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16 August 2011

Going Pogue

by John D. Muccigrosso

NJTransit has the wonderful little electronic signs at some of its stations, for example, my work station of Madison. When there's some kind of announcement to be made, the voice comes over the crappy speakers and the same message is shown on the sign. All of which is very helpful and beats standing on the platform wondering where your train is when it doesn't show up.
So what do these signs show right after they finish giving you the alert? Nothing...or sometimes the name of the station. You know, the station you're standing at, the one you went to on your own.

They don't repeat the warning for new arrivals.
They don't tell you how long until the next train.
They don't give you news from NJT.
They just hang there.

Does NJTransit not know where their trains are and how fast they're moving at all times on their 600 miles of track? Can they not figure out how to share any meaningful information on these signs they surely paid a lot of money for and are clearly hooked up to some kind of remote system?

Meanwhile Google maps gives you live traffic reports over the whole country.
Tags - kvetching