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Translink Stacked Destination Signs


Michael Marriott

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On 6/3/2022 at 11:51 PM, Express691 said:

316 stacked but is extremely difficult to find. 16047 has it so far.

7473, 7485, 19141 and 19142 have stacked for 324 and 503 Aldergrove one , if they have blocks run 316, they have it

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  • 2 weeks later...
8 hours ago, 99.bline said:

Saw 2564 on the 8 this evening, the sign was displaying "To SE Marine Dr" instead of the usual "To Marine Dr" that other units have

I’m surprised how often they actually listen to the feedback that customers provide. I saw the “To Marine Dr” at Waterfront one day and figured it was going to confuse some people who thought that the 8 was extended Marine Drive Station, so I asked them to change it to “To SE Marine Dr” back in April to reduce any confusion. I also asked them to update the northbound destinations for the 3 and 10 to say “Main/Granville To Waterfront Stn” instead of the current “Downtown to Waterfront Stn” since most people know Waterfront is in the Downtown area and “Downtown” doesn’t help passengers know which corridor those routes were travelling along, and I was told that they will update the Northbound destinations to say the corridor instead of “Downtown,” but it will take some time because “there are physical signage changes that need to be coordinated along with that” according to the email I received. I’m assuming this is referring to the bus stops that currently say “3/10 Downtown.” This could also be why the 8 hasn’t had its northbound destination updated yet.

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1 hour ago, Transit Guy said:

I’m surprised how often they actually listen to the feedback that customers provide. I saw the “To Marine Dr” at Waterfront one day and figured it was going to confuse some people who thought that the 8 was extended Marine Drive Station, so I asked them to change it to “To SE Marine Dr” back in April to reduce any confusion. I also asked them to update the northbound destinations for the 3 and 10 to say “Main/Granville To Waterfront Stn” instead of the current “Downtown to Waterfront Stn” since most people know Waterfront is in the Downtown area and “Downtown” doesn’t help passengers know which corridor those routes were travelling along, and I was told that they will update the Northbound destinations to say the corridor instead of “Downtown,” but it will take some time because “there are physical signage changes that need to be coordinated along with that” according to the email I received. I’m assuming this is referring to the bus stops that currently say “3/10 Downtown.” This could also be why the 8 hasn’t had its northbound destination updated yet.

I remember having that theory a while ago about the physical sign changes, but was met with skepticism from some folks... glad to see it's confirmed!

The main reason is because unlike other routes that have received the new "<street name> to <terminus>" headsigns, the original names for the 3, 8, and 10 used the street name as the southbound destination, so for example SB stops on Granville say "10 Granville". With these headsign changes, ideally those stops should say "10 Marine Drive Station" instead, naming the terminus rather than the street. To avoid having to change the physical signs (which of course costs money that is hard to come by), Translink kept it so that the Main/Fraser/Granville names continue to imply southbound, and the Downtown name continues to imply northbound.

It's also the reason why routes like 406 and 408 have been updated but 401, 402, 403, 404, and 405 haven't. The 406 bus stop signs already said "406 Steveston" and "406 Brighouse Station", so sticking on "Railway to ..." to the front of the headsigns didn't require any signage changes. But the 401 which also goes between Steveston and Brighouse would require changing the signs to say "401 Steveston" instead of "401 One Road" to avoid confusion.

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1 hour ago, Express691 said:

R4 is the first of the 5 RapidBus routes to be using the stacked programming. It was spotted on 18020. The other 4 routes should be reprogrammed in the coming month.

The programming is there on the buses, but the TMAC isn't set up to automatically change to the stacked signs yet. Check next sheet.

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  • 3 months later...

All RapidBus routes are confirmed to have stacked signs in January and it sounds like a bunch of Surrey/Langley routes are getting stacked signs in mid-April. No idea which routes though.

With regards to the 3 and 10 having their NB destinations updated from ‘Downtown to Waterfront Stn’ to ‘Main/Granville to Waterfront Stn,’ I did a follow up and was told that CMBC is trying to coordinate these changes with their 5-year replacement cycle of bus stop signage (seems a bit short for these thicker, sturdier signs, but okay) and many of these signs are up for replacement this year.

Also, since they clearly don’t want the destination signs flipping back and forth with the older ‘Express’ sign, I have made a suggestion to update the express route numbers with an X at the end (eg. 210X, 257X, 430X, 503X) because in my opinion the current ‘Exp’ on routes 210 and 503 does not adequately distinguish an express service from a local service. I was told this particular change will be discussed with CMBC’s service planning team for consideration. No guarantees with implementation though.

This leads me to question what they’re gonna do with routes 4, 7, 14, and 16 because with their current schedules the bus stop signs could be a bit confusing with multiple stacked destinations. To prove my point, here’s my prediction for the stacked signs:

4 Powell to McGill St

4 4th Avenue to UBC (should be UBC Exch)

4 4th Avenue to Downtown

4 4th Avenue to Blanca Loop

7 Dunbar to Dunbar Loop

7 Nanaimo to Nanaimo Stn

7 Nanaimo to Hastings St 

7 Nanaimo to Downtown

14 Hastings to Kootenay Loop

14 W Broadway to UBC

14 W Broadway to Downtown

14 W Broadway to Granville St

16 Arbutus to 63rd Ave Loop

16 Renfrew to 29th Ave Stn

16 Renfrew to Kingsway

16 Renfrew to Hastings St

16 Arbutus to Downtown

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3 hours ago, dover5949 said:

Changing destination signs is just going to confuse people. People don't like change!

The stacked signs will slowly but surely be a system-wide thing no matter what, so they might as well just get it right the first time. Personally, I think “16 Arbutus to 29th Ave Stn” would be more confusing for people along Hastings and Renfrew than “16 Renfrew.” I also think “14 Hastings to UBC/Downtown” would be confusing for people along the entire route. The 7 is not necessary because “Dunbar” ends at Dunbar Loop and “Nanaimo Stn” already says the corridor. “4th Avenue to Powell” would be confusing for people Northeast of W 4th Ave.

I can see the North-South signs in Vancouver and Richmond being a bit confusing at first since their South signs are usually the route corridor instead of the Southern end of the route. However, people are adaptable and shouldn’t have a very difficult time figuring out where their bus is going. I think the “changing” stacked signs would be fine on the 4, 7, 14, and 16 because the signs will retain the exact same route number and route end information from the older signs but with more route info for routes that travel along two or more corridors. I can’t think of any other route that could possibly have the changing route destinations aside from maybe routes 156, 157, 253, 254, and 322.

Most route destination signs across the system are similar to the old Surrey route destinations that are just route numbers with terminuses and no corridor information. I can’t say I’m a fan of the smaller text, but I do like that the stacked signs now provide route corridors.

Adding an X to the end of basic express route numbers instead of wasting space on the sign with a little ‘Exp’ nobody understands or having the signs flip back and forth from ‘Express’ is basically the same thing as putting an R in front of slightly fancier express route numbers and not having the occasional Nova Bus sign flip back and forth from ‘RapidBus.’

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In keeping with the theme of making wayfinding less complicated, I could see stacked signs resulting in more route splits like the 129/133 and 246/249 where long routes serving multiple corridors get separate numbers for each side of the route.

So for the 16, the bus could leave 63rd loop signed up as "18 Arbutus to Downtown", then at the south end of the Granville Bridge change to "16 Renfrew to 29th Ave Stn".

 

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