Causing alarms? Countdown clocks now completed in all subway stations

New technology already experiencing problems

January 4, 2018 By Scott Enman Brooklyn Daily Eagle

A countdown clock at the High Street station in Brooklyn Heights. Eagle photo by Mary Frost

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Commuters using the New York City subway system will now know exactly when their train is expected to arrive — or rather just how long it’s delayed.

MTA successfully met its deadline to install countdown clocks in all 471 stations across the city by the end of 2017.

It took more than a decade to complete the project, but straphangers will likely feel relief knowing precisely how long they have to wait on their morning commutes.

The final 22 stations to receive the countdown clocks were on the No. 7 line, according to the Daily News.

Brooklyn’s Franklin Avenue shuttle was the last in the borough to receive the digital train timers.

The L line was the first route to have the new technology installed in 2006, with the numbered lines receiving it two years later.

The numbered lines use a more complicated style of countdown clocks, which are more accurate, but also more expensive than the newer technology.

The lettered lines use an inexpensive beacon technology, which uses low-energy Bluetooth transponders installed on trains that connect with location readers in each of the stations.

The beacons send location information when trains pass a reader while entering and exiting the stations.

“Beacon technology does not involve invasive modifications to station infrastructure and can be deployed at a fraction of the costs associated with the countdown clocks already in the system,” MTA Managing Director Veronique Hakim told the Brooklyn Eagle in September.

Riders Alliance Policy and Communications Director Danny Pearlstein said that while he appreciates MTA meeting its self-imposed deadline, he hopes the transit organization will work out some of the kinks on the newer countdown clocks.

MTA “probably could have done it even slower and done it a little differently, but it’s valuable to have a deadline, meet that deadline and prove to riders that they are responsive to at least some of our needs given everything that is going on with the problems in the subway system,” Pearlstein told the Eagle.

He added, “Ultimately, [MTA] made the priority to get it done and they rolled this out with a different technology admittedly then they used before, which meant they could roll it out a lot faster, but initially it’s not quite as reliable.”

Pearlstein also noted that the newer countdown clocks only display the next two arriving trains, versus the older clocks, which display several more.

“On some platforms you have three or four lines running, and if you’re waiting for the F and you only know when the next B or D is coming, then that’s not as helpful as if you’re waiting on the 4,5,6 platform and you know when the next four trains are coming,” Pearlstein said.

“We are hoping that [MTA] can update the software and the Wi-Fi service so that they can actually show the next four to six trains coming the way they do on the numbered lines.”

While the countdown clocks may relieve anxiety for some commuters, the digital timers are already experiencing problems, according to a New York Post article.

The Post notes that arrival times on the F line in Brooklyn are frequently off by three to five minutes, and the clocks are often placed in hard-to-read locations like behind exit signs or only at one end of the platform.

The article includes a picture of a Brooklyn-bound D train coming into the West 4th Street station without the countdown clock displaying its arrival.

“We’re pleased to have delivered on the mandate for us to bring countdown clocks to the entire system during 2017,” MTA Spokesman Jon Weinstein told the Eagle. “Whether used in the app or in the station, the countdown information is a powerful tool for our customers to use as they manage their commutes.”

Arrival times can also be accessed on mobile devices and personal computers.

MTA also met its deadline to install free Wi-Fi in all 279 underground stations by the end of 2016.

Follow reporter Scott Enman on Twitter.