The MBTA will activate long-awaited countdown signs on Wednesday telling riders when the next trains will roll into South Station, the start of a pilot program that could be extended to all 51 Red, Orange, and Blue Line stations by the end of the year.
The arrival times, ticking down in one-minute increments, will appear on LED signs that have hung above platforms and in station lobbies since 2007 but that until now have displayed only the date, time, and announcements.
Comments
There have been LED signs at the S Attleboro commuter rail station for ages. Once in awhile it actually tells us that the train will arrive in "5 minutes" However, if the train happens to be 20 minutes late....and the crowd has been milling around wondering IF it is coming...the sign will tell you to check some AM radio station for info on train arrivals! Wait, wait...I know I have an AM radio someplace in this carryall. Massive waste of money...why the hell bother to purchase new technology when you obviously haven't the talent to keep it working.
So when is the T going to spend some money to upgrade the Green Line's signaling system?
This comment has been removed.
If we don't collect taxes, then public transportation suffers. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan want to cut tax collection on very wealthy while reducing the transportation budget by 25%. See article http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/08/12/what-paul-ryans-budget-actually-cuts-and-by-how-much/ $ We need to demand that everyone ( people and businesses) pay their fair share of taxes whether they use the mbta or not. Dependable Public transportation is critical because although you may not need to ride the bus or trains,, people you depend on, like your employees or nurses or day care providers, need it. If they can't get to their jobs, then you dont get what you need and the whole economy is impacted. Public transportation is too expensive compared to driving. If we want to Reduce carbon emissions, improve health and reduce car accidents, we need to discourage people from using cars and give incentives to using the public systems. Im not sure how they raise money inParis, but the Navigo Pass allows you travel on the metro, buses and commuter rail in zone 3 (equivalent to an area including Framingham) for only 29 euros per week. There are a lot of people using it, the trains are frequent, dependable and faster and cheaper than using a car.
it's about time.
Wow, only about 50 years after London.
This comment has been removed.
I was in San Francisco and Chicago over 6 years ago and speakers announced the time of arrival for the next train. How long that was in place before my visit I don't know. Oh, and they were both remarkably cleaner than Boston's subway.