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Nice - New York City Subway LED Signage (via @pyesawichjr)

via vimeo.com

need to see this in person...

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13 Comments

Nov 03, 2009
daniel said...
I love it. I saw it last time I was in NYC. I wish all of the trains had this. Now you don't have to try and decipher what the engineer is saying.
Nov 03, 2009
Zeh said...
I think they have already been using this for a while? On the E and L lines I guess. I see that all the time.
Nov 03, 2009
Michael Lebowitz said...
/i ride the subway all the time, but only the A/C in brooklyn for the most part, so it's escaped me...
Nov 03, 2009
Janice Chow said...
it's great, esp when announcers are muffled. in fact, it's in most trains that run through Brooklyn. (N, M, R) comes to mind.
Nov 03, 2009
Michael Maurillo said...
it's been around for a bit and i'm actually struggling with it a little. the "next stops" is very intuitive, but I don't really get the break that happens towards "further stops". I guess as I write this I'm realizing that the insight might be around the avg number of stops a person rides on the subway. that would actually be impressive if it was around 10.

either way, this feature actually gets at the heart of what I think plagues the NY MTA, communication (or lack there of). if there was one thing that would get at increasing customer satisfaction the fastest, and in turn, opening riders up to giving the MTA break when things go wrong, it is improving how the communicate at every single touch point, not just conductors over the loud speaker.

Nov 03, 2009
Stephen Braitsch said...
They have this on the metro lines in Paris. Super convenient way to know where you are when you can't understand the language of the conductor.
Nov 03, 2009
Zeh said...
Michael: I guess the "further stops" is because the list can't hold it all, so it's split - half of it shows the next 10 or so stops, and the other half ("further stops") shows the last 10 stops. It's nice when you have the same line going to different destinations or when you have a line that is not doing the full path due to construction/maintenance.

Still, it's very well done. Subway lines in NYC should be specially hard for that kind of thing considering the huge number of stops some of them have, but they managed to solve it pretty well with that, IMO.

(Also, the L line still has the not-so-cool displays, differently from what I wrote above -- my memory failed me).

Nov 03, 2009
Michael Maurillo said...
Zeh: Just watched the video closer (and read the original post of the video on Vimeo from See-ming Lee, who I actually "know." Random) and am realizing for the 1st time that the "further stops" loops through the remaining stops on the line. Meaning, 11-15 then 16-20, 21-25 and so on.

I've stared at that sign while riding the train numerous times and never noticed that. Now it all makes sense, but why didn't I notice it? Maybe a stronger visual cue that a change in the set of "further stops" is being made would help.

Nov 03, 2009
Zeh said...
Hm. Makes sense. Never noticed it.
Nov 03, 2009
See-ming Lee said...
Thanks for blogging about my video!!! #smlthankyou
Nov 03, 2009
shapish said...
I admire it that you actually have some positive feelings about the New York subway. These signs have been used on the L train since ages indeed, together with LCD displays that try to hypnotize you with MTA promo using words like 'our state of the art subways'.

I think I cried when I saw that.

Nov 04, 2009
Maggie Cheung liked this post.
Jan 22, 2010
Денис said...
I love NYC!!!! Very nice metro!

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