Well, at least the L joins the 90s. Digital boards are up along the L line in Manhattan and Brooklyn informing MTA riders when then next train will arrive. The 1-2-3, 4-5-6, and 7 trains will have to wait until 2008 or 2009, presumably because MTA must calibrate sundials for each line. The other dozen or so trains will have to wait for the 22nd century.
Now that these informational boards are going up, I can’t help but wonder if they’re being put to their best use. I see a classic conflict between business needs and rider-centered design. Think about where this information would be most useful for a subway rider. Once they’re down in the station on the platform, after they’ve already paid their $2? Knowing that the next train is coming in 2 minutes or 30 minutes doesn’t really matter at that point: the rider is unlikely to change their choice of transit having already spent their money. Assume that, like most people, these riders aren’t thinking of their $2 as a sunk cost.
Train information is most useful to riders outside of the subway station. Here, riders can decide if paying $2 and waiting 30 minutes for a train is preferable to hailing a cab. But there’s the rub. It doesn’t make business sense for the MTA to provide information that could dissuade riders from using the subway.
Unfortunately, not even the most intuitive and well-placed informational display will help riders when they have to decode the sort of cryptic crap MTA releases when there’s a service disruption or emergency. On the other hand, an informational display would relieve station masters of that most onerous duty: not telling anyone what the hell is going on.
DC’s Blue line operates in the shadow of the George Washington Masonic Memorial.
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