SkyTrain Station Renovations

[Reecemartin]

[Deleted]

[Metro-One]

I feel that such signs in the station concourse are only really useful at hubs / major destinations.

Of the top of my head the stations that 100% require such signs are Waterfront and Commercial / Broadway (Maybe Lougheed as well). In the future the same will be true for Broadway / Cambie when the Broadway Subway opens.

[Reecemartin]

[Deleted]

[CanSpice]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

I feel that such signs in the station concourse are only really useful at hubs / major destinations.

Of the top of my head the stations that 100% require such signs are Waterfront and Commercial / Broadway (Maybe Lougheed as well). In the future the same will be true for Broadway / Cambie when the Broadway Subway opens.

Transfer points? It'd make things clearer at Columbia, that's for sure.

[Metro-One]

Those are all stations that arguably do deserve them as well, but they are second tier stations of importance for this particular feature IMO (on say, a 4 of 5 tier system).

For example, Bridgeport and Columbia are transfer points, but they still only utilize 2 platforms, so they are not as complicated or dynamic as Waterfront (2 separate skytrain stations, WCE, Seabus), Broadway & Commercial (4 platforms) or Lougheed (3 platforms) where such platform info is far more important at the concourse level.

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Replacing all the Canada Line displays would be a huge waste of money and resources.

Sigh. While I completely agree with you, part of me still misses the early days of the Expo line when the entire system was completely uniform. We'll never see those halcyon days again...

[MIPS]

Originally Posted by red-paladin

The Evergreen Line displays will probably last 30 years, unlike that TV.

I second this. You don't need an LCD panel to display trains and times and we already know they've used the alternative during the upgrades so it doesn't make any sense unless they're literally shopping around between installation contracts which is incredibly stupid.
I give that five years before it's either replaced due to a failed backlight or a horribly burned-in image.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by MIPS

I second this. You don't need an LCD panel to display trains and times and we already know they've used the alternative during the upgrades so it doesn't make any sense unless they're literally shopping around between installation contracts which is incredibly stupid.
I give that five years before it's either replaced due to a failed backlight or a horribly burned-in image.

Burn-in is a legacy problem with Plasma screens, not that TV. Replacing it will be dirt cheap, and the image is far more attractive IMO.

The real questions should be around up front capital cost, and lifetime costs including support, maintenance and power usage.

[Reecemartin]

[Deleted]

[jlousa]

Media signage screens are not your typical tvs and are priced at 10-15K about 10x the what you can wander into Best buy for your home.

[Jebby]

Originally Posted by jlousa

Media signage screens are not your typical tvs and are priced at 10-15K about 10x the what you can wander into Best buy for your home.

Really?


http://www.samsung.com/us/business/d...LH55RHEPLGA/GO


http://www.lg.com/us/business/commer...al/lg-65LX540S

[Reecemartin]

[Deleted]

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Jebby

Really?

Yep and you can guarantee a big public RFP will get even lower pricing.

[MIPS]

Originally Posted by jlousa

Media signage screens are not your typical tvs and are priced at 10-15K about 10x the what you can wander into Best buy for your home.

I cannot say out loud who my employer is (but if you are a BC resident you have probably unknowingly glanced at or even used something I worked on ), but I can say we are not currently replacing our ten year old fleet of plasma screens (and there's hundreds of them) with commercial grade LCD panels. In fact I can say in some places we are replacing high-end NEC and Panasonic panels with the cheapest thing that fit the bill.
They are made by Samsung. They do cost $1200 each. They are basically consumer sets with the tuner removed and the Smart features disabled. We are seeing a lot of in-warranty failures within two months of going into the field.
This is Trans-Link. Not the Japanese Railway company or Vancouver International Airport. They're cutting corners. They didn't even put the protective cover on it like they did with the first LCD panels they installed.

Also whoever says LCD's are not prone to burn-in has not seen some of the panels I've had come in for repair and had to destroy because the static content on come displays was clearly visible.

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by MIPS

I cannot say out loud who my employer is (but if you are a BC resident you have probably unknowingly glanced at or even used something I worked on ), but I can say we are not currently replacing our ten year old fleet of plasma screens (and there's hundreds of them) with commercial grade LCD panels. In fact I can say in some places we are replacing high-end NEC and Panasonic panels with the cheapest thing that fit the bill.
They are made by Samsung. They do cost $1200 each. They are basically consumer sets with the tuner removed and the Smart features disabled. We are seeing a lot of in-warranty failures within two months of going into the field.
This is Trans-Link. Not the Japanese Railway company or Vancouver International Airport. They're cutting corners. They didn't even put the protective cover on it like they did with the first LCD panels they installed.

Also whoever says LCD's are not prone to burn-in has not seen some of the panels I've had come in for repair and had to destroy because the static content on come displays was clearly visible.

Whats the timeline for replacing the platform train departure screens on the expo line?

My flat panel Toshiba TV is 10 years old this year. I feel blessed. (great pic quality too)

[Jebby]

Originally Posted by retro_orange

Whats the timeline for replacing the platform train departure screens on the expo line?

My flat panel Toshiba TV is 10 years old this year. I feel blessed. (great pic quality too)

I wouldn't expect the panels used at platform to last 10 years. Sure you screen has lasted, but is it on 18 hours a day, every day?

[jlousa]

Jebby, those displays you linked to are not commercial grade and would probably be lucky to last 2yrs in 24/7 operation, take a look at the link below to get a better idea on pricing. The prices are in a different league because the components they are built with are a couple grades above the norm. Everything is overbuilt on them. Sure you could buy 5-8 cheap ones for the same price, but these are for operations that do not want any down time.
Unfortunately I'm way more familiar with this segment then I wish I was.

http://www.necdisplay.com/category/l...creen-displays

[jollyburger]

Well Translink managed to spend 500K on 13 screens so maybe there are some magical expensive LCD screens.

And I guess Lamar Transit Advertising/Conti Evolution (contractor) handles all the other LCDs.

Surrey Leader from 2012:

TransLink is accused of wasting more than $523,000 in 2009 to put up 13 video screens at SkyTrain station entrances that now mostly do not work.

The LCD monitors and networked content players cost more than $40,000 each, according to the results of a Freedom of Information request filed by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF).

The video screens were to communicate SkyTrain system emergencies, closures and other information to transit riders, ending the practice of staff scrawling messages on sandwich boards outside stations.

"Any way you slice it, $40,000 for a TV screen in this day and age is mind-boggling waste," said Jordan Bateman, the CTF's B.C. director.

He said the only working screens were at Stadium Station when he recently checked them, while those at Scott Road, Edmonds and Commercial-Broadway had vanished and ones at Lougheed were there but not operating.

TransLink records show the Scott Road screens were damaged by vandals while others were offline as of August 2011 due to various technical failures.

Three quarters of the money for the Station Entrance Emergency Information Panel (SEEIP) project came from a $391,000 federal Transit-Secure grant.

But Bateman said it was not good use of money earmarked to improve safety and security, regardless of whether taxpayers paid for it via the federal government or through TransLink.

The video screens at the entrances to the five stations are different from the more than 160 screens on all SkyTrain and Canada Line station platforms that can also transmit urgent messages.

Those were installed by TransLink's advertising contractor at their cost and TransLink receives a share of the advertising revenue.

"The taxpayers didn't have to pay a dime for that," said Byron Montgomery, general manager for Lamar Transit Advertising.

Asked whether TransLink had tried to partner with Lamar on the station entrance screens, which were installed around the same time, he said they were separate initiatives.

Bateman said sandwich board messages may not be elegant but they work.

He said it's harder for passengers at a station entrance that has been closed due to a problem to peer through a grille at a video monitor inside.

TransLink officials said several of the out-of-service monitors are either being repaired or are temporarily covered up because of station renovations.

"This was put in as a safety measure," TransLink corporate communications manager Jason Martin said.

He said plans to add more of the station entrance video screens in 2013 are under review, adding TransLink now makes much greater use of social media in communicating with passengers than it did four years ago.

The cost of the project, which was in place in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics, included computers, a server, cables, software and other infrastructure.

http://www.surreyleader.com/news/157...ml?mobile=true

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Well Translink managed to spend 500K on 13 screens so maybe there are some magical expensive LCD screens.

The criticism about screen cost in that news article is misplaced since the majority of the money probably went to setting up the power, communications and the system that produced the content for the displays.

[officedweller]

From VIA twitter today - the centre station house is open:


Another big milestone on the Metrotown Station Upgrades Project today, as the 1st entrance of 3 was opened to the public at noon! @TransLink
https://twitter.com/viaarchitecture