The installation of electronic time schedules at the Union Square and many other stops on the L line like Myrtle Ave and Jefferson Ave, makes waiting for the train a piece of cake. Now, you can tell exactly when your train is supposed to arrive since the timetables predict the approximate number of minutes until the next train arrives in both directions.
For now, the signs are only possible on the L trains since they are computerized. Hopefully this means there wouldn’t be any more late trains. This $17.6 million project is unfortunately faltered by some delays, riders have noticed. So everyone who uses mass transit, be wary, this may be a sign for the future of trains.
See how the New York Times critiqued the new system by clicking here.
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I like that the electronic signs are able to tell straphangers how long a wait their next train will be. I find the announcements made on the loud speakers at train station platforms are not that accurate and sometimes it is very hard to understand what the announcement is.
Although clear announcements have forever been every straphangers dream, and knowing when a train will arrive will ease stress, I cannot help the ever-so-slight shiver down my spine. With the spread of the sterile computer entering yet another venue – computerized announcements, telephone operators, ATMs, internet shopping, text messaging…I feel just a bit of concern for the diminishing human interaction and emotion it instigates. Even if it is frustration at a garbled voice from above while underground.
I don’t I think reguradless of the computerized time scedules the trians are always going to run late. No matter how efficient they try to make the subways run the fact that the MTA is transporting numerous people.