PT Real Time Information Signs

[axio]

The southbound platform at GI had scheduled information up this morning.
I'm not a regular user, but it was the first time I'd seen it, and wasn't there yesterday.

The text was a bit odd to because it did the Papakura/GI thing, then scrolled to show Glen Innes, as if the abbreviations were not expected to be understood.

[pcuser42]

as if the abbreviations were not expected to be understood.

...despite the explanations printed underneath the screen.

[kaiwhara]

Yeah and how close do you have to be to it to read the key to the codes? Even with my greter thn 20/20 eyesight I have to be reasonably close to it...

as if the abbreviations were not expected to be understood.

...despite the explanations printed underneath the screen.

[Andrew]

And they chose Arial as the font to use. Ugh.

[Akarana]

as if the abbreviations were not expected to be understood.

...despite the explanations printed underneath the screen.

I sure am hoping it is an interim measure to familiarise passengers with how things are now done in the 21st Century.

And they chose Arial as the font to use. Ugh.

It seems to be a form of Arial Condensed, to fit all the information horizontally. I would agree that there is more aesthetically pleasing fonts to the eye with a better readability like Helvetica or Lucida Grande to name a few, but to be honest I am happy that the information is there. Most likely, as is the case with most stations, some hooligans will scrape the letters off anyways to make some carefully crafted anagrams.

Yeah and how close do you have to be to it to read the key to the codes? Even with my greter thn 20/20 eyesight I have to be reasonably close to it...

Though not 20/20 spelling, am I right Kaiwhara?
I agree that you need to be fairly close to the PID to read the fine print. As is the case with the large main one at Newmarket and more so with the platform ones in dimly lit Britomart.

[pcuser42]

And they chose Arial as the font to use. Ugh.

At least they didn't choose Comic Sans.

[keg]

The southbound platform at GI had scheduled information up this morning.
I'm not a regular user, but it was the first time I'd seen it, and wasn't there yesterday.

The text was a bit odd to because it did the Papakura/GI thing, then scrolled to show Glen Innes, as if the abbreviations were not expected to be understood.

Surely the whole via GI thing is completely unnecessary at GI (and at other stations served only by eastern line services).

To me, it only seems useful adding the via info where there are alternate routes - ie for northbound services at stations south of Westfield Junction and southbound Eastern/Southern services at Britomart.

[dpalenski]

And they chose Arial as the font to use. Ugh.

At least they didn't choose Comic Sans.

A favorite of councils during the 60's, 70's and in some cases the 80's for signage. Expect for the Takapuna City Council they used carbon block from what I can tell.

[john-ston]

And they chose Arial as the font to use. Ugh.

At least they didn't choose Comic Sans.

A favorite of councils during the 60's, 70's and in some cases the 80's for signage. Expect for the Takapuna City Council they used carbon block from what I can tell.

You sure? I vaguely remember the old Auckland street signs (the Black Letters on White Background), and they definitely were not Comic Sans.

[dpalenski]

Some cases I said they were done into the 80's block writing became quite popular the Auckland City Council used it a fair bit you would of seen them mostly some featured the council logo on them, anything earlier would be pretty rare and in places sign hunters like myself would only look hence why they've been missed and are still there and sometimes completely irrelevant now. My favorite is 'The riding of bicycles and horses on the footpath is strictly prohibited. By order of Takapuna City Council' and a Northcote Bough Council one that escapes as to what it said right at this moment.

[Matt L]

BTW I have recently heard that ARTA (and now AT) was offered an accurate real time feed for trains from Ontrack over 3 years ago but it was blocked and keeps being blocked by internal factions (mainly IT departments)

[geoff_184]

I wish the term "real time" was dropped completely, as Auckland doesn't have it. All the times are accurate for Britomart only, and even then they are manually input and prone to human error.

[CCreegan]

I wish the term "real time" was dropped completely, as Auckland doesn't have it. All the times are accurate for Britomart only, and even then they are manually input and prone to human error.

It seems the system is in fact slowly grinding its way toward some form of real timiness. At many stations the * now appears by the correct train in most cases, if it arrives before (or within 2 minutes after) the scheduled time. This even includes out-of-order arrivals at Newmarket - it doesn't just star the first listed.

Therefore, trains and scheduled times are matched by the system.

Presumably the next phase is to begin adjusting the displayed time based on feedback. Also will need the ability to show trains more than 2 minutes late. Whoever spec'd the system to drop the listing that quickly wasn't thinking very clearly, considering the average for West trains seems to be about 4.5 minutes late. That is "on time" by the KPI of course.

Also this week, Newmarket has regained the ability to show platform changes.

[kaiwhara]

Newmarket do that manually...

I wish the term "real time" was dropped completely, as Auckland doesn't have it. All the times are accurate for Britomart only, and even then they are manually input and prone to human error.

It seems the system is in fact slowly grinding its way toward some form of real timiness. At many stations the * now appears by the correct train in most cases, if it arrives before (or within 2 minutes after) the scheduled time. This even includes out-of-order arrivals at Newmarket - it doesn't just star the first listed.

Therefore, trains and scheduled times are matched by the system.

Presumably the next phase is to begin adjusting the displayed time based on feedback. Also will need the ability to show trains more than 2 minutes late. Whoever spec'd the system to drop the listing that quickly wasn't thinking very clearly, considering the average for West trains seems to be about 4.5 minutes late. That is "on time" by the KPI of course.

Also this week, Newmarket has regained the ability to show platform changes.

[Matt L]

I wish the term "real time" was dropped completely, as Auckland doesn't have it. All the times are accurate for Britomart only, and even then they are manually input and prone to human error.

From what I heard the other day, and I have no reason to doubt it, that proper real time feeds were available 3 years ago

Also this from the latest AT business report

The Onehunga Rail Station was selected as a pilot for the new Real Time system. This has been implemented and is operating successfully as we build up the Real Time data
Development of support processes for the Real Time system has been completed with the relevant vendors

[geoff_184]

I'm thinking mainly of all those bus stop display signs, all of which show Britomart departure data only. For example if a bus departs Britomart 10 minutes late, the real time info at all the bus stops along the route have 10 minutes manually added regardless of where the bus actually is. It's not real time info at all.

Case in point, the 136 bus departed Henderson three Sundays ago while the sign was still saying it was 6 minutes away.

[Matt L]

I'm thinking mainly of all those bus stop display signs, all of which show Britomart departure data only. For example if a bus departs Britomart 10 minutes late, the real time info at all the bus stops along the route have 10 minutes manually added regardless of where the bus actually is. It's not real time info at all.

Case in point, the 136 bus departed Henderson three Sundays ago while the sign was still saying it was 6 minutes away.

The same person who told me about the rail system real time feeds also told me that the bus system doesn't actually use GPS, it uses a system called geo-fencing which basically is sensors in traffic lights that detect when buses go past them which feeds the information back to make a guess as to where the bus is at any given time.

[geoff_184]

The same person who told me about the rail system real time feeds also told me that the bus system doesn't actually use GPS, it uses a system called geo-fencing which basically is sensors in traffic lights that detect when buses go past them which feeds the information back to make a guess as to where the bus is at any given time.

Well that 136 bus would have passed by traffic lights every few minutes right up to Henderson, yet it was still 6 minutes off. If that's the system, it doesn't work.

[CCreegan]

Newmarket do that manually...

Yes I know, at least for the platform changes...but for a while after the introduction of the latest system update they apparently couldn't do any changes.

Are you saying that the stars are also manual at Newmarket?

[doloras]

At least they didn't choose Comic Sans.

A favorite of councils during the 60's, 70's and in some cases the 80's for signage.

Comic Sans was invented in the early 90s.