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*yawn* more Gilligs for TARC

 
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timecruncher



Age: 73
Joined: 23 Dec 2008
Posts: 456
Location: Louisville, Kentucky

PostPosted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 8:40 pm    Post subject: *yawn* more Gilligs for TARC Reply with quote

We recieved 17 new 40-foot Gillig low floor coaches this past month, and a few are making it out onto the street. They're nice enough, LED lighting inside and out, of course, and finally (!) something besides white paint on the buses!



Much better than the very tired old color scheme:



And someone please compliment the fine formatting job on our LED destination signs...

Thankyew, thankyew!

Luminator is only the second-most aggravating software to work with after Trapeze FX scheduling and runcutting software!

timecruncher
Of course I messed up your run. That's what I do.
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RailBus63
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Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 1063

PostPosted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 10:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great job on those destination signs, Cliff. It's so aggravating to see the hack jobs done by so many TA's these days.
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timecruncher



Age: 73
Joined: 23 Dec 2008
Posts: 456
Location: Louisville, Kentucky

PostPosted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 3:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gee, thanks!

The LED signs are easier to work with than the flip-dot ones, but trust me when I tell you that to get the sign to do what I did for route 72 required a half hour of formatting and arranging of text.

The default image for route numbers are straightforward and sized/located perfectly. The sign reading or display, however defaults to the largest font possible and must be re-sized and re-located manually to get it to look right.

The display on my computer screen is not user-friendly either, with the index covering the sign displays. When you're done, it looks somewhat like it will look on the bus.

The entire index is then uploaded to an SD flash card that can be taken and downloaded onto the buses. That takes from 5-30 seconds, less for LED and longer for flip-dot signs. Setting these things up the first time is a time-consuming headache!

timecruncher
"Driver, your sign says out of service. Where are you going?"
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RailBus63
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Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 1063

PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 8:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I guess I'm not surprised that the programs are not exactly user-friendly - there are just so many bad examples to destination sign formatting out there. The worst
example of this has to be the job done by Boston's MBTA - you get readings like this:

77 HARVARD
77 STATION
77 MASS AVE

Two of my favorites are Connecticut Transit and the Toronto Transit Commission. Both have figured out how to maximize the amount of information to display without
resulting in overly busy signs or ridiculous abbreviations (one of NYCT's biggest flaws, IMO).
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gmnewlook



Age: 52
Joined: 02 Nov 2007
Posts: 67
Location: Montreal, QC

PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 1:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, the Société de transport de Laval is no better. Most reading are abbreviated. Like this one:

60 ST-MARTIN
60 HOPITAL JUIF
60 METRO MONTMO.

They really look like a second rate transit company...
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Lothian




Joined: 30 Oct 2009
Posts: 14

PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 4:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Is the Nova LFS demo still at TARC? (the emissions test bed)
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Bill D




Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 332
Location: Waterbury, CT

PostPosted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 5:19 am    Post subject: Re: *yawn* more Gilligs for TARC Reply with quote

timecruncher wrote:
... And someone please compliment the fine formatting job on our LED destination signs...

Thankyew, thankyew!

Luminator is only the second-most aggravating software to work with after Trapeze FX scheduling and runcutting software!

timecruncher


The Luminator IPS software allows you to make custom templates to format sign messages in varoius ways, but personally I have lost patience trying to do so and end up manually formatting messages. CT Transit seems to be moving away from Luminator and specifying Twin Vision signs for their orders but I have not yet had the opportunity to work with their software. As your picture shows, if you take the time to develop and format the display, the results are well worth while. Nice work!

Bill
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busworld



Age: 36
Joined: 16 Dec 2016
Posts: 1

PostPosted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 8:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

if the destination information is long, you can make it scrolling, so it doesn't look like busy.
yes, it takes some time to learn how to program the led destination signs for beginners. After that, it would be quick to program and download the data to SD card, then insert it to led signs.



RailBus63 wrote:
I guess I'm not surprised that the programs are not exactly user-friendly - there are just so many bad examples to destination sign formatting out there. The worst
example of this has to be the job done by Boston's MBTA - you get readings like this:

77 HARVARD
77 STATION
77 MASS AVE

Two of my favorites are Connecticut Transit and the Toronto Transit Commission. Both have figured out how to maximize the amount of information to display without
resulting in overly busy signs or ridiculous abbreviations (one of NYCT's biggest flaws, IMO).
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