Depature Signs Come To Coney Island
Newly installed real time information board installed at the Coney Island-Stillwell Ave station. Photo courtesy of the MTA.
The MTA has continued to install real time information boards throughout the subway system. The latest location to receive them is the Coney Island-Stillwell Ave station in Brooklyn. Here is some info courtesy of their press release:
Beach goers and visitors to the new Luna Park will find getting home by subway at the Coney Island – Stillwell Ave Terminal a bit easier this weekend, courtesy of newly installed “Next Train Departure” screens on all four platforms of the busy terminal. The screens will take the guess work out of catching the right train on the right platform, especially for those riders who are unfamiliar or don’t use the busy terminal on a regular basis.
The screens, hung on platform columns, provide simple next train information to customers, informing them which train is leaving from which platform. For instance, a screen will display this information for the D Line: “West End Line, 6 Avenue Local,” with an arrow pointing toward the appropriate train and platform. The display uses the familiar train icons and colors in the display. This is Phase I of a larger pilot project that will ultimately provide train departure track and time information at the station, used by more than 15-thousand average weekday and around 39 thousand riders per weekend (Saturday and Sunday combined) during the summer months.
“Providing easy to understand travel information to our customers is one of our primary goals as we look to introduce cost effective new technology into the system,” said NYC Transit President Thomas F. Prendergast. “While not as sophisticated as what we have in place on the Canarsie L line, or going in on the IRT, this next train departure information system is something our customers will come to rely on as they head home from a fun day at Coney Island,” added Prendergast.
The project was designed by in-house engineers and installed by in-house forces. Each platform has been outfitted with four 32″ high-definition, sun-readable LCD screens. Two screens per track are hung back to back about nine feet off the ground for easy viewing. Dispatchers for each line at the Stillwell Avenue Terminal will activate the train’s departure track information for display on the screens. The high definition screens are also capable of displaying Public Service Information (PSA) messaging like “See Something, Say Something,” and in the future can also display advertising. Over the next few months, the numbers of customer information screens will more than double and additional customer information messages and additional capabilities will be added to the system.
It is a shame they took so long for these signs to reach stations. However at this point, I’d take this over having none at all. One day it would be nice to see every station in the system updated to the latest technology at the time along with its cleanliness up to par. The sad part is I have a better chance of hitting the Mega Millions or Powerball as compared to seeing such a reality in our transit system.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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