We learned yesterday of new audio announcements concerning train arrival information for a handful of stations in Astoria, and today, I have more information concerning the tracking technology. While the project is mostly a one-off implemented at the request of Astoria’s Assembly representatives, it’s a bit more useful than I first thought.
Notably, the countdown is in minutes — not stations — with audio announcements beginning when the next two trains are within six minutes of the station. The announcements arrive every two minutes with the latest on moving trains and are also audible in the station vestibules. For cold weather days, this will come in handy. There are no plans to incorporate this type of information into a visible countdown clock, but the MTA says it is moving ahead with an effort to bring clocks to the B Division — all lettered subway lines — within three to five years.
So what’s the plan then? According to an MTA spokesman, the agency aims to “get to where we are in the A Division in terms of the same level and type of information,” but the Astoria treatment is independent of that effort. (In Astoria, the announcements are tied into prior signal upgrades.) For now, the MTA is focusing on capturing train arrival information through dispatch and schedule information, and eventually, this data will be made public. The second step involves developing a viable countdown clock implementation. With 132 more stations, nearly 80 more route miles and over 104 more peak trains in service (317 vs. 203), the B Division is much larger than the A Division. We’ve waited this long; what’s another five years?
11 comments
The 7 train has had this for quite a while now east of Queensboro Plaza. It’s an anxiety reliever–when it’s working.
Nice improvement.
So what’s another three to five years? O I would say 1095 to 1826 days or even 26280 to 43824 hours!
I give them 8 to 10 years if they can have the funding on time.
Would it be ridiculous to think that the Astoria line is getting it earlier because it used to be IRT? (A division)?!
It wouldn’t make a difference, the ATS system that powers this on the current A-division wasn’t installed on the Astoria line.
Astoria Line was BMT.
The Astoria line was originally IRT. The Astoria and Flushing lines used to merge together and go across Queensboro Bridge and connect to the Second Avenue El. The BMT trains came out of the 60th Street tunnel, stopped at a now torn down platform at Queensboro Plaza, where one could transfer from the Broadway trains to use the BMT shuttles that ran on both the Astoria and Flushing Lines. Only later was the Astoria line changed from IRT to BMT, to connect to the 60th Street tunnel.
When you consider that in a few weeks it will be a year that the MTA has been repairing a pair of staircases at Astoria Blvd totally about 40 steps between them, it’s incredible that they were able to do anything at all to let riders know about train arrival times.
The Astoria arrival announcements helped me out this morning. With construction, all the local stations were being bypassed by Manhattan-bound trains so we have to go north and change at Astoria Blvd. There’s always the debate of either walking to Astoria Blvd to catch the next Manhattan train or wait for the northbound train which could be two to a million minutes from now. There have been many times that I’ve chosen wrong and the northbound train rumbles by when I’m walking to Astoria Blvd.
There was an automated announcement that the next northbound train would be in 10 minutes, so I got out walked to Astoria Blvd and caught the next train to Manhattan which was faster than waiting for the next northbound train and missing the connection.
Any idea if the Astoria line will be fed into the system that interfaces with the current train-time apps?
No. The SubwayTime app ties to the IRT ATS system.
“There are no plans to incorporate this type of information into a visible countdown clock”
Congratulations on your pending ADA lawsuit. I hope the checkbook is out.