Thursday, December 21, 2006

thoughts while riding the T today - 12/21

While on the Red Line leaving Charles I saw a banner on the old Charles Street Jail touting the new name of the hotel being built in the renovated jail. THE LIBERTY HOTEL LOL

RANT OF THE DAY Is it just me or are the destination signs on the Green Line trolleys just too small to read? The Breda cars have them as do the Type 6 cars ( the 7's were never converted) It really is in issue these days as you have no idea what train is going to be on which track at Park. Today I saw a Heath St car loading where the Riverside usually does.

I use San Francisco has an example, you can read their signs from a distance and it is much easier with a black background and yellow letters compared to the yellow background and black letters the Green Line uses.



5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Electronic signage on buses and trains has gone through some evolution in the 20 years that they've been around. The first electronic signs were the green flip-signs on the old RTS buses in 1985. The 2nd generation were LCD displays (like a watch) and these were on the newest Red Line trains in the late 1980's--but also the Breda cars.

The newest displays are LED-based yellow-orange and very bright and these are on all the new T buses and the refurbed 0000-series RTS buses.

They should be on the Bredas, but they're not. Pity that wasn't negotiated when the suit was settled; with my bad eyesight I can't see the Breda signs for anything, but the bus signs look great.

Anonymous said...

Actually, many of the Type 7s do have the new digital type signs. They are hard to read, but I don't see the yellow-on-black as much better.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:GreenEnterNorthStation.jpg

Anonymous said...

The picture posted is actually a Type 6 even though the caption says Type 7. You can tell by the second digit in the train number.

Anonymous said...

I, too, love the fact that the former jail is now known as the Liberty Hotel. It is delicious irony.

If only they'd put a Buzzy's in the lobby...

Anonymous said...

David-

You are incorrect. All KinkiSharyo cars are known as Type 7's. By saying 'type 6,' I assumed you meant the Boeing/Vertol LRVs, which is incorrect. Even though there was two distinct orders of Kinki cars, *all* are known as type 7s.