TriMet buses now feature internal Automated Stop Announcements


From a TriMet press release today:

Buses with internal Automated Stop Announcements (ASA) are now notifying riders where they are along bus routes on seven TriMet bus lines. ASA ensures people who are hearing or sight impaired and those new to transit are informed of upcoming stops, by providing both internal readerboard and voice announcements of major stops along a bus route.

The internal announcements also include information about other transit connections available at stops along the route. External announcements, which were introduced and tested last year, announce which bus line is serving the stop when there are multiple bus lines involved.

(More after the break…)
“Automated Stop Announcements provide greater independence for riders with disabilities as well as be a valuable tool for all riders,” said Fred Hansen, TriMet general manager.” ASA reduces uncertainty over what stop is next and decreases anxiety over missing a stop.”

The system is now being tested on seven lines:

  • 6-Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd
  • 14-Hawthorne
  • 54-Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy/56-Scholls Ferry Rd
  • 57-TV Hwy/Forest Grove
  • 72-Killingsworth/82nd Ave
  • 75-39th Ave/Lombard
  • 79-Clackamas Town Center

Next steps

By the end of May, these bus lines will be added:

  • 12-Barbur Blvd
  • 12-Sandy Blvd
  • 15-Belmont
  • 15-NW 23rd Ave
  • 20-Burnside/Stark

By the end of 2008, all of the bus routes served by TriMet’s approximately 360 low-floor buses will have the announcements activated.

The system is similar to MAX, which has always had internal and external automated stop announcements. Bringing ASA to buses, however, required considerably more technology than the train announcements. On buses, ASA had to be coordinated with the Bus Dispatch System, using Global Positioning System (GPS). The GPS system and bus odometer let the bus dispatch system know where a bus is on the route and trigger automated announcements as the bus progresses.


0 responses to “TriMet buses now feature internal Automated Stop Announcements”

  1. Add this with the fact that there are bus stops every block and you’ll get:

    “Next stop…60th…Next Sto…Next Stop..64th…Next…Next….”

    A never ending loop of recorded messages cut off in the middle to play the next in line. Hopefully they wont be recording these in Spanish as well.

  2. They only announce the “big” stops and what appears to be at a regular distance. I haven’t noticed any Spanish, what I have noticed is that the bus is about 30 times louder then the announcements and the only thing useful is the little display.

    From what I noticed it does what it is supposed to do well.

  3. Add this with the fact

    Try not to label opinions as facts.

    A never ending loop of recorded messages cut off in the middle to play the next in line.

    Really? Did you experience this when riding?

    Hopefully they wont be recording these in Spanish as well.

    Why “hopefully”?

  4. Why Spanish? Why not Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic? It’s a huge door TriMet has opened, almost as though they are asking for a lawsuit. I imagine that’s a primary reason why cities with actual diversity (Philly, NYC, DC, Chicago come to mind) only announce stations/connections in English.

    The only time I have heard Spanish on the buses is at the end of a zone: “esta es la ultima parada en la zona X.”

  5. Add this with the fact that there are bus stops every block and you’ll get:

    ***Not true. The TriMet system WAS based on a two block standard, but TriMet’s new Director of Transportation has recently changed that to a four block standard. You can see that change in the transit mall as well as the 20 line where several stops have been closed on Burnside.***

    “Next stop…60th…Next Sto…Next Stop..64th…Next…Next….”

    A never ending loop of recorded messages cut off in the middle to play the next in line.

    ***I was a driver on the 72 line when they were testing this system, it actually works quite well-as long as the speakers are ajusted correctly. It only announces “major” stops, zone changes, and transfer points.***

    Hopefully they wont be recording these in Spanish as well.

    ***I would think that you would welcome other languages in the bus announcements, after all, Anthony is not an “English” name…***

    [Moderator: Italics added for clarity.]

  6. I think MAX talks too much in general. Add in the Spanish and it really does get annoying. “Transfer to Yellow Line Expo Center at next station, by walking one block east, or, transfer at Old Town. Please look both ways before crossing tracks.” Is all that really necessary?

    MAX also used to be polite. About 2 years ago he stopped saying “please yield seating to seniors and people with disabilities” and began saying “in the priority seating area, you are REQUIRED TO MOVE for seniors and people with disabilities” (original emphiais). I understand the need to save reserved seating, but if you are enough of a jerk to not move for a little old lady on your own, prodding from some talking computer isn’t going to change your mind.

    Around the same time, MAX began greeting visitors to our fair city with that same command, which is now announced as you depart PDX, BEFORE “welcome aboard. This is a red line train…” Is that really the first impression we want visitors to have of our transit system? What was wrong with saying “welcome aboard” first?

    Sorry, that rant was marginally on-topic.

  7. Grant,

    I’m with you here, MAX has WAAY too many announcements, I do hear them through a hearing aid, and guess what — They’re so annoying that it drives a deaf man crazy! :)

    I thought of making a parody video of a “tour” of MAX, but when the narrator starts talking of how to use the system, the announcements override his voice for the duration of the video. Passengers are equally frustrated when they’re trying to engage in conversation.

    Go back to the old days, where the announcements were simple as “Gateway!” or “60th!”, none of this english/spanish lingo with fare zone information, exact directions to transfer to another train, etc.

    /end rant

  8. I don’t think MAX was gone “waay” too far with announcements, but I will agree that they have gone at least “a bit” too far… perhaps we can lobby for them to replace “the doors are closing” with a chime/tone sound which works well for most of the rest of the entire transit-using world. :-)

  9. Why Spanish? Why not Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic?

    TriMet already has some information on their web site in Vietnamese, Korean, Russian, and Chinese.

    I have a call in to TriMet to see what statistics they may have regarding languages spoken by riders, and what criteria are used to determine when additional languages are used to present various types of information (such as in literature and in announcements). I’ll post the results here if I find out anything.

    According to census data, Spanish is the second most common language spoken at home in the Portland-Vancouver metro area (English being the first, of course), and Spanish is spoken at least twice as often as other languages, probably more (other languages are grouped in various combined categories, so it is difficult to get individual percentages.)

    See:
    http://www.censusscope.org/us/m6440/chart_language.html

    Use the form at the left side of the page to drill down to the Portland-Vancouver area.

    It’s a huge door TriMet has opened, almost as though they are asking for a lawsuit.

    It’s a door that’s been open for over a decade (with regard to Spanish stop announcements) without major legal issues thus far.

  10. Chris,
    You have it all wrong. The ANNOUNCEMENTS are for BLIND people, the READER BOARD is for DEAF people. So shouldn’t you be ignoring the announcements and just using the reader board? LOL

    Actually, I do agree that the announcements are a LITTLE over done on the Max.

    As for your comment that you liked the old days, well I have to disagree. I just don’t like being yelled at by some Ralph Kramden wannabe–it’s just not polite in my way of thinking.

  11. Regarding stop spacing, I can confirm that TriMet has realigned the stops on the #71 in my neighborhood in the past couple of months, from 2 blocks to 3 or 4 blocks. As a consequence, we lost the stop right by our house, but it’s only 1.5 blocks to the current stop, in either direction.

  12. “It’s a door that’s been open for over a decade (with regard to Spanish stop announcements) without major legal issues thus far.”

    And that is surprising to me. The website is one thing, but with the announcements they are clearly favoring one ethnic/language group over others. Spanish-speakers may be the “majority minority” at the moment, but is there not a huge influx of easter European immigrants settling in east Portland? And the City is consistently reaching out to China for partnerships of various kinds. You get the idea.

    I just hope some enterprising young trial lawyer doesn’t read this thread and get any ideas :-)

  13. It drives me INSANE!

    Thank god I drive old buses where they will never get this stuff!

    Political correctness out of control.

    Given the fact they can’t even get the signs to change reliably I wonder just how great this system will be.

  14. I like the idea of stop announcements, although I haven’t met a TriMet driver yet who wasn’t helpful enough to announce the stop if I asked for help. After riding buses in San Diego quite often for 5 years, I’ve been pleasantly surprised that most of the drivers here are knowledgeable of their route, as well as help the customers if asked.

    I think maybe the visual board is a good idea also, since that somewhat transcends spoken languages. At the same time, I’m kind of glad they do the audio announcements, since there are blind people who use transit. (At least, I hope, since they probably shouldn’t drive.)

    As far as announcing in Spanish, I don’t really care either way. I understand enough Spanish that if I miss something in English, I can usually catch the it in Spanish. But, only 6.23% of Portland’s population speaks only Spanish, maybe it’s not really needed. Why not Japanese also? We get lots of Japanese tourists here.

  15. The first time I heard the automated announcements was on a 17-NW 21st Ave. bus probably over a year ago. It was extremely annoying because it announced every single stop in fareless, along with ‘if you’re traveling within Fareless Square, you don’t need a fare.’ Since the volume was also extremely loud, just about everyone was visibly cheesed off whenever the thing went off.

    Since then, I’ve noticed the automated announcements within the past 6 mos. or so on 75, and it seems that they’ve at least worked on the volume and annoyance factor of the messages. The fact that it’s the same automated, emotionless voice as the external announcements for the bus routes, and it just loses something.

    That’s regarding the announcements themselves. Now, about how they seem to work (or don’t).
    First of all, the stops are announced by some official stop name, but I don’t know of any regular rider that knows the northbound 75 stop at Holgate as “39th and Mall,” or the inbound 14 stop at Powell as “50th and Haig.” And do we really need to hear at almost every single announced stop that’s part of the 71 detour on 50th/Hawthorne/39th/Burnside that we can transfer to 71?! (Granted, it’s a long-term detour route, but does TriMet really want to get people used to the temporary stop to the point where they complain when 71 goes back to its regular route on 60th and Lincoln?

    One other issue (folks like Al and T.S.O. will appreciate this) – we lose the good announcements from the operators that know their routes and make it a point to announce stuff along the way, regardless of if it’s a large business or a school or whatever. Do the automated announcements tell people where Fred Meyer is? No. What about other landmarks and large trip generators like schools or colleges? No, just the “name” of the stop, which as I stated earlier not that many people know. On the buses running one of the PM rush 14E runs, does it announce at the last stop in downtown that the next stop is at 39th? No. (And is whoever that pulls the cord going across the Hawthorne or Morrison bridge or around 12th terribly amused when they don’t know? No.)

    Given the fact they can’t even get the signs to change reliably…
    I was once in downtown, here’s a southbound bus on 3rd Ave. with automated external announcements blaring “Line 56, Downtown Only,” only to be immediately followed by one annoyed operator announcing over a mic with about half the volume: “FIFTY-FOUR to BEAVERTON!”
    People running from half a block away thinking it was a 56 and couldn’t hear the operator from the distance weren’t terribly happy.

  16. TriMet’s press release: The system is similar to MAX, which has always had internal and external automated stop announcements.

    Chris Fussell wrote: Go back to the old days, where the announcements were simple as “Gateway!” or “60th!”, none of this english/spanish lingo with fare zone information, exact directions to transfer to another train, etc.

    Once again, TriMet’s slick PR machine hard at work. MAX did not “always” have automated stop announcements; prior to the introduction of the Type II cars in 1997/1998, the announcements were made manually by the Operator. I still remember the two tone chime tone that played before the Operator keyed his mic, announced the next stop and the familiar “Doors to my right” or “Doors to my left”, and that was it. There was a separate chime, which was a single, dull ring chime (and still in use today) if the Operator made a special, non-stop announcement (i.e. a delay announcement)

    TriMet for many, many years ignored federal law that REQUIRES the announcement of all major stops and transfer points onboard ALL transit vehicles (yes, TriMet, a BUS is considered a transit vehicle, whether you like it or not.) While TriMet is doing somewhat better, I find it quite frequent (particularly on the 1700s and 1800s) that the PA system is non-functional. In that case, the bus Operator is required to verbally make his announcement loud enough that any passenger in the “priority seating area” can clearly hear the announcement. Let’s just say that doesn’t happen. Sometimes it’s not the Operator’s fault, they try but just can’t. In other words, it needs to be a priority for TriMet to include ALL passengers – and that means ALL vehicles – to have an appropriate annunciation system. Not just the one-half of busses that TriMet purchased after 1997.

    (And don’t give me any B.S. that it can’t be cost-effectively added to older busses, the same system on the Type II/III LRVs was added to the Type Is too.)

    Maybe this is just ANOTHER reason that TriMet needs to FULLY INVEST in its bus system, even if it means making a huge infusion towards new busses and retire the 1400-1900 series NOW, instead of at the slow pace of 50 busses a year (as Fred Hansen claims, even though we were already promised that at least once) so that by the time those busses are retired, the 2000s and 2100s will need to be retired.

    Do the automated announcements tell people where Fred Meyer is?

    I agree, there are some good Operators that make great announcements. I had a 12 line Operator several years ago that not only did a great job of announcing most of the stops (only the most minimal of stops did he not announce), and would almost always point out the landmarks (i.e. the stop after I-5 entering Tigard was announced as “Buster’s, Baxter’s and KFC” in reference to the two restaurants and the auto parts store located there. One day he even announced the companies’ slogans, so the stop at Wendy’s became “Wendy’s – Eat Great Even Late, Next Stop!”)

    I’ve had another Operator on the 95 line that as soon as leaving I-5 would give a nice announcement welcoming us to downtown, naming the next stop, providing the current time and whether we were early (and if so by how many minutes), on time or late (which happened very rarely).

    Given the fact they can’t even get the signs to change reliably

    You mean, the 75 bus doesn’t serve Barbur Transit Center?!!! (Actually saw this on Thursday.)

  17. In as era when everyone expects others to do for them what in past times had to be done by themselves, this politically correct stop announcement garbage is just more of the same.

    Nobody is against helping the disabled and confused, BUT GOSH SAKES, THERE HAS TO BE SOME LIMITS.

    People have to take some responsibility for their actions.

    LIKE ASKING FOR HELP, OR FINDING OUT WHERE THE HECK THEY ARE GOING BEFORE LEAVING THE HOUSE!

    The more government does for people the less people do for themselves.

    I did a video blog for the trimetoperators site about our union presidents conference where he brought up some salient points about the transit industry. I think its relevant to this discussion:

    http://amargul.blogspot.com/2008/04/atu-757-presidents-report-april-08.html

  18. The more government does for people the less people do for themselves.

    You mean, it’s NOT Government’s job to tell you how to get to Sherwood if you’re standing at a weekday-rush hour only stop in Rivergate?!! ;-)

    Actually as I was getting on the 12 yesterday (before witnessing a total service meltdown by TriMet, when our leader bus struck a car, trapping a 44 behind it, and the first responder was a PSU Public Safety Officer (never mind we weren’t on the PSU campus!), a guy was trying to get to Tualatin at our stop at PSU. He was trying to seek out the 96.

    Unfortunately my stop, located in the middle of the SINGLE LARGEST TRANSIT GENERATOR IN ALL OF PORTLAND, lacked a system map, a downtown stop map, a TriMet customer service office, or anything else. All he knew was he needed the 96 (which was six blocks away), and he didn’t know how to get there. I told him he could get on the 12 and go to Tigard and catch a 76 but that was too confusing for him (and by that time I was holding up the bus – which only three minutes later didn’t become a problem, our leader 12 bus T-boned a car and southbound Barbur Blvd. was closed as a result. But Transit Tracker, 15 minutes later, did not display any detour or service interruption information so if you were using it, it was giving wrong information (and now TriMet customer service was closed.)

    Unfortunately this guy didn’t have a cell phone and there wasn’t a pay phone nearby, so Transit Tracker nor 238-RIDE for customer service wouldn’t help. And telephone customer service is only available up to 5:30 PM (it was 5:15 PM, for the record) so apparently nobody needs transit help after 5:30 or on weekends and holidays.

    Just another day on TriMet. See where it takes you. I got the scenic trip on Corbett, and some passengers didn’t get anywhere at all.

  19. Given the choice between giving “us” information to help us get where we’re going, or not, what should a -person- do?

    It’s not like ‘the government’ is some foreign entity; it’s made up of people just like us, from the same place as us, tasked with spending our money the best way they can.

    So, I’m all for more information.

  20. “Just another day on TriMet. See where it takes you. I got the scenic trip on Corbett, and some passengers didn’t get anywhere at all.”

    ~~>hehehehehe……….

    “So, I’m all for more information.”

    Unfortunately, the people making the rules about all this crapola do not ride buses, drive buses, or use mass transit at all.

    They are professional bureaucrats with degrees in “public administration” and such.

    So their jobs are to come up with more and creative ways to make more and more rules and regulations for those of us that actually do the real work out here.

    How did the world even survive to this point in history?

    The point of the matter is that our system of government, and our society in general, has gotten so bureaucratized that they have these ridiculous ideas like announcing the bus route every FREAKING TIME THE FREAKING DOOR GETS OPENED!

    You come work here and see how long it takes you to lose your mind with all this stuff!

  21. And all this technology is so [expletive deleted] unreliable in any event.

    As I said earlier, they can’t even get the headsigns to change properly.

    I’ve done video blogs on this, I’ve sent letters, I’ve done everything humanly possible, all to no avail.

    THE HEAD SIGNS STILL DON’T CHANGE PROPERLY AND THE DRIVER CANNOT MANUALLY CHANGE THEM.

    You have no idea how many people miss the bus because of this. ITS HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS , probably thousands.

    I tell every passenger, NEVER BELIEVE A TRIMET ROUTE HEADSIGN.

    If its stopped at your stop go up and ask the driver where he is going.

    If he gives you a smart ass comment, just tell him you’ll stop asking these stupid questions as soon as TRIMET figures out how to make the head signs reliable.

    So I don’t hold out much hope for any of this stuff.

  22. Al M, an unlucky break or two, and you could end up driving an ice cream truck. then youd really go crazy. the same two songs, on repeat, with no breaks ever.

  23. I like the stop announcements. One of the deterrents to riding buses for many people (myself included) is that it’s too easy to miss a stop–especially when unfamiliar with a route. These announcements make bus riding much more comfortable to me.

  24. “Al M, an unlucky break or two, and you could end up driving an ice cream truck.”

    I can end up born in the third world and live on $2 a day like 3,000,000,000 other do!

    Or I could be an illegal Mexican just waiting for the next INS raid that will leave my family all alone without income.

    Or I could be an Iraqi and watch as my whole country is devastated in the name of democracy.

    Or I could have been born an autistic and just bang my head on the wall day after day.

    OR I COULDA….

    OR I COULDA…..

    OR I COULDA…..

    In the meantime, by dear “COMPLAINER”

    i’ll use these blogs as i see fit, and that is to COMPLAIN..

    hows that mr complainer?

  25. Oh,

    did I mention that I find the automated stop announcements extremely annoying?

    WELL I DO.

    THANKS,

    and have a nice day;

    you pal;

    Al

  26. [i](And don’t give me any B.S. that it can’t be cost-effectively added to older busses, the same system on the Type II/III LRVs was added to the Type Is too.)[/i]

    Actually, it’s on the Type I LRVs only by virtue of the fact that only in the very rarest of circumstances is there a single Type I car by itself or in consist with another Type I car.

    While the communications equipment on board the type I cars is the same as that installed on the Type II/III cars, there is no ‘CDU’ which is the computer that interfaces to the odometer and door circuits to determine when to make the next announcement.

    Rumor even has it that the PA will not work with out that these days, but …

  27. The Automated Stop Announcements are intended to keep TriMet in compliance with the ADA, which requires announcements be made in order to fill certain criteria. The announcements are made at fare zone boundaries, transfer locations, and where necessary to keep passengers oriented (whenever the bus turns on to a new street).

    The problems Jason Barbour described with the Line 17 would have been during early testing; the 17 was one of the pilot routes and there were all sorts of issues with hardware (in particular) that caused a lot of problems, but that’s what a pilot is all about.

    There is nothing about the ASA program that would prevent a bus operator from making announcements over and above those made automatically. In fact, operators have always been encouraged to do just that and are still *required* to announcements requested by a passenger.

    Finally, there is the question raised about the name of the stop being announced. Jason is correct: the stop announced on the southbound 75 probably should be Holgate rather than Mall. Unfortunately, the actual timepoint is the stop at Mall, not at Holgate, because there is no location at Holgate for the bus to “dwell” without blocking the street. And, since the primary purpose of the announcements is to help orient people with visual disabilities, we can’t tell them the stop is at Holgate when it’s really somewhere else.

  28. It looks like yesterday, TriMet released a new version of the press release, which had one correction:
    The system is similar to MAX, which has had internal and external automated stop announcements for approximately ten years.

    By the way, I was on a 20 this morning out in Gresham that had the announcements running, so I heard some of them on this route for the first time. When it reached Mt. Hood C.C., the only announcement was “29th St. – Transfer to lines 80 and 81.” (it also announced the 80/81 transfer possibility at Kane and Division.) The sorta ironic thing about this is, once again, everyone knows this stop as the MHCC stop, and to transfer to 80 or 81 from there you have to walk over to the separate stop that’s right in front of the building, vs. the 20 stop at the intersection of the main road and the college entrance. MHCCs location is also listed on 20s route map, and the printed schedule lists the timepoint as “257th at Mt. Hood CC.” So it’s a bit surprising that it wouldn’t be part of the audio announcement.

  29. ASA uses the public stop names (which among other things, keeps the announcements in direct alignment with the trip planner) although some other TriMet material such as printed timetables have the luxury of tweaking names. In this particular location, the stop is named by the nearest intersecting street. While it might seem simpler to name it after MHCC, there are already two stops with that name right on campus.

  30. “Can anyone send me the audio announcement recordings in a .wav file perhaps?”

    If I can remember I can get some for you easily enough…

    Thats,

    IF,

    i can remember…….

  31. Hello,

    If Possible can someone send me the audio files that are in the MAX as well? They can be in any format.

    Primarily, the ones I need for my project is the “doors to my right” “doors to my left” and “Ticket and validated fare are required on MAX outside fareless square”.

    If at all possible I would like the Spanish track along with them.

    Thanks alot.

    Send to: 88keys07@gmail.com

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