before the automated annoucement kicked in (at which she was about 50% successful, and half of the time led to loud feedback from the PA) to say that the train was running local to 59th. It would have been a great way to show the flexibility of the new system - perhaps she hadn't been trained on how to use it, but I sure hope they have the ability to modify it in-route.That's the disadvantage of auto-announcements. Personally I think that C/Rs should be required to turn off the LCD signs and auto-announcements whenever there is a service change that the auto-announcements cannot adapt to. It can't be too hard for the C/Rs to manually announce stops once in a while, can it?
As an aside, I am not sure if it is true, but I read somewhere that the new voice announcements are synthesized (i.e. digitally mastered) and not actually recorded. It seems to me that this should allow a variety of annoucements to be created without too much effort. I feel like they should create modified announcements that are used on weekends to reflect the service actually running. For example:
This is Broadway-Nassau. Transfer is available to the 2, 3, and J shuttle trains. Please note that 4 and 5 train service is not operating at this station today. For 4 and 5 trains, take the J shuttle train at this station to Chambers Street.
OR
This is Utica Avenue. Transfer is available to the F train. Please note that F trains are replacing C trains in Brooklyn today.
The fact that the automated announcements continue to announce transfers that don't exist (i.e. transfer to the 1 at Chambers) on the weekends is particularly confusing to riders (who, on the weekends, tend to be more likely to be tourists or infrequent riders), and I only hear conductors intervene and clarify about 1/2 of the time. What do you think?
protrain wrote:I came upon the new train again on the A on Sunday at Broadway-Nassau heading uptown (didn't remember if it was the same set, although I guess it probably was). As noted in another thread, weekend service has been changed around quite a bit on the 8th Avenue Line as part of the current work going on (i.e. with the C train not running). The understanding I had was that the A was supposed to be running express through Brooklyn and Manhattan to 145th Street, then local. Well, after Canal Street we switched over to the local track; and the wonderful, dynamic strip map signage didn't change at all! It continued to show (and announce) express stops and service. Each time before a local stop the conductor had to hit the intercom before the automated annoucement kicked in (at which she was about 50% successful, and half of the time led to loud feedback from the PA) to say that the train was running local to 59th. It would have been a great way to show the flexibility of the new system - perhaps she hadn't been trained on how to use it, but I sure hope they have the ability to modify it in-route.Local, huh. I wonder why? Must've been some GO that ran the A local uptown, and it just wasnt mentioned in the MTA Service Advisories page. Personally I think all GOs that change service should be posted as service advisories because it can be important information in terms of travel time when a line that normally runs express runs local.
As an aside, I am not sure if it is true, but I read somewhere that the new voice announcements are synthesized (i.e. digitally mastered) and not actually recorded. It seems to me that this should allow a variety of annoucements to be created without too much effort. I feel like they should create modified announcements that are used on weekends to reflect the service actually running. For example:
This is Broadway-Nassau. Transfer is available to the 2, 3, and J shuttle trains. Please note that 4 and 5 train service is not operating at this station today. For 4 and 5 trains, take the J shuttle train at this station to Chambers Street.
OR
This is Utica Avenue. Transfer is available to the F train. Please note that F trains are replacing C trains in Brooklyn today.
The fact that the automated announcements continue to announce transfers that don't exist (i.e. transfer to the 1 at Chambers) on the weekends is particularly confusing to riders (who, on the weekends, tend to be more likely to be tourists or infrequent riders), and I only hear conductors intervene and clarify about 1/2 of the time. What do you think?
