299 bloor call control.
Senior Member
And as has been stated multiple times, it is coming for the streetcar and bus routes.
In fact, based on the article in The Star today:
In fact, based on the article in The Star today:
Tess Kalinowski
Transportation Reporter
It's one more sign that the TTC is getting a foothold in the information age.
Riders at the Dundas station can now tell how long they'll wait for a train by checking the screens on the northbound and southbound platforms. The next-train-arrival information is part of a three-month pilot project experimenting to see what kind of information riders want before the notifications appear in all 69 subway stations – sometime by the end of 2009.
TTC officials acknowledge that next-train information isn't that valuable during rush hour, when trains run about every two minutes. But the system is a way to notify riders of delays, so they can plan their time better. It also reminds riders that when the system is packed at rush hour, the next train is only two minutes down the tunnel.
"If that prevents somebody from jamming in a door, which then causes an eight-minute delay, you begin to think about it being a pretty good investment," said TTC chair Adam Giambrone.
Transit Control already knows where all the trains are in the tunnels, Giambrone said. "This is about taking the information we have already and giving it out to the public. This is really about customer service enhancement today."
Unlike cities with more extensive systems, where trains moving through a line may have more than one destination and may run less frequently, Toronto probably doesn't need sophisticated notifications, acknowledged TTC chief general manager Gary Webster.
"If it were more expensive, you wouldn't do it," he admitted. But the $330,000 price tag is small compared with the $8 million bus-arrival notification system that will roll out on the Harbourfront line and in Spadina station in November. It will provide surface riders with real-time information on the next bus or streetcar's arrival, using LED technology similar to that being used on York Region's popular VIVA system.