PIDs

[Arnz]

The one-platform stations, could probably suffice with the talking bricks (eg like those on both double platforms at Elimbah and Beerburrum) IMO.  2 platforms or more, platforms PIDs would be the default (busier stations get LCDs, etc), if it were up to me at least.

[ozbob]

Twitter

TransLink SEQ ‏@TransLinkSEQ

Electronic displays at some train stations are currently not displaying departure times. For departure times please contact 13 12 30. #qr

[ozbob]

Couriermail Quest --> A "ghost bus" has haunted a Brisbane bus stop for six months after always being on its way

[HappyTrainGuy]

For years the CCBS has told me to read the timetable instead of the pid.....

[verbatim9]

New PIDS installed @ Cultural Centre Bus Station Bright LED White signage in Real time as I can see. 'DUE' has been changed to 'ARR'

[nathandavid88]

With the new PIDS, they've finally stopped pretending that the 555 doesn't exist! 

[brissypete]

Inbound Platform CC Pids currently showing 1 bus only, 111 in 1 min.

[verbatim9]

Think they are still in test mode noticed they were offline yesterday too

[techblitz]

just noticed a bus shelter on gympie rd with the p.i.d.s built into the side windows.......the direction of traffic side is for advertising ...counter traffic side has the p.i.d.s....nice.....

[nathandavid88]

A new white PID, similar to the ones installed as the CCBS, was installed out the front of the Loganholme Bus Station a little while back. Looks good. A downside is that as of this week, the old Triptracker PIDs at each individual stop now appear to be no longer operational, telling people to read the timetable. Hope they change/reprogram the stop ones soon, as the new one out the front is useless to anyone who enters the station via the carpark/surrounding streets.

[SurfRail]

The one at Beenleigh appears to have been replaced with the older 4-line style.

[verbatim9]

Saw a cubic maintenance van at RBWH station the other day not sure if upgrading PIDs or just Ticket vending maintenance. It seems that the PIDs maybe real time @ RBWH. Yet TransLink keeping the whole roll out under wraps!?

[verbatim9]

Transit times now displays Gold Coast Busses in Real Time with map locations

[brissypete]

Real time appears to be fully active for Brisbane Transport at last.  Cultural Centre PIDs showing real time for all services this morning.

[ozbob]

Real time appears to be fully active for Brisbane Transport at last.  Cultural Centre PIDs showing real time for all services this morning.

Thanks!   

[bcasey]

Real time appears to be fully active for Brisbane Transport at last.  Cultural Centre PIDs showing real time for all services this morning.

Can you test whether the buses are arriving at the time that the PIDs are saying they are, next time you are there, and if it also corresponds to what their website is providing?. I can probably check the website for Roma Street Busway Station this afternoon while I'm waiting for my bus. I'm pretty sure they haven't replaced the PIDs there, they are still the old ones last I checked.

I haven't seen any official word that it has been rolled out fully for BT's buses yet though, either on their website or on the developer's google group forum, although back in March, they did mention in the developer forum that the target for completion was early May for all buses and ferries.

EDIT: Looks like you are correct. One of the developers that has posted on that forum several times before, maintains a website (http://transitfeeds.com/p/translink/74) that archives snapshots of GTFS real-time feeds, which you can view in a readable format (The feeds themselves are in a binary format which requires use of some code to convert them into data that can be used by a program). I just checked it out a few minutes ago, and there are many BT routes on there, along with the routes from the other bus companies that were already providing data.

[brissypete]

In the brief time I was there it appeared accurate.  Noticed on the Translink app they now display as well as citycats.  Nothing for trains yet.

[verbatim9]

Realtime snap shot at Gold Last weekend not showing real time indicator on Brisbane routes as yet

[verbatim9]

Real time positioning at Gold Coast

[James]

They've just rolled back (as in in the last 4 hours) the real-time information on BT services. It was fun while it lasted.

[bcasey]

Yeah, they stopped transmitting the BT bus real-time positions in the GTFS-RT feed at about 2pm this afternoon. As I posted in the Real-time data thread, they are currently still testing, but it should be going live soon.

[verbatim9]

That's good news

[SurfRail]

Realtime snap shot at Gold Last weekend not showing real time indicator on Brisbane routes as yet

Note how it expressly states whether the service is running late or early.  The TransLink app would never do that, now would it? 

Transit Times is working wonderfully for me.  The only quibbles I have are that it only seems to load a 2-digit route number on the tracking screen (ie 765 is shown as 76), and the line colours are based on the old timetables so don't bear any relation to the current material circulating.

Is there a way to show all buses in service on a given route or routes?

[verbatim9]

Real time positioning active in Brisbane this eve

[nathandavid88]

Something rather irritating I noticed last night at South Bank Busway waiting for my 555 home, the existing PIDs there are now showing real time data, but unlike the new ones at the Cultural Centre, they still only show BT services!    If I hadn't had the MyTranslink App up, I could easily have missed it. 

It was obviously easy enough to change these old PIDs to show accurate real time results, is it really so hard to include non-BT routes as well?

[techblitz]

had a big issue with sherwood station yesterday...wasnt too impressed and reported it to translink who were fairly concerned about the multiple passengers having to sprint......the train to ipswich was advertised as departing platform 3 via the underground P.I.Ds 7 mins before arrival time....so in those 7 minutes im assuming it changed from platform 3 to platform 1 onscreen......who knows didnt have time to recheck as me and the other passengers suddenly had to bolt(remember now QR says not to sprint on thier platforms over to platform one to make the arriving train......

THE ISSUE

you cant hear the 2 minute platform 1 announcments from platform 3 because the volumes are too low.
While having those underground p.i.d.s in the tunnel may be good on paper...if issues as such are going to occur...its best they be re-installed onto platform 3 so people on that platform can easily recheck if the train is going to be pulling into platform 3 or 1....or just turn the platform 1 volumes up so people on platform 3 can hear those announcements

[ozbob]

Platform changes between Sherwood &  Milton are a constant issue.  I see pax regularly left behind.

You really have to be switched on ... 

[techblitz]

or QR could put a sign up next to the P.I.Ds
"due to randomness of our ipswich line we suggest sitting on the sherwood platform steps so you can stay within eye view of the pid to better ensure you use the right platform"


or better yet...just put some seats in the tunnel so people can look straight at the screen......another one is taringa.....seen plenty of people just sitting up top between platforms near the ticketing office so they can walk down to whichever platform....they probably need to get all the 15 minute frequency stations sorted with p.i.d.s.....as well as do some volume tests.....i would assume theyve got the volumes low at sherwood due to noise complaints but to be fair is it worth passenger safety due to platform sprinting? Needs to be sorted....

[Arnz]

Beerwah is another station where many passengers wait on the station overbridge.  Normally Southbound trains arrive on Platform 1, although there are occasions where the Southbound uses Platform 2 (loop platform), thus the platform musical chairs happen.

Beerwah is currently the timetabled "crossing" station for passenger services during the off-peak and weekends.  Currently the Southbound has a scheduled 3 min crossing break at Beerwah whilst waiting for the northbound, which is timetabled to arrive 3 minutes after the arrival of the Southbound.

[verbatim9]

Glasshouse mountain station is the same was caught out as the timetable stated arriving platform 2 but for some reason had to sprint with the bike as the train decides to use platform 1 southbound

[ozbob]

Glasshouse mountain station is the same was caught out as the timetable stated arriving platform 2 but for some reason had to sprint with the bike as the train decides to use platform 1 southbound

Yes, I have experienced musical platforms at Glasshouse Mountains  ...  it is difficult there too determine what platform at times ..

THe whole musical platform thing needs some serious thought as to be the best resolution. 

Accurate PIDs everywhere would be a start, but what if visually impaired?  The voice announcements are usually hard to discern even for those with perfect hearing at times as well.

I know of folks who have decided to use the train for a weekend change etc.  After feeding their life savings into the AVVM for paper single tickets, they then stare bewildered as the train appears at the platform they are not on.  Granny has no chance of getting over in time.  After this experience they decide that the car is perhaps a better option, certainly cheaper and they are in better time control.

MBRL is going to be an issue if they start running trains bi-di.  Rather than island platforms (where it it doesen't really matter) the powers to be decided that side platforms would be best ..  oh Queensland, the smarter state .. 

[verbatim9]

The audio announcements require tweaking and checking at all stations, as well as introduced onto busses. In Hawaii Oahu when a bus pulls up to the kerbside bus stop, it has an automatic audio announcement of the route number and destination via external speakers by the doors.

[James]

I think all the two-platformed stations on the SCL all suffer from some degree of 'musical chairs'. Had a similar experience at Landsborough. This being said, there was a platform change announcement. I think this should occur as standard operating procedure and occur at the time of platform change, rather than at the time of arrival.

MBRL is going to be an issue if they start running trains bi-di.  Rather than island platforms (where it it doesen't really matter) the powers to be decided that side platforms would be best ..  oh Queensland, the smarter state .. 

I don't see this as much of an issue given MBRL will always be two tracks and on the whole, inbound trains will use the up and outbound the down. The issue is created either when there is single track or more than two tracks.

[ozbob]

No, it is a potential issue.  Richlands to Springfield Central has been done right.

There are people within QR that wanted MBRL to be the same.  TMR was responsible for botching it (as they did with Darra station).  Side platforms were not necessary on MBRL.  Would have been a lot better with islands and also complements operational flexibility which we see on the Springfield Central line regularly.  At least Kippa Ring is an island platform station.

[red dragin]

At least with MBRL there is only one set of crossovers before Kallangur and sets before Kippa Ring.

You'd hope any changes could be communicated in time as it will be consistent across the 5 side platform stations.

[glen_2006]

Platform changes between Sherwood &  Milton are a constant issue.  I see pax regularly left behind.

You really have to be switched on ...

Had an experience at Darra recently when a Springfield Central train was scheduled to come into Platform 1, but was changed to Platform 2. Then 3 minutes before arrival, the PID changed it back to Platform 1. At the same time, a station master announced the train would arrive on Platform 2. While I managed to change platforms in time, there were at least 3 other people (including a handicapped person) who missed the train (and I could hear yelling obscenities once the train had pulled in at the opposite platform).

[verbatim9]

Noticed the PIDs showing "unknown" for all Surfside busses at tram stops and interchanges on the GoldCoast. It's been like that for a while now. Only showing ETA's for Trams. Not good at the height of the tourist season.

[SurfRail]

The length and breadth of Scotland - very very few stations do not have PIDS all over the shop, and none of them seem to be anything other than bang on accurate.  Why is it so hard to roll these out?

[verbatim9]

Getting fixed now

@verbatim18 Thanks again for that. I'll be sending a maintenance request now to get those displays working as normal. Your ref. #1320037. -J

[nathandavid88]

I noticed something rather unusual with the Cultural Centre PIDs when I was waiting for my bus home on Saturday. The two PIDs on Platform 2 were showing the arrival times for completely different sets of routes at the same time. For example, the 555 I was waiting on was only showing on the PID closest to the Victoria Bridge, along with the 100, 111, 140, 150 and a few others, while at the same time the PID up the Grey Street end was showing routes including the 110, 120, 130, 170.

Was this some kind of technical error, or have the tech guys decided that there are just too many buses going through the Cultural Centre to accurately display on a single PID? I didn't get a chance to check the Grey Street PID's accuracy, but the Victoria Bridge end one had the correct 555 time at any rate.