Posts about Wayfinding

Fairfax's county government offices are difficult to access by public transit. Only two Fairfax Connector routes serve them. But not all residents can afford to or want to own a car, and those who can't or won't drive are at a decided disadvantage in being able to fully participate in society.

I had to visit the county seat two years ago to register to vote in Virginia; my permanent address was then my parents' house in Kingstowne. I had to register in person during office hours, but my parents both worked. Living in the District and lacking access to a car, I took the Metro to Vienna and then took a Fairfax Connector to the county office.

I had never been to the county offices before and I wasn't familiar with the area. The stops weren't announced, so I had to be extra careful about when to get off. I ended up getting off the bus too early and had to walk the rest of the way.

When I left the office, I walked to what I thought was the stop for the bus back to the Metro. The bus stop sign didn't have the route number. Suburban streets also aren't marked as clearly as city streets, so finding the intersection where my bus stopped wasn't as easy.

It turns out I was at the wrong bus stop, but as the bus approached, I was able to hustle to the correct stop, which luckily was nearby. If the stop flag had been marked, I would have known at which stop I should wait. If I had missed the bus, I would have had to wait at least 30 minutes for the next one.

When traveling after dark, it can be hard to identify bus stops while on the bus. Announcing the stops would make it easier for riders to know where they are. Stop announcements don't always work, but having them fail sometimes is better than not having them at all.

Adding route numbers to bus stops signs would require a minimal investment, but would make it much easier for riders to know if they are in the right place. Fairfax Connector route numbers are often shown on shelters, where they exist, but not on stop flags. Metrobus, Montgomery's Ride On and Arlington's ART, on the other hand, show route numbers on almost all stop flags. Ride On's even show the route's ultimate destination, so you don't find yourself on the correct route but going the wrong way.

Automated stop announcements require that buses be equipped with GPS, which is a bigger investment. Ride On is piloting real-time tracking, which would be useful for the Connector. GPS tracking could also bring NextBus' ability to predict how many minutes until the bus arrives to Fairfax Connector riders.

More attractive, easier to understand bus service can make suburban communities easier to navigate and reduce the need for driving. These two wayfinding improvements won't suddenly bring residents out of their cars. But they can make life easier for current bus riders and make buses a better option for those hesitant to ride.

One side (when the map is printed on paper) should have the well-known stylized Metro layout with the Circulator added in:

Click to enlarge.

Visitors would use this to understand how areas relate to one another and plot transit routes between them. Meanwhile, the other side should use a street-based layout, but including Metrorail lines as well as Circulator lines. Visitors would use that one to figure out where exactly to find a Circulator stop or a Metro station.

This map could go into guidebooks, be handed out in hotels, and be posted on kiosks in visitor-heavy areas. Maybe Metro could even include it, along with the regular map, at some downtown stations. This map could form visitors' new mental image of the layout of DC. Instead of leaving out many important areas, it would incorporate them.

Transportation agencies need to think beyond simply how to showcase their own services. Visitors, residents, and others don't really care which agency runs a service; they care what service gets where they need to go. We need maps that show people the services they might want, tailored to their needs.

After the train had pulled out of the station, they walked back over to the post and stared again at the Orange and Blue route maps. Having noticed their confusion and wanting to be helpful, I edged over to see if I could hear what the problem was. I heard them mutter something to the extent of "here it says the Blue Line goes to Franconia, I don't know why that one was going to Huntington, maybe the next one will go to Franconia."

At this point, I was beginning to comprehend their consternation, especially considering that Huntington is not even a stop listed on the route map they were looking at. I walked a little closer and asked if I could help. I explained that I suspected that there was maintenance somewhere on the Blue Line in Virginia and that they should get on the next Blue train and get off at King Street and ask a Metro employee about a bus or train to Franconia.

This past weekend, the same Blue Line diversion was in place again when I was riding a train out from downtown again and heard the operator announce at one point while the train was moving: "Please note riders that all Blue Line trains will terminate at Huntington. For service to Franconia-Springfield, please exit this train at King Street and board a shuttle train to Franconia." Now announcements like this can be wonderfully helpful, but in this particular case actually ended up being pretty useless.

Anyone who is headed to Franconia-Springfield who has the confidence to get on a Blue Line train which professes to end in Huntington most likely already knows that they will have to change at King Street. If anything, the announcement at best serves as a friendly reminder that these riders can't nap all the way to their destination.

Meanwhile, riders unfamiliar with the system will sit on platforms in stations along the line and wonder where Huntington is, and why a Blue Line train is going to a station that is not on its map. All because there is no warning in the station itself.

An MTA Service Change Poster - photo courtesy of NYTimes

Why doesn't Metro do the same?

I suspect at least one mitigating factor is the lack of space in stations, particularly on the platforms where temporary signage could be hung, just one more example of how the system's cavernous design and sparse furnishing sacrifices usability for architectural beauty. Another factor may be the additional costs of printing service change notices every time there is track work.

This leads me to the overall point that Metro should make better use of the methods it has at its disposal to communicate immediately and effectively with customers: the electronic signage and station announcement systems. While you can find out every broken elevator in the entire system by watching the train arrival boards, the past two weekends there have been no notices about the Blue Line reroute. This lack of signage has accessibility impacts as well. Without visible service change announcements, hearing-impaired riders have virtually no way of knowing how to adapt their commute.

As for the station announcements, the Operations Control Center has the ability to direct announcements to any combination of stations in the entire system in real time. They could very easily pre-record an announcement about service changes and loop it every 10 minutes, just like they do with the "Metro's doors to not operate like elevator doors..." announcements.

Admittedly, many train operators will make such announcements as the train pulls into the station. Still, this varies from operator to operator and more often than not these announcements are hardly audible because of bad speakers on the outside of the train, the operator's mumbling, or the general din of a train rumbling into the station.

On-demand in-station announcements could prove particularly helpful in the case of door malfunctions. In many cases of malfunctions, Metro will lock an entire car experiencing door issues but keep the train in service to avoid delays and headaches associated with off-loading entire trains. When this happens though, especially at rush hour, by the time the hordes of riders waiting on the platform to board realize that one or several cars are out of service, it is too late to distribute themselves along the platform and inevitably some are left behind after trying to cram into the adjacent cars.

If a train operator were to radio the OCC when a door malfunction occurs—assuming they even need to considering the wealth of information available to OCC controllers—the station communication division could make an announcement several minutes before the train enters the station notifying customers that a particular car in the next train is out of service and advising them to spread out on the platform accordingly.

With an aging system, Metro is likely to face an uphill battle of preventive maintenance and unscheduled disruptions or changes to service. Lacking the funds to make major overhauls, Metro should help itself and make the best use of its communication tools to help riders navigate the system when the need arises.