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from the they-don't-make-things-like-they-used-to dept.
James Somers wanted to find out why the New York subway's F train still doesn't have countdown clocks to tell you when the next train is arriving. He never expected it to be so complicated.
The New York subway signaling system was one of the earliest attempts to automate a large, complex and chaotic mechanism. It was designed to keep the trains running while making collisions impossible - and it did a pretty good job of that, considering the technology that was available at the time. When it was built in the early part of the 20th century, it was the state of the art - the problem is, much of that system hasn't been updated since then. In the case of the F train, there are no countdown clocks at the station because literally nobody has clear knowledge of the train's position besides the people on the train. (Many other lines do have the clocks.)
Somers' lengthy article examines the nuts and bolts of the signaling system, and also tries to figure out why it's taking so long to bring it up to date - a combination of politics, bureaucracy, and a need to support legacy technology while transporting 5 million people a day.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Appalbarry on Saturday November 14 2015, @08:16PM
We were in London last year, and travelled exclusive by transit.
What struck me immediately is that the city is incredibly pedestrian friendly - narrow streets, great transit, and relatively little traffic.
This success comes from a number of things that seem to be lacking in many North American cities.
- An understanding that an effective transit system isn't something that you build once and then stop - you need to keep growing and improving it more or less constantly. In Canada at least the rule is to build one line from the suburbs to downtown (usually to show off for something like the Olympics) then stop. The result is that if you live right beside the subway or Skytrain line you get great service, but if you're in one of the quadrants relying on buses you get the dregs.
- Congestion charges (as they have in London) only work if you have capacity in place elsewhere. The reason why London streets are relatively empty is because the people who don't want to pay extra have the option of fast, easy, and reliable transit services. Vancouver, where I live, is mulling the idea of tolls and road usage fees, but there's no political will to build the transit system that would make it practical for people to move from cars to trains. Anyone who's sat for hours in jammed traffic going into or out of a major American city will understand that you can't force people out of cars just by punishing them - you need to give them a palatable alternative.
- Effective transit systems are so easy to use that you don't need to plan for it. If you know that there will be trains or busses running fairly frequently at any time you're likely to travel then you use them by just walking to station or bus stop. If you need to plan your day or night out around spotty transit service you're less likely to use it. Again, the example is London, where trains are full of people at midnight going to and from night life because it's easy.
- Ultimately though it comes down to one thing: governments at all levels who understand that transit systems are a critical part of urban infrastructure, and that they need to choose to make it their first priority. In British Columbia we have the absurd situation of a government that forces transit improvements to be approved by referendum, but multi-billion dollar bridges for cars are announced without (apparently [www.cbc.ca]) even presenting a business case for their construction. Here at least the battle for cars over transit has been fought, and transit lost big time.
Which brings it back to those clocks. Like NYC, Vancouver has been playing with the idea, and even installed them on one bus route. What they've found is that it turns out to be much more complicated than expected, and there's no immediate plan to expand to other lines.
Vancouver's Skytrain system (referenced in TFA) is entirely driverless, but is also running into some pretty hefty problems. One line dates from 1985, and is showing it's age with no apparent plan for upgrades or the kind of significant renewals that infrastructure needs every few decades.
There have been a number of system wide shut downs in the last year, at least some of which are the result of ageing equipment. One shut down was the result of an electrician pulling the wrong circuit breaker at headquarters - one breaker - and not only shutting down the entire train system, but disabling the communications system as well. After an hour stuck on trains with no idea what was happening people finally broke out of the cars and walked down the elevated tracks.
Then again, this is a transit service that has had brand new fare gates sitting unused for three years because neither the transit company nor the supplier can make the cards that would operate them (like Oyster cards) actually work.