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Inadequate destination displays on buses and coaches can produce much irritation and even, at times, panic among passenge Noel Millier has news of coded sign systen that could eliminate the mystification
IT WAS A FILTHY night when I alighted recently at a lonely wayside station in south-east England to catch a bus connection for an urgent appointment. Outside the station there was a bus stop and there was a bus already loading, but was it my bus? There was no way of telling because the destination board was indicating where the bus was, not where it was going.
This is not an unusual occurrence. For my part I took a taxi and wondered how often it happens every day that the travel-worn passenger takes the soft option and follows my example. Apart from loss of revenue a destination board with the wrong or no narrative leads to bad public relations, and loss of potential traffic.
Of course we could all queue up and ask the driver but what a waste of time would result.
Let me say quickly at this point that the country areas are neither alone nor the worst in making a secret of the bus destination and confusing the passenger.
Destination displays on London Transport buses are probably among the most comprehensive in the country yet a check, of the destination displays of LT buses in Sutton (CM's base) revealed that a high proportion of buses showed no route number at the rear — despite the same stop being served by three routes — and only one in ten had a side destination display despite the facility being fitted to the Fleetline vehicles.
NBC subsidiary London County buses go one better — if the prospective passenger stands or approaches the bus from any direction other than the front there is no clear way of telling where it's going or even what service it is operating.
Sutton has an important Green Line link with Heathrow Airport yet this important intermediate destination is only shown in small letters as an afterthought on the single line destination display. In some large cities I have visited recently advanced and efficient auto-fare systems are in use.
Buses here carry a sign requiring the passenger to tender the exact fare, yet nine times out of ten the operator assumes its customers, who must often be strangers in town, will have some telepathic way of knowing the exact fare in advance.
There appear to be two reasons for the demise of the destination display. One is cost. For many years operators have looked at ways of saving money and some have concluded t destination displays could profitably reduced. This n have saved some money bui the long term is equally likeh have contributed to the decl in bus passenger levels.
The second reason is the luctance of staff to change blir at route terminals. This has sen from the increase of a man bus operation and th are, in fairness, a number of planations of why the dri. does not relish leaving the cat wind around destination blin Not least is the security aspec. leaving the fare equipment even a second.
In some countries this pn tern has been overcome by int ducing electrically operated d etion blinds controlled from I cab. This works well where ly a limited number of destilions are needed on each id but can be a problem when ig blinds are required. The la has made little progress knottier answer that has met :h limited success has been
liquid-crystal destination plays which have been tried various areas but because of jr unreliability and high cost ie failed to be introduced on y large scale.
Oore promising are matrix dot ;tination displays which can programmed to alternate plays if required.
recently visited the UK offDot of an American company it has developed a range of stination display products that e said to be reliable and ecomic.
Transign Ltd of Banbury is a anch of Trans-Industries of nerica which includes various mpanies involved in electron', bus lighting and bus destinein equipment. Transign Inc. in e States claims to be the mart leader for the supply of inted destination blinds to nerican transport authorities. present Transign Ltd handles a sales and marketing of nerican products in Britain and Europe, though according to company director John H. Moorhouse, the company would start a UK product facility if enough orders were received. The Banbury facility is small but does hold stock and includes a workshop where units can be repaired and programmed for different applications.
Transign Ltd offers two distinct solutions for operators looking to improve bus destination displays. The first and most familiar is the Transdot system. Transdot is an electro-magnetic driver-operated system with displays made up from dot matrixes seven dots high and five dots wide. Each matrix is capable of showing every letter or number available. Standard Transdot displays offer 15 characters and numbers or four character or route number display panels. Each dot is coloured fluorescent yellow and the displays are normally illuminated by conventional fluorescent tubes.
Transdot displays are operated from a solid state memory chip which is capable of storing up to 4,000 15-character messages. The memory chips can be programmed by Transign or equipment for programming can be supplied to the operator. The programmer itself is straightforward and has a typewriter-like keyboard.
When the memory is inserted in the equipment, the bus driver merely selects the right code number on his instrument panel, which has a monitor to show that the right display appears. The encoder then uses the memory and the correct information appears on the front and back and wherever else re quired on the bus. Transdot can be set to sequence messages such as "via Airport" or "have a nice day", as required.
One criticism of Transdot is that it is not as easy as traditional destination displays to read, and sequencing is an unn e ce ss a ry complication. Transdot is also significantly more expensive than traditional mechanical blinds, though I was told it is tested for the equivalent of 200,000 service miles without failure and should outlast most buses. It does not have any mechanical parts.
As an alternative to Transdot and probably easier to read and more like conventional destination blinds in appearance is Transign's Translator system. This falls mid-way between Transdot and conventional blinds and offers many of Transdot's advantages although lit does not include the sequencing facility. Translator is available in 16-character or four-character displays and like Transdot is operated electronically from a memory chip through an encoder.
Each Translator character is made up from a tightly wound blinds containing sections of letters and numbers which are translated by the encoder to form the number or letter stored in the memory. Translator can include a separate encoder to allow route numbers to be changed independently of the main display, and vice versa if required.
Translator memories are programmed in the same way as Transdot and the system can store up to 245 lines as standard or 1000-plus if required.
The Translator equipment is electro-mechanical and uses a standard 24 volt electrical system. Display changes take longer with the Translator than the Transdot system, although updating still takes no more than 30 seconds. The translator system normally features white pvc characters on a black pvc background and like the Transdot can be illuminated by a conventional fluorescent tube, Both systems undoubtedly give scope for improving the image of bus services and attracting prospective passengers who would otherwise opt for another form of transport. The sequencing facility offered by Transdot can also tell the passenger what the fare is.
Both systems cost considerably more than the conventional mechanically cranked destination blinds but do offer muchneeded information at the touch of a button and are both claimed to be highly reliable.