Nick B Posted August 10, 2014 Report Share Posted August 10, 2014 I will have a video up later tonight. The announcement can be seen/heard at 0:39 in the video. It is also evident how quiet the speaker was on this particular bus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadianTransitTycoon Posted August 10, 2014 Report Share Posted August 10, 2014 ^ it does sound pretty quiet. They should install a better speaker so that people can hear better. Cool that the signs are working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick B Posted August 20, 2014 Report Share Posted August 20, 2014 Okay, now, is there a reason why the audio announcements aren't working as of late? On all of the 40 ft buses with the system enabled that I rode in the past few days, the audio appears to be disabled, and on shuttle buses it's so quiet you can barely hear it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1604 Posted August 20, 2014 Report Share Posted August 20, 2014 I think they still work, but most drivers have the volume set very low. I find if you go sit directly under one of the speakers, you can hear noise coming out of it when the stops get announced - but even then, it isn't loud enough to make out what the announcement is. I've yet to ride a single bus -- 7959 notwithstanding -- where the announcements could be easily heard. Hopefully it's one of the issues sorted out before a full roll out. Some of the more unique stop announcements I've seen are: Centre St & 72 Av (4 St) Centre St & 56 Av (Northmount Dr) Mount Royal University McMahon Stadium University of Calgary Children's Hospital There's certainly a mix of actual street names and landmarks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick B Posted August 20, 2014 Report Share Posted August 20, 2014 I guess that would make sense. And when I rode the 122 the other day it even announced "Sir Winston Churchill High School" as well. The speakers on the shuttles aren't that great in general anyway as for the audio. Arbocs #1701-1721 came with speakers all inside the bus so it's interesting how those aren't used. ElDorados are the exact same ball park as Arbocs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newcdn Posted August 20, 2014 Report Share Posted August 20, 2014 Are they announcing every single stop or just major stops? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevlo86 Posted August 20, 2014 Report Share Posted August 20, 2014 Are they announcing every single stop or just major stops? Not every single stop. The idea is "major stops". But riding around a bit the other day, the definition of a major stop did not seem very clear and consistent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick B Posted August 29, 2014 Report Share Posted August 29, 2014 #7963 now has CAD installed, however it appears to not be functioning yet as the passenger display repeatedly scrolls "SUNRISE SYST...." before cutting off, and the operator screen is displaying the system startup screen. Does anyone have any info on why it took so long for this particular bus to get it installed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gsgeek540 Posted August 29, 2014 Report Share Posted August 29, 2014 Does anyone have any info on why it took so long for this particular bus to get it installed? Its a simple numbers game. The original contract was tendered for x number of buses. The contract was tendered before the xd60s and xd40s started to arrive and were not supposed to be included in the contract. However, about a dozen xd40s had CAD installed under the original contract, which they were't supposed to be, leaving about a dozen buses without until now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Transit Fan Posted September 11, 2014 Report Share Posted September 11, 2014 Looks like they've started turning up the volume so you can kind of hear the stop announcements now The system seem to work well on the 305 since every stop gets announced. I also take the 45 and the stops that get announced are very inconsistent in comparison. Some time points don't get any announcements while some random non-major stops do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadianTransitTycoon Posted September 12, 2014 Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 From my experience in the past few days, I have noticed the CAD working as well. Since I take the 11 to Fish Creek, there aren't any announcements from my house to fish creek so I can't really tell. Plus the buses around the time I usually leave are the 7600s. After school, I take the 12 to my house. I usually catch a 7900 or 8000 bus and I can faintly hear the CAD sounds. I only hear stop announcements twice going home. (I take the long way to school, gives me the opportunity to C-Train to Somerset) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yvarushin Posted September 12, 2014 Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 Nicholas & I rode the 158 today. There were no stop announcements/names of roads/any indication that CAD was actually activated. They're probably still trying to figure their stuff out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vicinity Posted September 12, 2014 Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 How was the rider ship on the 158? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yvarushin Posted September 12, 2014 Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 How was the rider ship on the 158? We got on a full bus. Literally all seats were full and people were standing near the rear door area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCT-3122-D800-10240 Posted September 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 Looks like they've started turning up the volume so you can kind of hear the stop announcements now The system seem to work well on the 305 since every stop gets announced. What bus number did you have on the 305? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gsgeek540 Posted September 12, 2014 Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 There were no stop announcements/names of roads/any indication that CAD was actually activated. Might i kindly remind you folks of a few things... There is far more then Audio/Visual announcements within the CAD/AVL system. I certainly doubt that anyone, even an operator, can come to the conclusion that "CAD was not activated" based on the fact that there were no Audio/Visual announcements. Its literally 1 feature of dozens. Was there anything to indicate the Orbstar screen was not working? Or the GPS is working? (not even the operator can tell when that's not working). Was the operator able to log in, see running board, schedule adherence, communication with operations control? Are the features from operations control point of view functions (again another thing that the operator or the public wouldn't know is working or "activated". With that being said, keep in mind, not every unit is equipped with CAD/AVL. With that being said, at the beginning of August, a mere 200 buses have Audio/Visual announcements activated, with the plan to have fully functional in December. This was well reported through multiple media sources as well as City of Calgary Newsroom. There have been no updates since. The other 2 dozens features of this system still operate normally if Audio/Visual announcements are not activated... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yvarushin Posted September 12, 2014 Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 I didn't say it wasn't activated; I was saying that there was no indication it was activated as from a regular transit-goer's point of view, the only way to know if it's actually activated or not is if it's displaying street names/announcing "stop requested". Btw, the screen was in 'lock' mode when I got on the bus, I looked. Not trying to start anything, only pointing out that it wasn't turned on, on this particular route (158) and bus (7826). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gsgeek540 Posted September 12, 2014 Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 Btw, the screen was in 'lock' mode when I got on the bus, I looked. Then the system would be working normally. A locked screen is a safety feature to prevent distracted driving and use when in motion, and the few seconds immediately before or immediately after stopping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadianTransitTycoon Posted September 15, 2014 Report Share Posted September 15, 2014 7564 has working CAD with sounds. The driver also used the message "move to the back". Quite useful instead of the driver shouting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1604 Posted September 16, 2014 Report Share Posted September 16, 2014 Here's a video showing all of the different driver-initiated announcements: Â Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Transit Fan Posted September 16, 2014 Report Share Posted September 16, 2014 Wait, I thought we were allowed food and drinks now? :S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCT-3122-D800-10240 Posted September 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2014 Wait, I thought we were allowed food and drinks now? :S Yeah I got a chuckle out of that one too. That is probably some sort of standard message put into the system. CT would need to remove it or just remind operators to not play that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1604 Posted October 27, 2014 Report Share Posted October 27, 2014 http://metronews.ca/news/calgary/1194799/visually-impaired-rider-asks-calgary-transit-to-pump-up-the-volume/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick B Posted October 27, 2014 Report Share Posted October 27, 2014 Delete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Bus Fan Posted October 27, 2014 Report Share Posted October 27, 2014 I completely agree with the point brought up in the article. Some operators keep it way too quiet or completely muted, and it shouldn't be that way. There should be a default, fixed volume level for the audio announcements that can't be manipulated by the operator. ...Or am I mistaken that the volume can be controlled by the operator? Can someone confirm that for me please? It says it's "centralized" which means the operator cannot control it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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