eInk, or electronic paper - slowly fading away?

It only came to my attention today that TfL has been trialing eInk/electronic paper at a bus stop on Westminster Bridge.  And that was only because the Evening Standard ran a story on it!  The bus stop chosen is 'P' on the northbound approach to Waterloo Bridge, a very busy bus stop adjacent to the Imax cinema.  The display is very similar to an Amazon Kindle.

 

 

 

 

 

The photos which accompanied the Evening Standard story show the date on the bus stop as 12th November 2015.  So this has passed me by for a few weeks!  The technology is promoted by Smart City Displays and Technoframe - they share a phone number so are the same company.  No idea why they have two trading names both promoting the same thing.  Anyway, the jist is that screens can be installed at a bus stop showing whatever information is desired, in the example above the next bus on every route departing from bus stop P.  The promo shots show the display in sunlight and in darkness, proving it works in all weathers.  The photo above, at obligatory natty angle, is from one of their websites, also showing the 12th November date.

So when I visited on 23 December at dusk, the reality is more like this.  It is visually unappealing, looking more like long since abandoned, faded, and water damaged bus timetables left in a shelter and not the sort of thing TfL typically provides at bus stops.  I tried pressing the button at the top (on some bus stops this provides a back light to help read the display at night) and the three blue/red/green coloured buttons at the bottom.  None of them did anything, though some press releases suggest the bottom buttons should change a page.

A close up of the display.  It is very faded, almost like constantly displaying the same colours has burnt out the ability to show clear information (I'm no techy expert on the technology behind this display.)  The header band and route numbers will only have limited changese so unlike the Kindle where page content is constantly changing, this eInk has to be able to show the same imagery for all its life - I'd expect 5 years minimum.  This image showing routes 243/341/521/RV1 looks like a second page as the previous photo showed routes numbered between 1 and 188.  Observation of passengers at the stop showed they had no interest in it - the printed linear diagrams were of much more interest to the largely tourist crowd waiting at stop P.

Over the last decade or so TfL has used 'Countdown' displays within bus shelters to provide at-stop real time information.  They seem quite reliable and are probably quite simple technology in themselves.  Photo from tfl.gov.uk.  TfL also has web-based real time information (as do some mapping sites) and a text-back service from every bus stop, though awareness of the latter seems quite low.

In these days of high levels of smart phone ownership there are numerous apps available showing real time bus times, all using the same data from the TfL iBus vehicle tracking function as is used in TfL's own applications.  This is one simply called Bus Times which I use, and this screenshot is showing comprehensive information for the same bus stop on Waterloo Bridge.  I appreciate it is less likely that a visitor/tourist especially from overseas will have the data allowance to run the app, but data is getting cheaper (and at no additional charge across Europe from mid 2017) and wifi is getting more common, so in the goodness of time this could become the preeminent way of giving real time bus information.

Th eInk technology is also proposed to be used on bus destination displays (and recent evidence with how in or out of touch I am, may already have happened).  Image from Technoframe's website.  The paper blind is a pretty reliable and clear way of describing bus information - eInk needs to work a lot better before it is released in to the mainstream, at bus stops, as bus destination displays or otherwise.  I am also unsure exactly what problem eInk is seeking to solve, especially with the bus stop displays,

Fake Borismaster aka the Enviro 400 City

The Borismaster, initially officially called the New Bus for London (NBfL), 'LT' type, and latterly the New Routemaster (NRM) has been a controversial bus introduced over the reign of Boris Johnson as London mayor.  Say what you like about the BM/NBfL/LT/NRM it was a commitment he made, Londoners voted for him (just) and he's delivered that commitment.  Over the weekend of 12/13 December the 600th NRM entered service, one of the first NRMs for Abellio London for route 159, which they also started operating on the 12th.  Transport for London has ordered 800 NRMs in total (plus a few prototypes) which they allocate to routes and operators.

However, somewhat more quietly, Transport for London has also been working with the UK's other big bus builder Alexander Dennis to restyle their Enviro 400 workhorse to resemble a NRM.  This type was first revealed at the Coach & Bus Live show in Birmingham NEC in October, and also entered service over the weekend of 12/13 December, this time in the hands of Arriva London on route 78 (Nunhead-Shoreditch).

1) Rapid evolution of the Enviro 400: 14, 64 and 65 plate vehicles shown

A 2014 Enviro 400, this one being a National Express West Midlands vehicle in West Bromwich,

Evolved in to the Enviro 400MMC (Major Model Change). Supposedly doesn't rattle. At all.  This one is a 2015 example with Abellio in Croydon.

And by the end of 2015 the Enviro 400 has morphed in to this, NRM-esque styling. Compare to the NRM below.....

2) A NRM (below) for comparison to the Enviro 400 City above

Stagecoach NRM LT246. Similarities to the Enviro 400 City - they're red, they have the TfL roundel on the front and the windows up the staircase (Wrights are also offering the latter on their new buses so it may be the next big thing?).  However there are enough similarities that the person on the street might think they are on an NRM/NBfL/Borismaster,

3) The Enviro 400 City

Looking forward it instantly looks more like a regular bus. Big windows. That open!

The air cooling unit common on modern London buses alongside the diagonal windows and panel up the stairs, very much a feature of the NRM copies on to the E400City.

Looking back it is clearly not an NRM: there;s no rear staircase.  However the RM/NRM terracotta interior paneling is retained, as are gold grab rails.  The wrap-up rear window is unusual, but is a style Alexander Dennis have adopted for their new single deck buses too.

And finally the moquette.  The latest evolution in the TfL boxy stripes moquette now includes roundels.  I think it looks superb and could be a new standard across all modes.

And finally: by the no. 78 bus stand (also used by 47s) in Shoreditch is a bar glamming up Far Rockaway,  Sadly it was closed, else I'd have gone in and told them Far Rockaway sounds far more exuberant than it actually is, being a windy cold terminus of the New York Subway with a distant view of Kennedy Airport!

Terminus of the NY Subway A Train: Far Rockaway. Absolutely nothing there, and it might look sunny but it was freezing!

Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St Paul - Metro Green Line

The Green Line of the Minneapolis/St Paul Metro is a light rail route which opened in 2014, linking the twin cities.  The majority of the route is in the median of University Avenue.  Stations are also built in the median.

As would be expected for a brand new system, signage is smart and consistent. Typical of public transport is an explicit list of rules.

Stations are all built to a consistent design.  The shelter doesn't look like it would be very effective in a cold northern winter in wind, snow ice and rain!

A good set of information is provided at every station.  It looks well maintained.

M/SP Metro has a smart card ticketing system called Go To.  This is one of the validators, where you need to select the fare as well as validate the card.  I'm not sure why/how this works as the system operates on a flat fare system.

Ticket machines. One per platform.  Simple to use.

I would assume anyone wanting some kind of travel card or Go To electronic ticket would research first.  For a one way ticket in to St Paul there is a flat fare.  It should be noted there fare is 50cents higher in the AM and PM peak.

Entry to the 'paid' side is denoted by these paving stones!  I'm sure that was a stroke of genius by the scheme promoter but they are very easy to miss, as I did at first.

A fleet of US-built Siemens light rail vehicles operates the Green Line.  These appear to be a standard LRV in the USA but have limited applications in the rest of the world. 

Tip-down seats mean you have to tip all 3, which isn't good if you were to have, say, a parent and a baby in a buggy travelling together,

Simple line diagrams above each door. As well as the route between the two cities there is also light rail service to the Minneapolis International Airport and the Mall of America (either the largest or second largest mall in the USA, I forget which!)

 

Space for bicycles is provided in each LRV.  This is typical of unexpectedly-good provision for cyclists on US public transport.

However some seats have about 3 inches of legroom.  You'd think Siemens would do better!

The Green Line service is operated by up to  three LRVs in a single consist.  After the PM peak I observed single vehicles being detached at the St Paul terminus to run back in to the depot. 

Toronto Streetcars

In October 2015 I finally visited Toronto as a tourist.  It is a fantastic city with plenty going on, not least the filming of one of my favourite TV shows, Suits (ostensibly set in New York).    The highlight for the transport professional has to be the tramway, or street car, system.  Toronto's public transport is operated primarily by Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) who have a wonderful pseudo-communist logo.  This blog will focus on street cars, with brief mention of other modes at the end.

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) logo looking a little hammer & syckle-ish outside the Toronto Subway

We wanted to buy a day ticket for the TTC.  The street cars appeared rely completely on off-system ticketing, so the obvious place to go was a Subway station.  This is where we discover Toronto ticketing is stuck in the early 1980s.  I don't recall what the token system was for but surely wasn't the day ticket!  Apparently single fares can be paid to the driver on boarding.

So you want a day pass, you'd go to a machine titled 'passes' yes? No!  You suspect the screen is a shiney front for a very retro machine inside!

Having concluded the only way to buy a day ticket was to talk to a staff member, the principle of Group Station Manager caught me eye.  Anyone would think there were several ex-London Underground managers working for TTC!

So the day tickets had to be bought from a TTC staff member in a passemiter type facility.  Who'd have thought in 2015 that a major western city would be using scratch cards for day tickets?

Toronto street cars tend to run in the centre of the road.  Stops are marked by these fairly subtle posts, usually just before a crossroads (Toronto is largely laid out in a typical North American grid pattern).  When the tram stops in the outside of two lanes traffic has to stop on the nearside lane.  Toronto is far from the only city that uses this system but any road safety audit would surely decree it insanity, particularly as alighting passengers could step in to the path of oncoming traffic.

Close up of the at-stop information.  Route 504 on King goes through the heart of the city and was observed to suffer from some bunching of vehicles.

Toronto's street car system is run primarily by late 1970s/early 1980s cars manufactured by Hawker Siddeley in Thunder Bay, Canada.  The vehicle was intended as a new standard called a Canadian Light Rail Vehicle (CLRV), and whilst it was not adopted elsewhere, nearly 200 are in service in Toronto.  The CLRVs replaced PCC cars, one of which operates on San Francisco's (wonderful) F line in Toronto colours.

One of the problems with operating genuine street-cars is the lack of segregated running that a modern system or a metro has.  Here is a CLRV in traffic on route 511 on Bathurst Street.  The main line railway in to Toronto goes over the bridge.

There is also an articulated version of the CLRV called an ALRV.  These date from the mid to late 1980s and operate three of the eleven TTC Streetcar routes.

The conventional 'trolley' system of motive power means there is a strip on the rear of every vehicle that never gets washed!

The CLRVs and ALRVs are currently in the process of being replaced by 'off-the-shelf' Bombardier Flexity trams.  The Flexitys are twice the length of the CLRVs.  The first Flexity trams entered service in 2014 but delivery seems to be quite slow.

CLRV vehicles on the waterfront lines 509/510.

Route 512 to Keele starts at the St Clair East interchange with the Toronto Subway, where the signed exit from the Metro leads on to the Streetcar platform. It further interchanges with the Metro at St Clair West.

The route 512 runs along St Clair. At St Clair West station it dips in to an underground interchange with the Subway and local buses.  I found this quite a fascinating place to watch trams go round a bus station.

There are signs of investment in the TTC network, which has the impression of a system that may have gone many years without significant expenditure upon it.  ST Clair West is going to be a beneficiary,

More signs of change - which may be influenced by the aforementioned Brits in senior positions at the TTC.....

Interior of the CLRVs does not hide their 1970s design.

Overview of the interior of a CLRV.

Gate line at St Clair West.  Notable that the gates apply to the bus and streetcar stops as well as the escalators down to the subway.  Two things of note: 1. the ticket seller merrily laughing at my activities, and 2. the complete uselessness of the scratch-off day ticket in these gates!

Gratuitous CLRV photo.

And another CLRV.

And another!

Flexity at night.

I don't have enough to review the Subway, but here's an Alexander-Dennis Enviro 400, a product of Falkirk, Scotland, in use as a sightseeing bus in Toronto.  Some 220 more Alexander Dennis double deckers are set to join operations in Ontario.