Poor quality of destination displays

[YX73OUB]

It is possible to set it up on Hanovers and have them updated by the Ticketer system. Go South Coast have started doing this on the m1, m2 and some Bluestar routes.

The priority has been getting everything with Aesys working correctly

 

[GoneSouth]

Metrolink are simply using the stop names. The tram stop at Piccadilly station is called Piccadilly. Manchester Piccadilly is the name only of the mainline station.

On the rare times that trams terminate at Piccadilly Gardens, they put that on the display. Any tram terminating at Piccadilly coming from the west will go through Piccadilly Gardens anyway so the scope for confusion is limited.

Fair enough, I don’t really know the geography that well so unsure which lines terminate where. I do think the Metrolink stop should reference the mainline station though. I guess it doesn’t at Victoria either.

And while I’m off topic, why can’t they include a tram ticket for cross Manchester rail journeys. Seems to work well in London for the underground.

Back on topic, I like the white displays, they just look clearer to me. Strange that the orange ones were just about around at a time when we still had plenty of orange sodium street lamps, everything was just a little bit too much orange!

 

[Statto]

I find some of the orange LED displays on First Solent vehicles seem faint, particularly during daylight. Also there are some with difficult to read destination fonts. Stagecoach vehicles in Portsmouth always seem much clearer.

Not just First Solent, that's an issue with orange blinds in my area Merseyside as well, were the orange font fades which makes it hard to read in daylight, the white blinds are far better & don't seem to fade.

 

[YX73OUB]

Not just First Solent, that's an issue with orange blinds in my area Merseyside as well, were the orange font fades which makes it hard to read in daylight, the white blinds are far better & don't seem to fade.

This could be a fault with the unit rather than the programming, they *should* automatically adjust to the surrounding light - dimming / be getting brighter depending on the natural light. They use Hanover units though so I'm not sure if it's the same as it is on our Aesys / Mobitec units.

This is certainly what they do on Aesys and mobitec anyway.

 

[Simon75]

I still find roller blinds clearer. The new type of displays in London are OK, but can be too bright

 

[Tetchytyke]

nd while I’m off topic, why can’t they include a tram ticket for cross Manchester rail journeys. Seems to work well in London for the underground.

Depends what you mean by cross-Manchester rail journeys.

Through train tickets between two stations in Greater Manchester will have the route METROLINK CTLZ, which allows you to use the tram in zone 1 (city centre). For destinations further afield you can't but that's a historical funding argument.

Most walk-up rail tickets from a Greater Mancheter station to one of the Manchester terminals will also have the destination of METROLINK CTLZ, again allowing you to use the ticket to complete your journey in the city centre by tram. It's why the TOC-specific walk-up tickets from Manchester Airport grind my gears so much, as they're only a few pence cheaper but issue to MANCHESTER STNS not METROLINK CTLZ.

 

[mangad]

Fair enough, I don’t really know the geography that well so unsure which lines terminate where. I do think the Metrolink stop should reference the mainline station though. I guess it doesn’t at Victoria either.

Victoria is indeed Victoria.

It's exactly what happens in London. Victoria tube is not London Victoria tube station. There's little point in buses or trams putting Manchester Victoria on their display. What other Victoria could it even be?

 

[Poiuytre]

Or Town Service

Personally, I think that on certain town services, it's reasonable to put this. Some town services (particularly in smaller rural towns) serve so many different areas, that the only thing suitable it 'Town Service' or 'Town Circular'

 

[Statto]

This could be a fault with the unit rather than the programming, they *should* automatically adjust to the surrounding light - dimming / be getting brighter depending on the natural light. They use Hanover units though so I'm not sure if it's the same as it is on our Aesys / Mobitec units.

This is certainly what they do on Aesys and mobitec anyway.

The fault seems to be on more than one unit, i often see quite a lot of buses mostly Arriva Merseyside, with the dimmed blind in daylight that makes the blind hard to read, think that's why Arriva Merseyside have replaced some of those orange blinds by the white blinds, even some of the 58/09/59 Pulsars have had the blinds replaced.

 

[YX73OUB]

The fault seems to be on more than one unit, i often see quite a lot of buses mostly Arriva Merseyside, with the dimmed blind in daylight that makes the blind hard to read, think that's why Arriva Merseyside have replaced some of those orange blinds by the white blinds, even some of the 58/09/59 Pulsars have had the blinds replaced.

That certainly seems strange. Like I say I can't comment on what other operators use but I know the 'auto dimming' does feature on our Aesys and mobitec examples - it's not always perfect but it used to work really well in the dim broadmarsh bus station of yesteryear.

 

[43055]

It is possible - and the driver doesn't change it. It all runs off ticketer which fires a message to the Aesys display when a certain point is passed. Only vehicles with Aesys destinations have this capability. These destinations also change automatically when the trip is set from the starting point on ticketer.

Mobitec destinations are changed manually as are the Hanover ones fitted to the coaches.

McKenna brothers will pretty much only supply white mobitec destinations now.

trentbarton use green circles (surrounded by another coloured circle dependent on the route branding) on some 'circular' services, the previous red circular services being replaced by green to comply with the legislation change.

Thanks for confirming. I presume is it the newer E200's is is currently set up on.

 

[YX73OUB]

Thanks for confirming. I presume is it the newer E200's is is currently set up on.

That's right - any ADLs with Aesys destinations.

Volvos with Aesys will soon be kitted too.

Others will retain mobitec destos with Aesys next stop gear (that's why you might notice two control boxes in the cab)

 

[WibbleWobble]

This could be a fault with the unit rather than the programming, they *should* automatically adjust to the surrounding light - dimming / be getting brighter depending on the natural light. They use Hanover units though so I'm not sure if it's the same as it is on our Aesys / Mobitec units.

Hanovers have a little sensor that is meant to pick up the amount of light and adjust accordingly. They can be affected by the positioning of the unit and any masking on the glass.

 

[Glasgowbusguy]

The fault seems to be on more than one unit, i often see quite a lot of buses mostly Arriva Merseyside, with the dimmed blind in daylight that makes the blind hard to read, think that's why Arriva Merseyside have replaced some of those orange blinds by the white blinds, even some of the 58/09/59 Pulsars have had the blinds replaced.

It's a faulty or dirty lux sensor not detecting the ambient lighting levels

 

[YX73OUB]

Hanovers have a little sensor that is meant to pick up the amount of light and adjust accordingly. They can be affected by the positioning of the unit and any masking on the glass.

Thanks for that - much appreciated.

It could be something as simple as replacement glass interrupting the sensor then or indeed the masking.