Archive for MTA Technology
Jul
22
Heat sinks countdown clocks at 13 stations
Posted by: | CommentsOver the past few weeks, a few readers have e-mailed me wondering about the state of the popular countdown clocks. At a handful of stations throughout the system, the clocks had gone dark as the temperatures rose, and the two were indeed related. As a few news outlets reported yesterday and as I had learned last summer, the MTA has been treading carefully with the countdown clocks when it comes to the heat. As with every type of computer-based technology, exposing the underlying technology to extreme heat can be damaging, and so Transit officials opted to turn off the clocks in 13 particularly toasted stations.
According to Transit, those stations impacted by the heat so far include the following: Spring Street and 77th St. on the 6; Intervalue Ave., Park Place, 191st St., 145th St. – Lenox Ave., Clark St., Gun Hill Road, 79th St., 59th St. – Columbus Circle and 145th St. on the 1, 2 or 3; and Utica Ave. and the express platform at 86th St. and Lexington along the 4 and 5. The authority also issued a statement: “In certain subway stations, when we experience several days of hot weather, temperatures can exceed 120 degrees in the communications rooms that hold the equipment that drive the countdown clocks. We are constantly monitoring temperatures and working to install cooling systems in impacted communications rooms.”
This is, of course, part of the problem with installing 21st Century technology in a 20th Century transit network. The space for the appropriate types of cooling systems is at a premium. Still, Transit has at the least acknowledged the problem. “We know our customers have come to rely on the ‘next train arrival’ information,” they said, “and we apologize for the inconvenience and ask for their patience as we work to resolve this issue.”
Jul
15
All of the technology in the world…
Posted by: | Comments
The countdown clocks at Nevins St. last summer forecasted a long wait. (Photo by Benjamin Kabak)
It’s funny to see how technology can take over our lives. We grow so accustomed to something we didn’t have before — something we might have gone years or decades without — but once it’s there, we can’t live without it. When it’s gone, things don’t seem right, and we grow impatient. We want it back. We want it to work. We want that convenience.
A few years ago, the only countdown clocks in New York were a part of a pilot program along the L line. They usually worked (although sometimes threatened 54-minute waits for trains that were just a few stations away), and only a small subset of subway riders had the chance to enjoy them. Today, that picture has changed as countdown clocks are available at nearly every A Division station. If I have a choice between two rides, I’ll pick the route with the clocks. It makes waiting for a train seem like an exercise in calm patience instead of frustrated futility.
That said, the countdown clocks are far from perfect. They’re still very much a work in progress and as they like to remind us, undergoing tests. As with any computer equipment, extreme temperatures seem to cause them trouble, and I’ve received some recent complaints about outages at 86th St. on the East Side IRT and other high-volume stops where passengers grew to depend on the clocks. Considering we didn’t have them a few years ago, straphangers clearly appreciate and depend on the key bits of information these signs provide.
Yet, even as the countdown clocks provide straphanger who are waiting for trains with some modicum of peace of mind, they have their limitations. We might know how far away the next train is based on an algorithm that uses the subway system’s signals, but the people in the stations who are supposed to help out do not have access to the same information.
Take, for instance, this tale posted to Subchat last night. With a 12-9 in the Bronx causing a diversion along the 2 and 5 line, a man and his niece had to negotiate a variety of changes, block tickets and transfers between buses and subways to reach a station being serviced, and along the way, they encountered a bus driver, a station agent and an MTA Customer Service representative on the phone. None of the people they spoke with had the right information about the service change or the fare policies.
I’ve long beaten the customer service drum on Second Ave. Sagas, and over the past few years, the MTA has seemingly tried to improve the way they relate to their customers. But it’s a two-way street. We might benefit from the countdown clocks, but once installed, those are a very passive way of delivering information. The MTA still doesn’t have an efficient way to inform their workers in the field what’s happening or coordinate updates between those folks on the phone and those workers overseeing changes. Thus, customers looking for reroutes are often left in the cold.
When the Fulton St. Transit Center opens in 2014, it will, according to a NY1 report, have all electronic signage. “We will not have paper any longer,” MTA Capital Construction President Michael Horodniceanu said. “When you see, for example, a sign sending you to, let’s say the A, C, 4, 5 and so forth, it will be in electronic fashion that will emulate the way the signs look today.”
Electronic signage can be great for customization. If train designations are changed, if routes are altered, they can be updated with a push of a button. If something is temporarily wrong, they can be used to broadcast that message. Ultimately, though, if no one is there to coordinate updates and provide timely information, real-time delivery solutions can only be one half of a customer service product, and it takes two to tango.
Jul
12
‘There’s a transit app contest for that’
Posted by: | Comments
Subway map via iPad? There's already an app for that. (Photo by Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Patrick Cashin)
After announcing an app development contest yesterday with a grand prize of $5000, the MTA and ChallengePost hope that there’s going to be an app for that soon. With the goal of challenging programmers and developers to create apps that increase access to information and improve the travel experience for New York’s 8.5 million daily bus and subway riders, the authority announced yesterday a mobile app contest, and I, along with eight others, will be one of the judges.
“Over the past two years, we’ve made more and more information available to app developers, and we’re thrilled that they’re taking this information and using it to benefit our customers,” MTA Chairman Jay Walder said in a statement. “Now, through this competition, we are taking the next step to engage with the app developer community to encourage the creation of even more useful apps.”
The idea is a simple one: Between now and September 26, developers are invited to submit their apps at MTAAppQuest.com. The panel of judges — leaders in the online, digital development and transit fields — will judge them from Oct. 3 through Oct. 26, and the public will have a chance to vote on their favorites as well. The winners will be announced on Nov. 1, and the Grand Prize includes $5000, paid by ChallengePost, and a custom five-foot subway sign from Underground Signs. The second and third place entries will also receive prizes, and ChallengePost will name five honorable mentions and two popular choice winners.
Joining me in the judges booth will be a cross-section of folks from across the digital sphere. Take a look:
- Jen Chung, Executive Editor, Gothamist, and Co-Founder, Gothamist LLC
- Jeff Ferzoco, Creative and Technology Director, Regional Plan Association
- Stephen Goldsmith, Deputy Mayor for Operations, City of New York
- Mark Gorton, Founder and Chairman, OpenPlans and Founder, Tower Research Capital LLC
- Wael Hibri, Chief Enterprise Information Officer, Metropolitan Transportation Authority
- Noel Hidalgo, Director of Engagement Technologies, World Economic Forum
- Lawrence Levy, Executive Dean, National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University
- Rachel Sterne, Chief Digital Officer, City of New York
In conjunction with the contest, the MTA has also released new datasets for developers with more to come by July 21. The new sets include location-based data on subway platforms, turnstiles, elevators and the remaining station booths; historical data showing times and locations of the 4, 5 and 6 trains; and performance data for all MTA agencies for the past three years.
Personally, I’m pretty excited about the potential for this contest. Already, the MTA’s App Center features over 30 transit-related packages, and with the potential for more, the missing bits of information that the MTA doesn’t supply can be provided by entrepreneurial developers. I’ll have more about the contest as it elapses, but in the meantime, get those apps started. [MTA App Quest]
Jun
29
Report: Elevator warning system plagued by false alarms
Posted by: | CommentsThe MTA’s love/hate relationship with its escalators and elevators has continued, according to a report from the MTA Inspector General. The Daily News provides the details:
Straphangers stuck in elevators may have been trapped longer than necessary because a new monitoring system was plagued by false alarms, the Daily News has learned. Instead, staffers on a control desk in the MTA’s Elevator and Escalator department waited for notification from trapped riders or other transit workers before sending mechanics to the scene… “Despite public concern, media attention and demands for improvement by the MTA Board, elevators and escalators remain a problem,” the report said…
Other findings include:
- Some inspection and maintenance work reported as having been done may not have been performed.
- In addition to the many false alarms, the automated monitoring and alert system sometimes failed to send a warning during true entrapments. There were 208 entrapments in the first six months of last year.
- Managers didn’t know false alarms were a problem and wrongly thought staff was immediately dispatched. They weren’t aware that monitoring equipment was disconnected at some elevators – including some with the highest number of entrapments.
For its part, the MTA says it will create a position in charge of escalator and elevator oversight who can spearhead “maintenance and reliability.” “We know we have to,” Caremn Bianco, senior vice president of subways, said. “We know this is a huge source of frustration for our customers.” I think I’ll take the stairs.
Jun
17
Improving the way we find the way
Posted by: | Comments
The MTA's latest wayfinding sign on the downtown platform at Union Square. Click to enlarge. (Photo courtesy of David Sims)
Everything old is new again. As the MTA looks to improve the way straphangers get around — an important aspect of the service the authority must provide to its customers — it has turned to something familiar to those who know their subway history.
At certain stops along the East Side IRT, Transit testing new strip maps that show riders where the subway go. The new signs, similar to the one atop this post sent to me by David Sims, a SAS reader and reporter for The Chief-Ledger, are evocative of the strip maps that used to adorn the subway map back in the 1980s. By showing riders where the train that will arrive on that track will next go, the authority helps those without an encyclopedic knowledge of the subway system find their ways around.
I asked the MTA about the new signs yesterday, and an agency spokesman had this to say:
The subway system has been around for more than 100 years, and we are constantly looking for ways to improve the way it works for our customers. Similar to our mid-2010 redesigned service change posters, we’re taking a fresh new approach to increase the availability of easy-to-read maps throughout the system. While every station already has a subway map, customers don’t always have time to locate the map or sort through all of the information it provides. We’re trying out a few ways of doing this as a pilot and we’ll decide how to move forward based on customer feedback.
The strip maps are the first part of the pilot program, and it’s hard to dispute their usefulness or visual appeal. They may be limited in that they represent peak-hour subway service only, but that’s when most people are riding. I’ll be curious to see what the next step of this pilot program resembles.
Meanwhile, as part of a more long-term effort to deliver customer service upgrades, Transit is toying with the idea of retrofitting older rolling stock with digital signs. Michael Grynbaum has the deets:
New York City Transit is looking for a way to bring some of its older subway cars into the digital age. The upgrade, if put into effect, would bring automated station announcements and digital route displays to more than 1,700 aging subway cars, including the entirety of the B, D, and Nos. 1, 3 and 7 lines.
Those amenities come standard on the system’s blue-hued modern trains. Currently, the most high-tech signage on a B train is a plastic roll sign operated via hand-crank. To subway officials, intent on improving the passenger experience, the change would bring clearer, real-time travel information to riders tired of screechy intercoms and static maps. But the end of live announcements could signal another step in the creeping dehumanization of a subway system already shedding station agents and, on some cars, train operators…
Neither a timeline nor an estimated cost for the upgrade was available on Thursday, mostly because the transit agency still needs to determine if the idea is feasible.
I don’t put much weight into the nostalgia of live announcements. While Grynbaum spoke to Harry Nugent about the more colorful conductors, I side with Andrew Albert. “I haven’t heard the robot make a mistake,” the chairman of the New York City Transit Riders Council said. “I have heard the human make a mistake.” (Of course, the robotic announcements can be loud and annoying, but we covered that complaint recently.)
If the MTA can find a cost-efficient way to upgrade rolling stock that won’t be due for replacement for the next 15 years, they should. After all, it’s all about improving the customer experience. I would have to believe, though, that it might be easier to upgrade the static route signs on the R142s and R143s to the dynamic FIND displays. Too many times do I board a 2 train with the map for a 5 train and a note saying that the route-finder isn’t in service.
Essentially, these upgrades are minor ones that can make a big difference in the way New Yorkers and visitors commute. It can take a lot of the guesswork out of finding the way around, and that focus on the customer has been sorely missing for the MTA for quite a while now.
Jun
14
An online solution for lost or damaged MetroCards
Posted by: | Comments
As the MTA has struggled over the years to fit technology into their offerings, their online customer support has lagged far behind the technology we see in the system. Countdown clocks and FIND displays are incongruous with the way the MTA had, up until recently, treated its web presence. Take, for example, a MetroCard.
If a straphanger loses or damages his or her MetroCard, he or she must call a phone number or mail in their card or, if lost, a claim for a replacement. It is a clunky process filled with vague questionnaires that often ask for too much unnecessary information, and I know more than a few people who sacrificed the errant swipe rather than deal with the confusion.
Now, though, the MTA is working to address that problem. The agency has unveiled a new MetroCard eFix website. Now when a straphanger has a problem with a MetroCard, he or she can fill out an online form and set the dispute-resolution process in motion digitally. “The introduction of eFIX is yet another example of how the MTA is working to make things more convenient for our customers. From countdown clocks, to BusTime, to a website filled with real information that our customers can use, we are constantly working to be responsive to the needs of our customers.” NYC Transit President Thomas F. Prendergast said in a statement.
The eFix site allows users to select one of six categories: lost or stolen reduced fare cards; Select Bus Service errors; MetroCard not returned from the bus farebox; MetroCard Vending Machine problem; or a transfer problem.
Overcharged. The eFix system, designed in house, will verify claims as they are entered which results in increased speed and accuracy. The MTA is also planning future enhancements to the system as well.
I haven’t yet had the opportunity to test out the system, but just its mere introduction is a step in the right technological direction for the 1400 folks who submit claims on a daily basis. Making it easier for the customer to recapture lost money is a good move.
Jun
13
Technology and the law of unintended consequences
Posted by: | Comments
Countdown clocks at Bergen Street offer a glimpse into the MTA's true headways.
As regular readers know, I am a big supporter of the MTA’s new countdown clocks. In fact, outside of those people who rabble over money spent on something they personally deem superfluous without understanding the rationale behind the expenditures, I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t find the countdown clocks calming. We know how far away the next train is; we know the trains are moving closer as time ticks away; and we no longer have to deal with the mysteries of waiting and peering into darkened tunnels.
Yet, the countdown clocks allow us to sneak a peak at the MTA’s operations, and now and then, we see things we do not like. Let me tell a story that I’ve told in various forms before. I wish I didn’t have to keep repeating myself, but this type of incident happens far more regularly than I would like.
To set the stage, it is Friday night at 11:38 p.m. I have just taken the 4 train back to Brooklyn from Yankee Stadium, and I am hoping that I won’t need to wait long for a connecting 2 or 3 train that will take me to Grand Army Plaza. When we slowly pass Hoyt St., I can see the countdown clocks threatening a 13-minute wait until the next 2 train is due to arrive, and I hope that there is a train at Nevins awaiting connecting passengers.
When we pull into Nevins St., I get my hopes up. There’s a 3 train across the platform, but the 3 train has its doors closed. At that hour of the night and with the next train so far behind, I had hopes that the operators would grow less worried about adhering to the MTA’s fantasy idea of a schedule and more concerned with customer service. Instead, as the doors on the 4 open, the 3 train pulls away. So much for those poor saps who have to get to Bergen St., Grand Army Plaza or Eastern Parkway. Instead of waiting for 12 minutes at Nevins, I opted for the 20-minute walk back home from Atlantic Ave.
To me, there is nothing quite as frustrating as watching a local depart as an express pulls in when nighttime headways at their worst. We’ve heard frequently from the MTA about improving on-time performance, but as I’ve said in the past, on-time performance means little if customers aren’t inconvenienced by it. On Friday night, more than a few of us sighed audibly or cursed under our breaths as that 3 train pulled out. We were inconvenienced by it, and because of the countdown clocks, we knew that the next local train would be an interminable 12 minutes away.
Enter the law of unintended consequences. In the days before countdown clocks, I likely would have waited for that next 2 train, growing more and more impatient with every passing minute and thinking ill of the train operator who left us stranded at Nevins. With the countdown clocks, I could better plan my trip home, but I also knew with certainty that the local train should have waited 20 extra seconds for a connecting express because the next train wasn’t particularly close.
Meanwhile, the countdown clocks gave me a glimpse of the MTA’s true headways as well, and I’ve noticed this problem with some frequency. Ideally, headways at 11:40 p.m. on a Friday at Nevins St. would be around 8-10 minutes per train, and technically they are. There is, however, a catch. The countdown clocks told me that the next 2 train was 12 minutes away while the next 3 was 17. Two trains in 17 minutes makes sense, but no trains in 12 minutes doesn’t. When different routes — in this case the Flatbush Ave.-bound 2 and the New Lots Ave.-bound 3 — share a track, the headways might sound convenient, but often, bunching happens. The countdown clocks lay it all out there for everyone to see.
Ultimately, my trip home lasted a few minutes less than it would have had I waited for the next train, and I was able to take a nice walk on a warm evening to let out my frustration. But with technology that allows us to see just when the next train is coming, the MTA should ask its train operators to think about customers when its late at night and headways are long. The extra few seconds would make for many more satisfied customers.
Jun
06
Cell phone signals as subway countdown clocks
Posted by: | CommentsA few months ago, I spoke with Alex Bell, an engineering student at Columbia and the brother of an old friend of mine, about his transit app. His idea was simple: crowdsource train locations through user-submitted messages. Unfortunately, the app never reached the critical mass of users it needed to br successful, but Bell isn’t giving up.
As The Times reports today, Bell has signed up with Densebrain, a mobile company that wants to use passive cell signals to triangulate train locations. With the approval of each user, Densebrain’s app reads when the cell signal is lost and notes when and where service is restored. For instance, if someone loses signal just south of 161st St. in the Bronx and resurfaces at Grand Central, the app knows that this user took a 4 train, and it can provide real-time info on that train’s location. With over 600,000 users of its free NYCMate subway map app, Densebrain thinks it has the user base to support such a project.
Of course, concerns over privacy remain to be tested. Will users consent to anonymous location tracking? And how will the app distinguish between different trains that run the same route? For now though, Densebrain’s plan is another in the effort to tell us just where our trains are and when, and that sounds promising to me. [New York Times]
May
24
Breaking: Another new look for MTA.info
Posted by: | Comments
The new look for the MTA's website went live a few minutes ago.
For the second time in two years, the MTA has redesigned its homepage. In an effort to simplify the amount of information on its public landing page and better present customers with directions, service alerts and useful transit apps, the authority has just flipped the switch on a simplified design that borrows from transit agencies across the country and world. For a peak at the new site, check out MTA.info.
“Despite last year’s complete overhaul of our website, there was still room for improvement,” MTA Chairman Jay H. Walder said in a statement. “Today’s redesign improves further on the customer experience, adding new features and making it even easier to get real-time service information and easy-to-use travel planning.”
The website, which the MTA says was created and built in house, features a “new minimalistic design” that is “better organized and geared toward enabling customers to quickly identify the information they need.” With the new look comes some new functionality as well. The MTA has unveiled an App Center that highlights third-party transit-related apps for iPhone, Android and other mobile platforms. The new Innovation section has been designed to showcase technological improvements that improve customer service. Here, the MTA has given customers the ability to comment on these changes as well.
Finally, an enhanced Trip Planner Plus creates what the authority calls “a truly regional trip planner for the first time.” Users will receive directions for Metro-North and the LIRR as well as subways and buses, and these directions will incorporate planned service changes.
Following the debut of its January 2010 redesign, the MTA saw web traffic increase by nearly 65 percent on a daily basis. If the new redesign is a success, if information is better presented and easy to find, the authority will likely continue to see an increase in use. It is, after all, completely about customer service and putting the best face forward.
May
20
Photo of the Day: A countdown clock, the wrong way
Posted by: | Comments
Photo by Benjamin Kabak
Where: The south end of the downtown 6 platform at Bleecker St.
When: Wednesday morning shortly after 11:15 a.m.
Earlier this week, the Bowery Boogie excitedly heralded the arrival of countdown clocks on the Bleecker St. platforms at the Broadway/Lafayette station complex. The clocks along the 6 line, long covered by the MTA, were turned on at the entrances this past week, and I found myself at the station heading down to the City Hall area on Wednesday morning. While most of the countdown clocks were functional, one seemed out of place, and I snapped the above photo.
As you can see from the picture, the customer information board toward the south end of the downtown platform is aligned in a rather amusing direction. Instead of facing the platform so that folks at either end can see it, the clock is facing out toward the track and in toward a blue plywood wall. Unless you’re standing in the few feet of space in between the board and the track, the clock is all but invisible to the rest of the station. In other words, this particular countdown clock isn’t particularly useful.
The MTA has struggled with these clocks at certain stations. A few at 72nd St. and Broadway were obscured by emergency exit signs and low-hanging pipes. Others have faced walls while some have been placed awkwardly near station entrances. By and large, the new system is a success, but now and then, something wrong sticks out like a sore thumb. Why this board was installed in such a strange fashion when the blue plywood has a cutout for it in the first place will remain a mystery until someone comes to realign it.
