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Post by roadtrainer on Jul 18, 2008 7:34:23 GMT -8
Uhhh. can someone please inform this guy that the Metro Rail was built some 20 years after BART was? This guy seems to represent a totally different kind of urban density, if you know what I mean. Uhhh, so what if it was built 20 years later! What do they wait so long to up grade or even match the BART System? Sincerely the roadtrainer
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Post by James Fujita on Jul 18, 2008 10:28:08 GMT -8
Uhhh. can someone please inform this guy that the Metro Rail was built some 20 years after BART was? This guy seems to represent a totally different kind of urban density, if you know what I mean. Uhhh, so what if it was built 20 years later! What do they wait so long to up grade or even match the BART System? Sincerely the roadtrainer logically, if our system was built 20 years later, it should have technology that is 20 years newer, am I right? XD BTW, somebody was complaining earlier about unfair comparisons to other cities.... well, if an idea originates in San Francisco, does that make it a bad idea? come on! I don't see these comparisons as insulting Los Angeles so much as it is challenging L.A. to STEP UP and do these kinds of things. honestly, there's nothing magical about a Next Train sign, that should be considered basic level stuff.
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Post by roadtrainer on Jul 18, 2008 18:26:22 GMT -8
I agree with Mr.Fujita: This Basic stuff should have been built and in operation when the system went on line.. Perhaps the "Next Train" signs will be operational when the East L.A. and Expo lines start up! Sincerely The Roadtrainer
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Post by spokker on Jul 18, 2008 20:55:22 GMT -8
Next train signs seem as basic to me as fuel gauges on cars.
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Post by bluelineshawn on Jul 19, 2008 12:24:01 GMT -8
Next train signs seem as basic to me as fuel gauges on cars. Except that you really do need a fuel gauge on your car whereas the next train signs for our system in it's current state really don't offer any useful information. If we had express trains or multiple routes serving the same destination passengers could potentially use the next train signs to adjust their trips. As it is we're going to wait on the next train anyway. If the signs let us know when there are significant delays that may provide some comfort and we could possibly use that information to reroute to a bus, but I doubt that we will see actual times for significant delays because in unusual circumstances the length of the delay is hard to calculate. I guess the signs do provide a psychological comfort since so many people are glad to see them. My personal opinion is that they were a waste of money.
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Post by metrocenter on Jul 19, 2008 17:42:40 GMT -8
^From a technological standpoint, next-train displays are very simple. Also, the flat-screen displays themselves are quite cheap. So IMO, there's no good reason not to have this basic amenity.
The "psychological comfort" provided by these displays is crucial in two situations. First, when you're waiting at night or on a weekend and it seems like a train is never going to come. And second, when there is a delay that will have a significant effect on your commute and make you late to work.
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Post by Elson on Jul 19, 2008 18:33:29 GMT -8
I guess the signs do provide a psychological comfort since so many people are glad to see them. My personal opinion is that they were a waste of money. As a daily Metro Rail commuter, I beg to differ. Especially on the subway, they solve a safety issue: People peering over the edge of the platform to look for an oncoming train in the distance. Someone with a weak balance (or maybe someone drunk) may fall over into the tracks and injure themselves, get shocked by the 3rd rail or worse - get hit by a train. I have noticed that less people peer over the platform edge now that they have a better idea of when the train is coming.
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Post by bluelineshawn on Jul 19, 2008 19:12:49 GMT -8
I did think about the safety issue and I can agree with that. Some people will still peer, but less than before.
As for the significant delay I guess we'll see. My suspicion is that if a train goes out of service for one reason or another the display will just stay "stuck" at whatever interval it stopped at. How would anyone know when the train may or may not go back into service?
Additionally one might think that these would be relatively cheap, but my recollection was that they were not. IINM it was well over $1 million just for the red/purple lines. Now add in the other lines and add in annual maintenance and replacement.
Again, it's just my opinion that the screens are useless. OTOH if others find them useful, then for them train travel will be more enjoyable and might help increase ridership. So in that regard "a waste of money was too harsh". Especially since my opinion obviously goes against the grain on this issue.
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Post by spokker on Jul 19, 2008 21:26:27 GMT -8
A million dollars to put the static schedule on the screens? That seems absurd to me.
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Post by wakko11 on Aug 11, 2008 12:11:39 GMT -8
My suspicion is that if a train goes out of service for one reason or another the display will just stay "stuck" at whatever interval it stopped at. Unfortunately, the displays advance to the next time interval regardless of whether the train shows up or not. I noticed the other day at Pershing Square - though the Purple Line was 3 minutes late, the display had already switched to the next scheduled arrival. Super high tech stuff...
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Post by bluelineshawn on Aug 11, 2008 18:18:47 GMT -8
It's even more of a waste than I thought, but maybe they are planning on making it a little more high tech at some point. Our control center knows where the trains are (I think..) so we should be able to program arrival times into that system. It is a little complicated, but others have done it so it's not like we're inventing the wheel.
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Post by jejozwik on Sept 12, 2008 20:46:17 GMT -8
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Post by Justin Walker on Jul 6, 2009 15:25:43 GMT -8
In this month's Westside Sector report, it is reported that Metro will start displaying useful bus connection info on the electronic displays for people exiting Red/Purple Line stations (see template images below): (And yes, the southbound arrow seems to be pointing the wrong way in the template. )
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Post by spokker on Jul 6, 2009 16:05:43 GMT -8
I love the guy with a question mark above his head in the graphic. It couldn't be more perfect symbolism.
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Post by losangeles2319 on Jul 6, 2009 17:24:04 GMT -8
I was looking through this page and i remember a conductor saying no flash photography when a train was coming in the station. Can you really not take pictures on the Metro or something?
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Post by bobdavis on Jul 6, 2009 17:33:07 GMT -8
I suspect that if you use a small point & shoot camera and set it for the "no flash" mode, you probably won't have any trouble. If you set up with a tripod and look like you're waiting for your model to show up, that's another matter. Flash is undesirable because it can startle or temporarily blind a train operator. Also, on an electric railway, a flash can mean "something bad happened."
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Post by spokker on Jul 6, 2009 18:04:32 GMT -8
You can take as many pictures as you want on Metro contrary to what any rent-a-cop says. However, your behavior can't interfere with the safe operation of bus or rail operations so lugging in a bunch of equipment to set up a professional shoot or blinding everybody with your stupid flash is a problem.
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Post by wad on Jul 7, 2009 3:50:05 GMT -8
I love the guy with a question mark above his head in the graphic. It couldn't be more perfect symbolism. I was laughing at that, too. That should be the Metro mascot. I could understand why the little man would be confused. The Wilshire/Western portal opens in the other direction. He's probably wondering how it was turned around to face Wilshire.
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Post by James Fujita on Jul 9, 2009 11:20:49 GMT -8
all kidding aside, I absolutely love that electronic display.
Metro has needed to get better signage for ages, and if that confused little person on the sign prevents real people from standing around outside Red Line stations with their mouths agape, then I'm all for it.
as for the cameras... in all the years that I have taken pictures of trains, subways and light rail (not to mention in airports!), I have not once been bothered or told not to take pictures. (with my luck, I'll get stopped when I visit Union Station tomorrow... ha! ;D) maybe it's because I look and act like this harmless little Japanese tourist/photographer, but maybe it's also because I've been using unobtrusive point-and-shoot cameras with the flash turned off.
I've never been obnoxious about it either, and that might help.
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Post by erict on Jul 9, 2009 11:27:16 GMT -8
Some are calling for the Confused person icon to be the mascot of Metro: metroriderla.com/2009/07/09/metro-unveils-new-mascot-and-video-display-news/THE LITTLE QUESTION MARK MAN! You first see him, you think Metro’s graphic communications department has a great sense of humor. But to laugh at THE LITTLE QUESTION MARK MAN is to miss entirely the profound artistry of the image. We have just witnessed the dawn of the 21st century’s equivalent of Edvard Munch’s (it’s pronounced muunk, you Beavis and Butt-Head types) “Scream” painting. The figures in both paintings are kindred spirits, separated by an ocean, a century and some change, the presentation media, and some other things I can’t think of off the top of my head. THE LITTLE QUESTION MARK MAN is the true everyperson. The form is androgynous. The figure is gray, reflecting the composition of Los Angeles’ tremendous diversity. But the question mark says nothing, and by doing so, says a whole lot. Is it a question mark of confusion? Melancholy? Joy? Wonderment? Or a simple post-modern WTF? Is he angry at the buses being late? Is he wondering what’s playing at the Wiltern across the street? Or is he just realizing that he, like most others at the Wilshire/Western station, didn’t get on the correct Red Line train again? That’s the beauty of it. We add our own experiences to the artwork. We are all the LITTLE QUESTION MARK MAN. In the Wikipedia article, this quote was attributed to Munch about his “Scream”: ”I was walking down the road with two friends when the sun set; suddenly, the sky turned as red as blood. I stopped and leaned against the fence, feeling unspeakably tired. Tongues of fire and blood stretched over the bluish black fjord. My friends went on walking, while I lagged behind, shivering with fear. Then I heard the enormous, infinite scream of nature.” … He later described the personal anguish behind the painting, “for several years I was almost mad…You know my picture, ‘’The Scream?’’ I was stretched to the limit—nature was screaming in my blood… After that I gave up hope ever of being able to love again.”
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Post by rubbertoe on Jul 20, 2009 13:51:10 GMT -8
Erict, Now that is the most profound thing that I have read in weeks. On a rail transit forum of all places, go figure RubberToe
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Post by skater on Oct 14, 2013 15:27:33 GMT -8
bringing back an old topic...
... with some recent information Has everyone on here heard about this or noticed this at 7th street yet? steven-white.com/2013/05/30/someone-is-listening-7th-street-metro-center-upgrades/#comment-365
The departure time screens at union station are just as bad. Hopefully metro will work on these next. the arrival time screens in the red/purple escalators/stairwells show red/purple times on the screen on your way OUT of the red/purple. It seems to me that those screens facing people leaving the red/purple platfrom should show the gold line arrivals and maybe some bus arrivals. Why would someone want red/purple arrivals when they just got off the red/purple. They need to see times for something they might transfer to.
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