General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

There were a number of elements from several that I liked, though I don't love any of them:

Separate lines for each green and red line branch. It gives a visual cue of how to get from where you are to where you are going. The current map isn't terrible, but this would be an improvement, especially with GLX.

Some indication of above ground, at grade, or subway. When you aren't in a station, but reading the map on the street, it tells you what kind of station you are looking for.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

I honestly like Map 4's aesthetic, if you're going to go modern wiggly pastel design you might as well go full force. The Boston city limits and the shadows go too far for me, though...
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

I'm not really a fan of separate green lines downtown, for the simple reason that it makes it really thick (visually appearing to be a superior mode of service then the rest, which it is not).

Perhaps if the green line was, say, 4 pixels wide and the rest were 6px it would not be as bad.

I got busy and never finished my idea, but here was the start:
Current+T+Layout.tiff


The text is small as I planned on running off a copy at 36x36, and I was going to do a graphic with it morphing into my mass(T)ransit 2100 pitch:
Future+T.tif
 
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Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

I like 3, except the bus lines are impossible to read.

Make the silver lines and green lines more geographically accurate than the current map.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

The first one will probably win (the author of that map actually emailed it to me for advice a while back, good to see it's up there). The others are mostly terrible.

This whole thing is a joke.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

I've made a separate thread about the maps here before I found out about this discussion in this thread. Still, I think it warrants a separate thread...

davem, your second map looks really intriguing; any chance of a legible version? (even a work-in-progress)
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Anyone have any idea when the unveiling is? I should have time to stop by.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Back in January they were claiming it would be 2015 before they had full tracking ready. Perhaps they're using this to test the additional AVI sensors and GPS units as they're installed.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

I have a feeling these will not be countdown timers, but rather information about what branches are on deck, like "NEXT TRAINS: E, B, D, C." Even that would be a HUGE leap forward. We'll see tomorrow though.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Wonder if and when they can push the data to the mobile apps?
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

UHub says 2pm tomorrow.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Wasn't the other major component (aside from not having the electronic message boards at every stop) not having the tracking devices on the trolleys themselves? Seems a bit odd that they would have been able to overcome these obstacles and haven't had any more PR around it until now.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

It's got to be a gimmick having to do with the transponders that do exist at about 30-odd different places along the tracks. Mostly underground.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Definitely a great start. Wonder if they will be able to get the sign to roll over and show the 3rd and 4th trolleys to be coming down the line. At a stop like Boylston when the signs go live there, that will be what anyone with a choice between two lines (or anyone on the E, period) can really use. One may opt to take a slightly less convenient train if the more convenient train is nowhere to be found on the big board. Or wait out a packed train to take an empty one in line behind it. The possibilities are, well, not endless, but certainly quite promising in scope.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Forgive my ignorance/naivete, but why is it so hard to set up transponders on all of the trolleys/stations in order to get an ETA for the GL? The transponders would only need a max range of ~50 feet, the rest of the connection could be wired to the MBTA's tracking database. I'm pretty sure I could ghetto-rig this up myself given some duct tape and a trip to radio shack.

Obviously there is additional cost involved in setting up the digital signs at each station, but surely that is not the prohibitive factor. I must be missing why the MBTA can have ETA's for busses but not the GL.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

FenwayResident, your idea is pretty much exactly what the T has announced it'll have running by 2015. The system will use GPS units (exactly like those in the buses and CR, I assume) aboveground, and more AVI transponders underground. The reason it'll take a while is because they not only have to install those transponders on all the trolleys, but also to get more AVI units in the tunnels to have sufficient tracking capability for timing - and then they have to get the two systems to interface.

It's more complex than the other systems. The CR and bus just uses GPS because they're 99% aboveground, and the heavy rail subway lines take data (I believe) from the signal blocks. But the Green Line will require two different systems to talk to each other, because it goes underground but doesn't have a full signal block system.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Well they could put more AVI transponders aboveground and just use the same system for the whole Green Line. It would have to be programmed differently and make predictions using a different algorithm than the buses. But that's just a software issue.

I tried to get an answer about this and basically I was told "it's cheaper to do GPS aboveground."

*shrug*
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

I'm currently in the red line line tunnel in Cambridge and using the internet. Is this new? Or have I just not even tried in so long that I didn't notice that there is underground service now?
 
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