41–50 of 120 posts
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Carefully placed raspberry pi + OCR?
I'd imagine that placing a "homemade" electronic device in a densely-populated, public space is going to attract a lot of unwanted attention.
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Have you ever taken a rush hour train at Penn Station? The alternative (i.e. current system) is everyone congregates on the concourse staring at the platform screens, and when a new one pops up hundreds of people flood in the direction of that platform in a mad dash. It's a mess.
I've only done much less hellish Grand Central version, and I think Metro North publishes track assignments much earlier. That said though, just imagine how much worse it would be if that mass rush was between platforms, fighting opposing traffic, instead of just from a (mostly) open waiting area.
There is so much more space to wait for track assignments as well as space on the grand stairwell to get down to the track in Grand Central(even with tourists) that I don't think they are comparable at all.
If the Metro North does publish assignments much earlier it's likely because its much safer to do so. Although I don't think I've ever seen people waiting on the platforms for Metro North trains in Grand Central.
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It sounds like The API changed. But same sentiment -- that was a shit design decision.
It sounds like locking down the API was an entirely deliberate decision made at the same time as removing platform data from the website, which means Chesterton's fence[0] applies - we should work out why that decision was made before criticising it. Discussion upthread is about commuters being pushed onto the tracks, which sounds like a good reason not to display data that isn't 100% certain. [0] https://en.m.wikipe…
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I've only done much less hellish Grand Central version, and I think Metro North publishes track assignments much earlier. That said though, just imagine how much worse it would be if that mass rush was between platforms, fighting opposing traffic, instead of just from a (mostly) open waiting area.
>"I've only done much less hellish Grand Central version, and I think Metro North publishes track assignments much earlier." There is so much more space to wait for track assignments as well as space on the grand stairwell to get down to the track in Grand Central(even with tourists) that I don't think they are comparable at all. If the Metro North does publish assignments much earlier it's likely because its much sa…
As an interesting, although unrelated aside: platform data is available in the UK's National Rail's feeds, but the terms and conditions[1] explicitly prohibit displaying platform numbers early, as mentioned in their developer guidelines[2]. I guess the wording doesn't technically ban you from displaying historical platform information, but that would likely be a bad-faith use of the data anyway... [1] http://www.nati…
That changed a few years ago, interesting to see the formal policy behind it, and an idea for a side-project :-)
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It sounds like The API changed. But same sentiment -- that was a shit design decision.
It sounds like locking down the API was an entirely deliberate decision made at the same time as removing platform data from the website, which means Chesterton's fence[0] applies - we should work out why that decision was made before criticising it. Discussion upthread is about commuters being pushed onto the tracks, which sounds like a good reason not to display data that isn't 100% certain. [0] https://en.m.wikipe…
Good luck with that. I'd be amazed if you got a response.
It is a shame that this had to happen to OP. I personally don't see the app as an issue, because the amount of commuters that would actually use such a thing is rather low (seriously, stand in the concourse and look around at people, a large amount of them are not using their phones).
My original idea was to scrape the data from their webpage, or see if there was a way to get the data from the Train Time app's Arrival Countdown page, but according to the post, it has been removed from their website, so there goes that idea.
The lesson to me is clear though: don't try to make an app that would make commuter's lives easier. The MTA does not seem to want that, especially during the track repairs. I find it interesting that it was shut down so close to the start of the Penn Station track repairs...
I can see why the MTA wouldn't want you telling people to go to a track before it is actually assigned -- if the train ends up on a different track, now you need to get all those people back up, off that platform an on to the new one, clogging stairs that that people who actually wanted that platform might be trying to use too. Obviously it would be nice to assign tracks earlier, so that people can head straight to t…
It's more serious than that even, it's a safety issue. The platforms are fairly narrow and have no railings, and they aren't designed to hold two full train loads of people at the same time. If a full train pulls up and the platform is already full people are going to end up on the tracks. I haven't seen this at Penn but I have seen the issue happen in the subway when there are train delays. When this happens the MTA…
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It's more serious than that even, it's a safety issue. The platforms are fairly narrow and have no railings, and they aren't designed to hold two full train loads of people at the same time. If a full train pulls up and the platform is already full people are going to end up on the tracks. I haven't seen this at Penn but I have seen the issue happen in the subway when there are train delays. When this happens the MTA…
> The platforms are fairly narrow and have no railings, and they aren't designed to hold two full train loads of people at the same time. It seems pretty unlikely that 100% of the people on the outbound train would use the app and trust the historical data to go to the platform early.
The platforms are very narrow for the LIRR tracks, so holding 200% of a train (outbound and inbound) would be sheer pandemonium, and would practically guarantee someone falls off the platform. Even holding 100% of a train (just inbound, disembarking passengers) is already straining the platforms and methods of egress to their limits.
Holding even just 110-120% of a train load is very much a safety issue. I'm with the MTA on this one - the "mad dash" is horrifyingly inefficient, but is the safest course of action.
Of course, the correct fix to this is to fix the platforms such that passengers can wait at track-level without safety issue. But, of course, that's a multi-billion dollar problem nobody seems willing to touch.
Instead of asking users to report the track info, it can be automated to a great extent with the use of BTLE beacons on each platform (but that again needs permission from MTA / Penn station authorities unless a long lasting BT 4.0 beacon can be sneaked in somewhere).
Sad that MTA is not cooperating. Can understand why the app had to be shut down!