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Broadway Station gets new countdown sign; more coming to Red Line

Print | Comments () Posted by Patrick Rosso October 19, 2012 01:14 PM

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(Image courtesy MBTA)

The new “subway countdown sign” at Broadway Station.

By Patrick D. Rosso, Town Correspondent

Commuters at Broadway Station will no longer have to guess when their train will get to the platform after the MBTA installed “subway countdown signs” at the station.

The new signs, installed Thursday, give commuters accurate predictions of when their next train will be showing up, taking the guess work out of waiting for the T, said officials with the MBTA.

“The real key is these signs take the anxiety out of waiting for the train,” said Joshua Robin, director of Innovation for the MBTA. “So far it’s been amazing to see the feedback from commuters.”

Broadway’s sign is the system's fourth, with the other three installed at Park Street, Downtown Crossing, and South Station.

The new signs are an exciting move for the MBTA that has since early August been installing the electronics on the Red Line as part of its pilot project.

Robin said commuters can expect to see more along the line in the coming months.

“The biggest thing for us is getting the quality right,” Robin explained. “We haven’t had major issues since we rolled it out, but we will be going slowly to make sure we’re catching any problems."

While Robin couldn’t divulge the location of the next sign, it’s rumored to be on the southern part of the line, he said the MBTA should have a number of stations on the Red, Blue, and Orange Lines equipped by next year.

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Email Patrick D. Rosso, patrick.d.rosso@gmail.com. Follow him @PDRosso, or friend him on Facebook.