Home MTA Technology In praise of the countdown clocks, guardedly

In praise of the countdown clocks, guardedly

by Benjamin Kabak

At Spring St., the PA/CIS countdown clock reminds straphangers that the system is still in the testing phases. (Photo via New York City Transit)

New York City Transit’s efforts at bringing late-20th century technology to its decidedly early 20th century subway system hit a milestone this week as the agency turned on the PA/CIS countdown clocks at the 40th station. The rollout will eventually include the 152 numbered line stations that make up the A Division, and Transit is now more than halfway to its goal of 75 stations for 2010.

“These countdown clocks are another way we are fundamentally changing the customers’ experience using our system by connecting them with 21st century technological advances,” MTA Chairman and CEO Jay H. Walder said in a statement. “Despite tough economic times, we continue to move forward in modernizing our communications network, finding creative and affordable ways to better service the riding public.”

In the release touting this progress, the MTA ran through the typical lines. The screens are located before the turnstiles and on platforms. They take the guesswork and the age-old technique of peering down the track into a dark tunnel to discern the lights of an approaching train. The screens provide a way for the MTA to communicate with its riders in case of emergency or unscheduled delays. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

The real benefits are psychological, and Transit president Thomas Prendergast touched upon this aspect of the project. “We are moving ahead steadily with this vital customer information initiative,” he said. “With the PA/CIS screens activated on a regular basis across the system, more and more subway riders will be able to just look up and see when their train will arrive.”

It’s tough to underestimate how comforting it is to be able to just look up and know when the next train is coming. I know from experience. Since my semester ended and the summer job started, I’ve gone from taking B Division trains from Brooklyn into Manhattan to riding the 2/3 from Grand Army Plaza to the 4/5/6 stop at City Hall/Brooklyn Bridge. The countdown clocks at Grand Army Plaza were activated in early June, and they have been a calming revelation.

When I get to the station now, I can check the sign before swiping in, and when I alight on the platform, the sign is right there counting down the time. I don’t have to peer, and I find myself growing much less impatient with the wait when the minutes are melting away. It’s still a novelty to see the train arrive on time, but it’s much less stressful to know that the train that is supposedly three minutes away will actually arrive in three minutes. No more waiting for the piercing shrill of the sign informing us that a Brooklyn- or Manhattan-bound train may be approaching; no more hoping for the lights in the tunnel to grow brighter. I don’t have this luxury at City Hall, and I find myself tapping my toe more often than not before the packed rush hour trains arrive.

Of course, the system isn’t quite perfect, and that’s why I say I’m guardedly praising it. The signs at both Nevins St. and Grand Army Plaza are bugging. The Nevins St. signs present a challenge for the MTA because it is one of the few express stops where the PA/CIS system has been activated. With the 4 and the 5 arriving across the platform from 2 and 3 trains, the signs often contain bad information, and when a train is nearly about to enter the station, the numbers start jumping around. Furthermore, during special announcements from the NYPD, the countdown for the next train freezes. The MTA assures me they will examine this issue, but it’s an alarming one nonetheless from an organization that has struggled with technological adaptation.

For now, the MTA remains on track to bring this technology — one enjoyed internationally for decades — to the IRT lines by mid-2011. The B Division stations remain in limbo as low-budget tests continue while high-tech solutions remains impossibly expensive. Until that day arrives, I’ll stick with my stress-free waits along the A Division. For all the bugs, the signs, promising an end to a long wait on a hot, sticky platform, truly do make traveling slightly more pleasurable.

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22 comments

Andrew June 17, 2010 - 7:27 am

The benefits are far more than psychological at locations where people have multiple options to reach their destinations – most notably, express stops. Don’t you hate it when you decide to let the local go, only to discover that there’s a long wait for the express and you would have gotten to your destination sooner by staying on the local? And, once it came, the express was probably overcrowded, due to the delay. Letting people know of the delay in advance gets them to their destination sooner and reduces overcrowding on the delayed train.

Why is it alarming that a “System Under Test” isn’t working perfectly?

And you’re confusing technology for information. The specific technology used varies from system to system.

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Scott E June 17, 2010 - 7:59 am

So, this must be the end of the seemingly arbitrary manual station/line announcements: “Ladies and Gentlemen: there is a Manhattan-bound express train at Franklin Avenue”… at least until some judge orders them back to work.
And are the so-called “special announcements from the NYPD” the same, stupid “protect yourself…” ones heard on the trains?

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Benjamin Kabak June 17, 2010 - 8:17 am

And are the so-called “special announcements from the NYPD” the same, stupid “protect yourself…” ones heard on the trains?

Yep. That’s by far the most useless in-system announcement.

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SEAN June 17, 2010 - 10:27 am

About 3-Saturdays ago, I saw the countdown clocks in action for the first time @ 18th St & 7th ave on the 1 2 3.

“There is a 242nd Street bound… #1 train ariving in… 3 minutes.”

I thaught it was so cool hearing that anouncement for the first time, knowing that soon it will be deployed throughout the system.

SF Muni has a similar system in it’s underground streetcar stations as well.

In Portland OR, the most bus stops & all light rail & streetcar stations have systems as well, but there’s don’t anounce just display the arival info.

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Scott E June 17, 2010 - 10:36 am

Is this being designed and built by an outside contractor, or is it being done in-house? It seems to be different than “the PA/CIS project” I’ve heard about.

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Joe June 17, 2010 - 11:33 am

It’s the LONG-delayed Siemens project.

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Seth R June 17, 2010 - 11:05 am

Are they maintaining a public list anywhere of which stations have this technology? I would definitely divert to the station with them if I was right between two.

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Al D June 17, 2010 - 11:43 am

Botanic Garden on the S will get the clocks in the year 3115. By then, we will be using transporters instead of subway cars (how quaint!), but the MTA will be hailing the completed project as a major milestone, comparable only to the SAS full route completion 3 years earlier, 3112.

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Adirondacker12800 June 17, 2010 - 12:38 pm

3112? you are an optimist…

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Evan June 17, 2010 - 11:52 am

When are they planning on rolling this out on 7 line? I just moved away from Sunnyside but I never saw the wrapped up LCD screens that I saw on the 1/2/3/4/5/6 lines.

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bob June 17, 2010 - 3:51 pm

7 line doesn’t have ATS signaling to supply the information. It is next in line for CBTC, so when that is done you’ll get this type of information. Unless Prendergast sticks in something like the modern annunciators that have shown up on the B division.

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Evan June 17, 2010 - 4:33 pm

When will the installation of CBTC on the 7 be finished or has it even started yet?

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Andrew June 17, 2010 - 5:46 pm

Hasn’t started yet. I think the contract may have been recently awarded, but I’m not sure.

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Alon Levy June 17, 2010 - 10:24 pm

You don’t need ATS for this on the 7. The problem with doing this systemwide is that except on the IRT mainlines, the dispatching system can know that a train is on the line but not which train it is. So on the IND, the technology can only tell you things like “Express train coming in 4 minutes.” On the 7, which doesn’t share tracks with anything, it’s generally not a problem. (It’s a problem only with local/express designations on the two-track segments.)

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Andrew June 18, 2010 - 7:22 pm

The local-express designations are pretty important, I think.

But more importantly, the signal system on the 7 is about to be replaced. Is it really worth hooking a system like this into a signal system that will be gone in 5 years or so?

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Ryan June 17, 2010 - 12:27 pm

It’s great that this system is FINALLY up and running. Any word when we can start seeing similar technology on buses?

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SEAN June 17, 2010 - 12:54 pm

Several transit systems already use such technology, they include L I bus who has been using audio visual anouncement systems for over a decade, WMATA, MBTA, CTA& most recently Tri-Met of Portland who have been installing AVS on there bus fleet.

There’s an Orlando furm called Transitv who have contracts with MTA in L. A., MARTA &others with a special AV system that includes the ability as the name suggests to watch tv on the bus as well as make stop & other anouncements.

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Frank B. June 17, 2010 - 1:16 pm

I’m all in favor for the best technology being implemented, but honestly, if they can introduce that pilot program that they have on the IND Eighth Avenue line throughout the system, at least temporarily, it would a vast improvement for a low, low price. If they can establish the program in 6 stations for only $20,000 dollars, ($3,333 per station), then they can establish countdown service on all 294 IND and BMT stations for less than 1,000,000 dollars; a nickel in the bucket compared to what they’ve paid so far for the IRT service that still remains largely unimplemented. I realize that this new technology is tied in with the automation upgrades that will one day cover the entire system; (Eventually…) But for now, if they can implement a service that can predict a train arriving with a decent degree of accuracy for next to nothing, and considering when these lines branch out to the boroughs, usually only one or two services stop at these stations, why don’t we just go for the option now, considering we already have the clocks installed, and the system relies on already existing technology?

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bob June 17, 2010 - 3:55 pm

The reason those stations were so cheap is that the signs were already installed under a different contract. So at B division stations where the signs are in place (I think it’s a few dozen) this is a good idea. Where the signs are not installed it’s a much more expensive item.

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bob June 17, 2010 - 3:58 pm

One other quirk I’ve noticed is that is treats trains on the same line with different terminals separately. That could make for situations like the southbound A. But there are some trains on lines that drop out early and they show up on the second line (which rotates through the next train for different lines) as arriving 40 minutes later – which is a bit off-putting until you realize what’s going on. There will be many trains before so that information isn’t really necessary until that train is much closer.

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Amy June 18, 2010 - 9:59 am

Of course they are putting these on the 6 line, which is the only line with speedy trains. In the day, you never have to wait more than 5 minutes for a 6. Put this on the ACE which is always fucked up.

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Andrew June 18, 2010 - 7:21 pm

I take it that by “speedy trains” you mean trains that run frequently, not trains that run quickly.

The signs are being installed at every station that’s part of the new ATS system – the entire 1, 3, 4, and 6, and most of the 2 and 5. The lines without ATS don’t have the data available to display, although there’s a pilot going on right now at a few stations on the A based on much more rudimentary data (so the information won’t be as thorough and will be more prone to error).

(And the 6 is scheduled to run every 8 minutes on weekends. And regardless of the schedule, it, like every other line, is subject to delay, which is when these signs are most useful.)

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