March 22, 2006
Telling Time at L Train Platforms
The MTA officially announced that the L train will get "real time" information boards this July. While this is an exciting leap into the future (or recent past, as other subway stations around the world have been using this technology) for the MTA, could this be a way to make L train riders feel better, given all the crap they have to go through? The MTA is looking to bring the technology to 155 other stations - according to the Daily News, the numbered stations will get them (even the 7?) - by the end of 2007. Gothamist thinks that the message boards should also give people coping mechanisms when it says a rush hour train is coming in 5 minutes, as the platforms teems with more and more people. And a fun experiment we look forward to: Measuring the collective grans when the "real estimated arrival time" differs from the actual arrival times - get your digital/synchornizable watches ready.
The MTA was looking into real time technology for buses last year, as the current real time technology is stepping into the middle of the street and seeing if the bus is approaching.
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i'm sure all the people on the L would have been happy to have seen that this morning. the crowd at around 8:45 at lorimer was insane!
good thing i was going deeper into brooklyn.
It's too bad we can't get something that will tell us the actual arrival time of the Arrival Time signs, 'cause it isn't gonna be this July.
Woohoo! About time (bad pun). Although I do not think you will see them on the 7 for a few years because they are going straight to CBTC for it.
London and Paris have this tech in many of their stations and it really does make waiting a lot easier. Although the time estimates are sometimes kind of off. In London "
We'll never see those Arrival Time boards. I wish they'd just leave the L alone. We already have enough delays and suspended trains; we don't need more reasons why the train isn't running on weekends or after midnight or why it took me an hour to finally get on a train this morning. They should test out these signs on the G train. No one uses that line.
The sign installations should't cause any service disruptions. They installed real-time information signs like these in LIRR stations without any issues, they just had "Testing in Progress" stickers on the signs until they were confident they worked right. The tech is well established and the computer system that receives and processes the information (CBTC controller on the L, ATS on the numbered lines) is already working. I think all stations on the L already have the customer equipment, the numbered lines have the fiber optic cables ready, and now it is more of a communications/software issue getting them to work right.
While knowing that the next train is 15 minutes away might allow me to go up to the street and call to tell the office I will be a half hour late, it won't ease any of the congestion. The worst thing about rush hour on the L is waiting for 15 minutes and then waiting for another train and another train and another train before squeezing on. The MTA needs to find a way to shuttle trains through Manhattan faster. Or improve bus services in neighborhoods that rely solely on the L so that riders could more easily access other trains.
Of course rezoning chunks of Williamsburg doesn't help either.
I have trouble even discussing the L Train. I become so angry, I can't speak. It's unbelievable how bad that train has become and is and how badly it sucks. Oh my god. My heart rate rises when I talk about it. I did, however, create this last week. It might not look too bad on the video, but that was the 4th train to enter and leave the station. My commute should be 20 minutes. That day it took me 1.5 hours to get in.
They better fix this before someone on there really does get hurt. Fights break out all the time.
What a mess.
Will the time be posted online?, cause who cares once you're down inside already waiting.
a, that would be nice, eh? I also think it'd be great if they had a web cam on Union Square so I know if I should even bother trying.
Does anyone else think they should shut down the 3rd Avenue stop? A handful of people get on or off at this stop, and it seems like an unecessary delay. It's also so close to Union Square. I hate the L train so much. I pick it up at 1st Ave in the morning and it's such a crapshoot whether or not I'll be on one in 1 minute or 25 minutes. If the real time info boards actually work, it will be a miracle. I wish there was a way to know the status prior to entering the station and going down the tracks.
Anon: Yes. It's useless. Although, because no one gets on, it won't do much.
I have tried to come up with ways to make it better. I simply can not. More direct shots skipping Bedford? I know they can't skip Lorimer, but I am amazed at how many people try and cram on after Graham Avenue. It's silly.
Although, people tell me that in Japan sometimes your feet can actually lift off the ground it's so jammed pack.
imagine that. You enter a train and you end up pregnant.
Ha!
I have an idea. Add more trains! Increase the frequency in which they run and there wouldn't be a problem. It seems like they just don't run enough trains on the L line.
Apparently, I am very passionate about the L Train. I haven't left this many comments in one place in years.
The thing is, I don't think it's not possible to add any more trains to the L Train. I think (but don't quote me on this) it has to do with the way the 8th Avenue station is set up. Most trains have a place to go out and then back up to "turn around". At 8th Avenune, there's the L Train and a big brick wall. I seem to remember this being why they can't add any more trains. Once they get to the end, there'd be a huge mess trying to get them all back around again.
But the thing I don't understand, if that is indeed a part of the problem, is how an automated system is going to solve anything either. It seems that the problem would still remain.
Hell, if I know. Too many people and literally NO other option for a lot of us. So we're screwed either way.
Maybe they should run a bus line over the Williamsburg bridge?
It's very clear that a lot of people don't understand how the subways operate.
Currently, the trains are monitored manually by traffic controllers (supervisors). They don't know where the trains are exactly; they have to estimate their location using 100-year-old switching and signal technology. This is why there are fewer trains than what would normally make sense, because they have to leave large gaps to prevent trains from crashing into each other.
If you're feeling curious, read about how the signals work.
The years and years of upgrades on the L is specifically for enabling robot-controlled, location-trackable trains that can run really close to each other. This could double or even triple the capacity of the 14th Street line.
The MTA is not quite finished with this, but it'll all be done soon. And the growing pains will be worth it.
mihow - looks like the B39 does. unfortunately it seems to pick up too far south - at b'way/driggs (not so useful to L riders) - and then it dumps everyone out at allen. maybe the MTA should expand the route north of broadway, and go further into manhattan, linking up at union square, or canal street, or something. it wouldn't solve the problem, but could alleviate some of the congestion.