The holding lights might be on, but who knows why? (Photo by Benjamin Kabak)
When it comes to on-board public address systems, Transit just can’t win. Sometimes, the train announcements are non-existent or inaudible. Other times — the new R160s come to mind — the announcements are deafeningly loud, repetitive and downright uninformative. In a city that prides itself on its collective ability to complain about everything, subway train announcements are right there at the top of the list.
But what if the train announcements aren’t there when they need to be? What if straphangers have no idea why a train is delayed, where Transit may be rerouting them or how a potential emergency could impact a commute home? According to a recent study issued by the Straphangers Campaign, that is exactly the problem underground. While regular announcements are generally audible, those concerning delays are hard to hear, if they’re even uttered at all.
According to the report, 80 percent of the so-called “basic announcements” are “clear and accurate.” Yet, 55 percent of announcements regarding delays and service disruptions face problems. The report say the statement from the conductor was “inaudible, garbled or incorrect.” Transit requires an announcement at the time of the delay and again two minutes later. It is, then, discomforting to know that nearly half the time, no announcement is made.
“We’re glad basic subway car announcements are improving, but disappointed most riders are being left in the dark to cope with delays and reroutings,” said Cate Contino, Campaign coordinator who oversaw the survey.
Not surprisingly, the line-by-line breakdown shows a clear dichotomy between the newer cars with their prerecorded announcements and the older rolling stock still in service. On the 6 and the M, the Straphangers’ ratings claimed to hear “clear, ungarbled and correct” announcements 100 percent of the time
The 4, 5, 6, L, M and N lines performed the best in making basic announcements. Our raters heard basic announcements that were clear, ungarbled and correct for a perfect 100% of the time on the 6 and M; all the top-performing lines had automated announcements and performed perfectly or near perfectly. The 4, 5, L and M all had scores of 98 percent or higher. The D, G and 7 lines performed the worst with marks of 61 percent for the G and 62 percent for the D and 7. When I ride the D, I hear station announcements sometimes, and the absence is notable.
Transit issued a brief statement in response to the Straphangers’ report. “We are continuing the effort to improve communications with our customers in all areas, including announcements made on board trains,” the agency said. “While the inclusion of digitized voice announcements on our newer subway car classes has made a huge difference in the announcement quality, we are also working to make certain that train crews keep customers informed when issues arise that may affect their trips.”
This is one of those areas where the MTA’s technology will eventually catch up with the needs and demands of the riders, but even then, people will be unhappy. Is it better to know why the train is sitting in a tunnel for 25 minutes by being bombarded with reminders and automated messages every 120 seconds or are we better off, literally and figuratively, in the dark? It’s important for rider sanity and safety to keep all informed of the goings-on underground, but after hearing for the umpteenth time that the MTA is “apologizing for the unavoidable delay,” I almost yearn for those cars with inaudible announcements.
13 comments
Boston learned (the hard way) that there are serious ADA issues to not having audible announcements with at least the basics.
As to service disruptions, I want to know what’s going on. Even though I know that headways in NYC are more frequent than in Los Angeles, I *felt* like I didn’t wait as long in Los Angeles because I knew that my morning train would come at 8:31 like clockwork. I think others have cited, in the context of countdown clocks, to empirical studies showing that, if a person knows how long a wait is going to be, it doesn’t feel as long and the person is more willing to wait. If the whole line that I’m waiting for has shut down due to a “police action” and I can’t hope for a train within 30 minutes, *tell me* that so that I can immerse myself in a book or leave the station and buy some coffee or something.
I can’t stress how important accurate announcements are to ADA customers… because not all terminal stations are accessible yet, I live in fear of the day that the train I’m on skips the last wheelchair-accessible stop and I get to spend some quality time with Transit staff trying to figure out how I’m supposed to get back out of the subway, let alone to where I’m going. (this could happen, for instance, if a downtown V train as currently scheduled skipped W. 4th St unexpectedly; also a risk if a Rockaway-bound A train were ever diverted to Ozone Park). Timely announcements would allow me to bail at the next accessible station and find alternate options. Untimely announcements, or no announcements at all, leave me stuck in an inaccessible station.
So as to not entirely criticize the MTA – while I hate the sterile operating room feel of the new trains, the way the signs are designed and the way the LED route maps contain accessibility information is just unbelievably useful. I’m partial to the R68 if only because I’m most often on the B and the Q, but… man, those new signs go above and beyond. It’s better than anything Los Angeles has, and I share the Straphangers’ Campaign’s confidence in the new trains.
You’re right about the annoyance of these announcements. I know we’re discussing subways, but I’ll add the LIRR to that list. The newer M7 trains (also on Metro-North) play a chime, identical to the subway door-closing chime, before all announcements. Trying to sleep, or even relax, on an hour-long local ride on the LIRR is near impossible, with the constant “(chime) “This station is Hicksville (chime) This is the train to Penn Station (chime) The next station is Westbury (chime) As you leave the train, please watch the gap…… “. I long for the older, quieter M3s when I need to take a local train.
One problem with automated announcements about delays is that they are an “easy out”, which saves the conductor from telling us what’s really happening. “Delayed because of train traffic ahead of us”, after hopping on the first train to arrive in 20 minutes? Gimme a break; straphangers aren’t stupid.
(In that last sentence, I think you mean “bombarded… every 120 seconds”, not minutes.)
LIRR is annoying with the repetitive “Mind the Gap” announcements after that teenager fell through. Chicago retrofitted all buses and trains with an automated voice that is also a bit too talkative and clear.
“Clark and Lake is next. Doors open on the right at Clark and Lake. Transfer to Brown, Pink, Orange, Blue, and Purple line trains at Clark and Lake…. This is Clark and Lake. Transfer to Brown, Pink, Orange, Blue, and Purple line trains at Clark and Lake. This is a Blue Line train to O’Hare. *ding-dong* Doors closing. *ding-dong* Doors closing. Your safety is important. If you observe unattended packages, vandalism, or suspicious activity, inform CTA personnel immediately. Please be considerate when talking on your phone or listening to electronic devices, so as not to disturb other customers.”
And that’s just one damn stop! I understand the need for ADA announcements, but you’d think they could cut down the talking a little bit. For instance, saying the name of the station five times seems a little over the top, unless there are a lot of passengers with memory loss issues…
Having a repeated anouncement maybe over the top, but CTA is making sure of not ending up with an ADA violation. As a person with limited sight, having automated anouncements is a real benefit. If they need to constently repeat them, then repeat them!
Totally agree. Phoenix also does the “doors open on the right/left” announcements on its LRT, which is extremely helpful, particularly in a city where folks are not used to transit and wheelchair users need to know when to start moving people out of the way. Los Angeles also has tons of announcements, particularly on the LRT lines, and I quickly learned to tune out the unimportant ones (there are lengthy automaed announcements on the Blue Line between its downtown terminal and the first stop, Pico, also on the Gold Line departing Union Station, regarding POP rules, train destination, etc., that daily riders like myself didn’t need but were obviously necessary for all of the tourists and occasional riders).
semi-related sidenote: I still remember laughing one July 4th late night on the 42nd St Shuttle, running I guess because of crush-load crowds after the fireworks, when the train operator decided he was going to have fun with his job and spent the entire brief trip between GCT and Times Square slowly reading out “This is the Grand Central Terminal-Times Square Shuttle, running along 42nd Street, next, last, and ONLY stop is Times Square, transfer to the 1, the 2, the 3, the 9 (which was still alive), the N, the Q, the R, the W, the 7, the A, the C, the E, and Greyhound [etc.]” I think he even explained where each platform was at Times Square. Sounds annoying, but many of the riders there were either tourists or bridge-and-tunnel folks, and everyone got off the train with at least a general idea of which direction they were going, which is important given how bad of a maze Times Square is. He may have just been having fun on a euphoric night, but I suspect the shuttle platform crowd dispersed faster than it would have otherwise due to his lengthy instructions.
The problem with the later generation of the R160s (those running on E,F,W) lines is that the speakers for certain cars are sometimes wired incorrectly (or so I think). Reason is you hear an out of pitch/tone coming out of the automated announcements and door chimes. Probably due to overlapping wires or just bad construction…
If I am delayed on the train for a significant amount of time, say more than 5 minutes, is it possible for the conductors to announce how long the delay will continue? I can reason why a conductor would not want to announce a suicide jumper or some other tragic circumstance, but wouldn’t an ETA for resumption be reassuring?
Odds are good they don’t know. If it’s a “police investigation” or “mechanical problem,” it’s tough to say how long it will take to clear up the delay.
I understand that they don’t always know how long the delay will be, but the most frustrating part is that when there is a delay, “we’ll be moving shortly” could mean 1 minute or it could mean more than a half an hour. If it’s the latter, I’d rather walk (if I’m close to my destination) or take a different train, bus, or cab if I’m far. There was some sort of water main break on the Upper West Side where I was stuck on the train at a station on a Sunday night. Every 5 minutes or so the conductor would remind us of the situation and that we’d “be moving shortly.” It was late. I was tired. I eventually left the station after 25 minutes of waiting, looked for a bus, didn’t see one, and took a cab home. But I’d waited on the train in the station for 25 minutes on the promise of “moving shortly.” We need better communication so we know what’s going on and how long it’ll likely take to resolve the problem. The conductor should be able to get more specific updates, like “They’re sending for someone to survey the water damage and see if it’s safe for the train to proceed… they’re on their way,” “We’ll be waiting here while they fix a pipe” etc.
I also echo Scott’s complaint about “train traffic ahead of us.” It’s 3am and the trains are barely coming every 20 minutes! How are there more “train traffic” delays late at night than there is during rush hour? Somebody needs to explain to me exactly what this delay even means.
Perhaps if more tracks are out of service due to overnight work, it wouldn’t take too much for a bottleneck to occur, particularly if you have trains using what is ordinarily non-revenue speed-limited track to bypass overnight construction.
I feel though, that instead of “We are being held momentarily by the train’s dispactcher” they give us “… due to train traffic ahead of us.” They both mean two very different things, and the former can better explain holding a train when none have come for 20-30 minutes before it. Nonetheless, they both do little to truly tell us how LONG the wait will be. Ultimately, that is what we all care about. We like to know the ‘why’ because then we can estimate the length of the delay, but let’s just skip that and concentrate on time estimates. We understand they will be estimates, but a 3 minute delay is very different than 10-15 minutes when your destination is only 10 blocks away.
It’s also useful to say whether further delays can be expected, to help riders make an informed decision on whether to stay on the train or get out and walk or take a taxi.
As a train conductor, I can tell you the reason we can’t announce how long the delay will be is because the information isn’t given to us. Remember, we operate via radio and rail control center gives us all of the info. So if they don’t tell us we can’t tell the customers and we resort to the generic “We’re being held by the train dispatcher…” but that’s usually because we are either running early, and they want to maintain even spacing, or there’s another train approaching and they want us to make a connection with it. The honest truth is we cannot say on the PA that we’re running early because that’s against work rules. I do apologize on behalf of my coworkers for the confusion!!