Outdoor wifi ads may show useful information too

With their new technology, the MTA could now get train arrivals times wrong outside of the station too. (Robert Stolarik for The New York Times)

A few months ago, the MTA and CBS signed a deal that will help bring free wireless to midtown. By installing wireless access points and advertising screens above various subway stations in Midtown, the MTA and CBS Outdoor are hoping to run a successful pilot program.

While the MTA benefits from this program fiscally since CBS is paying them for the right to use MTA-owned property, the Transportation Authority will benefit as well. As amNew York’s Marlene Naanes reports today, the MTA may be able to use the advertising signs to show important subway information as well.

Video screens perched atop 80 subway entrances could keep commuters out of harm’s way soon if wireless technology is able to transform them into more than advertising displays…

The technology — installed by the MTA’s advertising contract holder CBS Outdoor — would allow the agency to override the video ads and transmit messages to straphangers during emergencies. “So if there is an issue with the trains downstairs, we can tell our customers not to go down there,” said Roco Krsulic, the MTA’s director of real estate.

The MTA and CBS hope to roll out the pilot program later this month. Considering that they announced this program two months ago, this must be record time for an MTA roll-out.

Anyway, I love this idea. One of the biggest complaints I’ve heard both in New York and Washington, DC, focues around the lack of information available outside of stations. In DC, the Metro has long been equipped with signs displaying the time until the next train, but oftentimes, those signs are a legitimate five-minute escalator ride away from the street. Nothing is more discouraging than finding out, after a long ride down, that you’ve just missed a train or have another 15 minutes to go. With information outside of stations, potential passengers can figure out if indeed the subway is the best way to go.

Now, right now, with the way the MTA is talking, it doesn’t sound as though they are tempted to merge the two programs. In other words, it’s doubtful that train arrival times would be posted outside. The MTA after all wants to encourage subway use, and I don’t know too many who are going to head down into the trains if they know the next train is still 15 minutes away. As long as the hope exists for a train to come sooner, people will continue to use the subways.

But in terms of emergency preparedness, this has potential great news written all over it. If the MTA can figure out how to bypass the seemingly non-existent in-station communications system through which station agents are often the last to know about problems, we’re all better off for it. Imagine finding out that trains are out due to a flood before swiping through the turnstiles instead of after waiting on a crowded platform without cell service for 35 minutes. Amazing!