Re: More 'PIDS'

["Alex Borodin" <joneses@primus.com.au>]

FRISCÉ Theatre Co. (Bryan Cullis) <rabonzo@primus.com.au> wrote in message
928758816.498743@diddley.primus.com.au">news:928758816.498743@diddley.primus.com.au...
> This may have already been mentioned, but Melbourne's PIDS are shocking.

Not completely. Melbourne has PIDS at many suburban stations. The cost of
doing that is enormous (even in Brisbane) so it's quite a plus. Melbourne
also has that dialup "next train" help fone - which is a great idea (though
Perth has a better system altogether.)

> There are three different types at the moment.  The main type is like
> everything else in Hillside Trains/Bayside Trains (formerly "The Met") and
> that's a try-hard copy of Sydney.  I don't know how many of you know this,
> but all of our stations have signs practically identical to those in
Sydney

Keeping up with the Joneses... it's a mug's game.

> except they have different colours and a different font.  There were even
a
> few stations around Melbourne that were maid to look exactly like a Sydney
> station (i.e. Ringwood, Caulfield, Heidelberg) complete with the exact
same
> seats, signage and bins.  Now our PIDS are a basic (or should I say cheap,
> which is no surprise to Melbourne) version of those at stations such as
> Parramatta (or at least what they had the last time I was in Parra, which

These LED display PIDS are also not bad. They are quite a cost effective
means of getting info out to the 'burbs. They are clear and simple for
stations which don't have the density of trains as Flinders or Spencer.
Melbourne's PIDS is being redeveloped to make it more reliable, but the
basic system architecture is already streets ahead of Sydney.

> all stations to Flinders St. via City Loop").  Then there are the dinosaur
> monitors that are basically rejects from the 80s.  They're only at the
> underground stations and on Flinders St. and metro Spencer St. platforms.
> This rubbishy things are always stuffed.  They are always in pairs, mainly
> for the long lines like those to Belgrave or Hurstbridge and list every
> station on the rail line.  If it's stopping at a station, the station's
name
> will be there.  Otherwise, it's three little dots ". . .".

CRT's are not cost-effective at suburban stations, but can be made to work
well in the inner-city. QR's CRT-based PIDS has been extremely successful
since its inception with only one minor operational upgrade having been
implemented since day 1 - that of the Next Six Trains.

>Then there are
> the enormous airport style flip signs at Flinders St. concourse.  I know a
> lot of people hate them, but I think they're better than anything else.
To
> the left of the two columns are the line names (i.e. "Lilydale",
"Epping").
> Next to them is the next train on that line's destination, followed by
> another flip sign that says the important stuff ("Stops all stations
except
> East Richmond") then the time it departs plus a sign that either says
> "DIRECT" or "LOOP".  These cover everything, even on Sundays when any
> passenger for the Belgrave line has to take a Lilydale train and change at
> Ringwood.  If you look at the time next to Belgrave, it says what time and
> on the info board it says "Take Lilydale and change at Ringwood".  They
all
> tell you the next two trains on that line, plus town the bottom are two
> extremely long lines for miscellaneous stuff like "Remember to validate
your
> Metcard before each time you travel", or "Epping/Hurstbridge trains depart
> platform 14.  Take subway on platforms 2/3 and walk through to your
> platform" plus a clock showing the current time.  If they had smaller
> versions of these on the platforms and stations around Melbourne and
> Geelong, people might be a little LESS confused than they already are
taking
> Melbourne's public transport.

Flinders? What about those oil-based LCD type displays like at Spencer?
They're quite interesting. Expensive, but interesting!

Alex