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GRT Automated Announcements


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As stated before, only buses that are 12 years or newer will be getting it. This means the oldest buses equipped will be the ex-Cambridge Transit first gen LFSes.

Novas 530-531 are 13 years old this year.

Orion VI's 532-535 are 12 years old in 2010.

Novas 536-537 are 11 years old in 2010.

By the time this gets off the ground I'd be surprised if they install it in anything older than a 2300 (in Cambridge) or a 2200 (Kitchener).

The OhMyExpress destination signs are still not working let alone the announcements on a whole fleet. I wish they would unhook the damn GPS from the destination signs - I think I can find time to push the code in for where I want to go just like the last 20 years that it worked fine.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Still a long time from now but it seems they are making little progress now. All the 2400's & 20900's have it but that's it ! It doesn't even work on half the buses (the screen just says MID 112 or Out of Service)

The problem is that the hardware for the 2009 buses has been updated, but for som STUPID reason that only INIT knows, it isn't compatable with the hardware in the 2004 buses, so know the 24XX's have to be upgraded to the new hardware.

Oh my!

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It doesn't even work on half the buses (the screen just says MID 112 or Out of Service)

If it says "Out of Service" the driver may not be using the system. I've seen many a driver not even be aware that the system was working on the bus they were driving, and therefore the screen said "Out of Service" ..... OH MY! As soon as it was mentioned to them, and they inputted their driver number, route and run into the INIT, the screen miraculously told you were you were, and listed all the stops! AMAZING!

But "Yes", there still are a LOT of bugs to be worked out!

Will it be ready in the Fall, as they say .................. My bets are on "No". During 2011 ........ Maybe :huh:

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The problem is that the hardware for the 2009 buses has been updated, but for som STUPID reason that only INIT knows, it isn't compatable with the hardware in the 2004 buses, so know the 24XX's have to be upgraded to the new hardware.

Oh my!

I was on a 24XX today which had the new screen and was working. Still no audible announcements, but they seem to have fixed this issue on at least some of the buses, so the entire 24XX fleet will hopefully be working soon.

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I was on a 24XX today which had the new screen and was working. Still no audible announcements, but they seem to have fixed this issue on at least some of the buses, so the entire 24XX fleet will hopefully be working soon.

I was on 2424 on the 7 today and the new screen was working AND the audible annoucements were working ONLY for iXpress stops (GRH, UPTOWN,LAURIER...)

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  • 5 weeks later...
All I know is that every bus I've driven with the INIT system working I consistantly note tons of errors in the stops locations and stop names on nearly every route, good thing they're not being called out yet.

I drove 2 separate 24XX's this week and niether of them recognized the route I was doing.

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  • 1 month later...
All I know is that every bus I've driven with the INIT system working I consistantly note tons of errors in the stops locations and stop names on nearly every route, good thing they're not being called out yet.

I was on 2425 (25 to Downtown) this afternoon and the automated annoucements were WORKING. The only thing is they are very slow and not loud enough. It would not announce the stop until the bus was almost at the stop so work needs to be done.

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The new audio files were loaded for June 26, the start of summer service. This is also when many stop names were updated, as people may have noticed for the iXpress. The technical staff are aware of the system slowness and are working on it.

The GRT is apparently going to take advantage of summer service reductions to have the INIT system installed. Expect the install to be nearly complete by the end of summer.

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Well so far the audio is working well from what I've heard, I have driven 2 on mainline, a couple of minor glitches, she spells short terms ie: m-t hope, s-t leger and then there's the miss-spelled ezra in Waterloo that comes out,

king at e-r-z-a.

So far it sounds good though. B)

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It appears to me that the system still requires a lot of 'tweeking'. Mispronouncing a lot of streets, and is 'late' in calling out some. I also agree with the 'shortening' of some of the names. (eg: callong "Cop" instead of "Copperfield")

Overall though, I think it's great.

I'm not entirely sure but I think alot of that is due to the distance between stops and speed of travel. If the stops are close together and the driver is doing, in most cases the speed limit, GReTa <_< can't keep up.

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  • 3 weeks later...
I rode a 2400 on the 11 Country Hills a few Friday's ago and the screen was displaying 11 Country Hills ... THAT'S IT ! I guess theres still work to do ? Now don't get too excited about INIT being installed on most (or was it "all" ?) of the buses (that are 12 years or newer) by the end of the summer !

3 buses a day ? LMFAO ! When does that take effect ? I've been taking GRT all summer and have been keeping a good eye out for buses with black boxes ... I thought they could at least get the 8000's and most of the 2700's done by now but what do I know ? :)

It was supposed to start with the summer sign-up, so July 3? They are supposed to be able to do 3 buses a day and they were supposed to start with the 26XX's.

I got my info from the Region's employee newsleter as well as camera's by the end of the summer as well, not all buses though.

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I rode a 2400 on the 11 Country Hills a few Friday's ago and the screen was displaying 11 Country Hills ... THAT'S IT !

There's a couple buses with the equipment installed that aren't working properly (...heh, I guess that's an understament, but I digress). In most of these cases, if the operator can't log into the system they can still manually change the interior (and exterior signs, if connected) to the route number through the touch screen, hence the "11 Country Hills".

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