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Updated IRT Announcements and Destinations


CTK246

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On my way to work today, I was a little surprised when I saw a (5) approach and the side sign said 'TO DYRE AV' rather than 'TO EASTCHESTR-DYRE AV'. As it turned out, from Flatbush to President Street, the announcement goes 'This is a Manhattan-bound (5) train' and only at Franklin Avenue it says 'This is a Manhattan-bound (5) express train'. The rest of the stops in Brooklyn omit the 'express' part. 

 

Same thing in Manhattan. Bowling Green to Fulton Street had the usual Bronx-bound announcement, minus the express part.

 

It's also worth nothing that I encountered a (6) that said 'TO BKLYN BRDG'. Plus, I saw a (2) that said 'TO WAKEFLD-241'.

 

And lastly, the (5) I took back to Brooklyn only mentioned the express part on the Eastern Parkway express line.

 

One more thing to note, the sets that were updated (most of them weren't) had a glitch when announcing the transfers. It would do the glitch where it would play the conductor ding, followed by the doors closing ding-dong.

 

Anyone else encounter this or have more info?

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This is stupid. If they are able to hold all of the letters it should show the full thing.

Yup. I felt the announcement tweaking was more or less perfect, but the abbreviation of destinations pissed me off. Though, I do like 'TO DYRE AV'.

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Are there not enough letters to just say "TO BROOKLYN BRIDGE"?

 

I mean, the tweaking certainly doesn't hurt: the stops that have omitted express announcements don't have four sets of tracks serving them anyways.

That's what it said before.

 

Also i heard the glitch at 51st and 59th on an uptown (6) today.

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One of the (4) trains I was on today also had the M86 SBS transfer. It also had the new "Transfer to the (6) and (J) trains" from the experimental (5) program, and that glitch sound where that long winded Pellett announcement about moving away from the doors is from the experimental program at almost every stop in Manhattan. The glitch sound also played at most of the stops where "Transfer to the: ___" would play on that experimental set (except Brooklyn Bridge like I mentioned before and at 125th too.)

 

Must be some corrupt incomplete AAS program of some kind that's a hybrid of what we hear today along with some announcements from the experimental set...

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Ugh. I'm getting really tired of this abbreviation-happy approach to signage. The idea being the signage is to convey pertinent information to average riders, not our 13 year old BFFs.

Are there not enough letters to just say "TO BROOKLYN BRIDGE"?

I mean, the tweaking certainly doesn't hurt: the stops that have omitted express announcements don't have four sets of tracks serving them anyways.

Unless the signs magically changed overnight, no. Those signs were capable of showing "TO BROOKLYN BRIDGE" for around 15 years and have done so for most of that time.

 

One of the (4) trains I was on today also had the M86 SBS transfer. It also had the new "Transfer to the (6) and (J) trains" from the experimental (5) program, and that glitch sound where that long winded Pellett announcement about moving away from the doors is from the experimental program at almost every stop in Manhattan. The glitch sound also played at most of the stops where "Transfer to the: ___" would play on that experimental set (except Brooklyn Bridge like I mentioned before and at 125th too.)

 

Must be some corrupt incomplete AAS program of some kind that's a hybrid of what we hear today along with some announcements from the experimental set...

That's interesting. Since 6521 and company are the experimental set, one would think they'd see that the speeches they keep giving Charlie to read off are too long to be useful. "Mind the gap." "Don't block the doors." This should be simple and not an essay that's likely to be cut off because it runs too long. Regarding the glitch, that's just one more added on to an already growing list of technical problems. So far we have:

- the infamous Manhattan-bound error - The train would announce itself as a Manhattan-bound train, even in Manhattan. Usually found on 6 trains.

- "The next stop is [PA Ding] Stand Clear of the closing doors." - Usually found on 2/5 via Lexington/7th Ave respectively when stops are knocked off.

- blank transfers - Some of the transfers are either muted or omitted, but play normally. For example, I've heard this happen once:

  - "This is 125 Street. Transfer is available to the 4 and 6 trains. [dead air] Connection is available to Metro-North."

  While this happens more with the SBS transfers, the last time I caught a train with this glitch (6841-45), most of the Charlie transfers wouldn't play. The station would play, along with "transfer is available to the...", but then there'd be more dead air until the PA shuts off with that slightly noticeable click.

 

I think we're approaching the time where the hardware on the 142s need to be replaced. There's only so many times you can keep updating the software and keep the hardware the same. They can't possibly expect these aging computers to handle all of these software updates without any problems. With that said, I hope they're paying attention before putting this update in all the trains, so we don't have a repeat of the 2010 service changes update on the Jamaica 160s, where a severe glitch forced manual announcements for almost two weeks while they updated the update.

 

And by the way, this update is not isolated to the 142s. There has been an update to the Q programs as well. Trains from Ditmars announce themselves as locals from Lexington Av to Herald Sq.

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So glad someone noticed all this recently as well. I did notice the Q this week saying "This is a Brooklyn-bound Q local train." At Lexington-59th. Always used to say express since I've rode it.

 

Also noticed the signs this week too with the weird 6 BKLN BRDG. I don't get it. They want to shorten announcements and displays? Might as well just turn them off completely and go back to manual roll signs and announcements at this point. They don't seem to want to convey any information to their "customers."

 

With that "ding-doorchime-st-" sound, I do recall this occurring on the 6 trains last summer right before the M60 SBS announcement was rolled out. It took them about a month until you started hearing some trains with it at 125th. I think one or two didn't end up getting it anyways, probably since they were being moved to the 7. But, it always played that sound in place of where the announcement ended up being. So something is coming for sure wherever we hear this sound, I'm thinking.

 

I heard it on my way home last night at the end of the normal "This is..." announcements at 59th, 68th, 77th, nothing at 86th oddly (though it was late night), 125th was fine, but again 3av-138th.

 

I'm wondering if shorter ones are coming from the "tests" they've been doing? Or they are new "Transfer to the..." announcements instead of the "Transfer is available to the..." Since 86th already seems to that "Transfer to the M86 SBS." And maybe "...move away from the doors..." at high volume stops, like 59th-68th-77th? (Though again, I heard this late night, so not sure why they would even play that.)

 

Changes are coming for sure, we shall see...

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Apparently to them, shortening the announcements means adding a 60 second recording reminding riders to not block the doors at practically every express stop.

 

I also have no idea why they keep abbreviating the readings on the displays. "TO WAKFLD-241"? Really? Like you said, what's the point of having electronic displays if they're going to display what amounts to gibberish?

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Another reason to avoid the subway...

Okay...

 

I can definitely forgive this type of abbreviation on the R46 LCDs, but this? Completely stupid.

Funny thing, drop the "TO" on the signage and most of the destination readings will fit on the 46 LCDs. 

 

iXtFGTH.png

md0izj6.png

 

Now this is just a theory, but I think that whoever is reprogramming the 142 signs are basing the readings on the capabilities of the 160s. The 160 LED signs cannot display as much text as the 142 mosaic signs (go figure) as illustrated in the reproductions below:

 

hYvYLgm.png

VFxMpWO.png

 

Note how the text gets cut off. Of course, that's still not an excuse for the increasingly useless abbreviated signs.

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I don't have a problem with most of these changes, but BKLN BRDG? Christ almighty.

Whichever day it was b/w this past monday or tuesday, I saw that for the first time & :lol:'d.... I got looks from people like wtf's his deal, but I gave no fux......

 

I'm glad that with the buses (the XD40's anyway), they've gone away from that shit.... The B20 reading on the short turns to broadway junction impressed me.... I think that's the most amount of letters I've seen on any destination sign in one frame

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Whichever day it was b/w this past monday or tuesday, I saw that for the first time & :lol:'d.... I got looks from people like wtf's his deal, but I gave no fux......

 

I'm glad that with the buses (the XD40's anyway), they've gone away from that shit.... The B20 reading on the short turns to broadway junction impressed me.... I think that's the most amount of letters I've seen on any destination sign in one frame

 

I caught one of the updated programs this past Sunday... so it had to be sometime before this week...

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Now this is really starting to get ridiculous.

 

The R142's have been in service for about 15 years now, their hardware was normally built to 1999-2002 standards, but with new 2015-era code being installed on the the R142's, of COURSE things are going to start glitching like crazy!

 

On my opinion, the R142A's are better suited to withhold glitches, like the R142A upgraded R188's, those trains have not made ONE single glitch on the (7) line (except that one cars program got stuck on 34-Hudson).

 

It's about time that the R142's and R142A's get a hardware upgrade, because this can't keep going on.

 

Regarding that sign update: It's completely BS. Who in the right of mind would go updating the signs to shorten the destination if the destination can already fit on the R142/R142A signs in the first place?

 

Put your self in someone's shoes who has never been on the NYC Subway before. A (6) train comes in and the destination is reading "To BKLN BRDG", how are you suppose to know what the hell BKLN BRDG is? For all I know, that could be the name of a new stop!

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These destination codes essentially amount to lines of text to be displayed on a screen, and bits of audio to played. That is about the simplest thing a computer can do. Theres no excuse for all these glitches, even with the old Windows 98 system or whatever. Some of the MVMs have hardware that is way old and outdated, but they handle complex transactions better than the damn trains! Maybe all that tunnel dust has really taken its toll on the electronics in the trains

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