Current Digital Signage

The current CTA signage as it exists is okay but doesn’t show the information I want to know:

Captured at the Bryn Mawr el stop (with CTA permission).

You’ll notice the screens scroll slowly. The cycle goes like this:

10 seconds for the time, weather, a no smoking reminder, and CTA logo,

10 seconds for the next two trains bound for the loop,

10 seconds for the next two trains to the loop, and

10 seconds for the next two northbound trains.

Then it repeats. This varies slightly based on how many trains are in the queue but that’s not super relevant to our discussion.

The point is that it shows information that is directly relevant to most customers (when the next train arrives) for 10 seconds, with 30+ seconds between those snapshots.

And look at this lovely gap in the middle that has no information… for ten whole seconds.

I ride the CTA every day and I barely stop when passing through the turnstiles (even though the “Ventra triple-tap” has slowed my roll). I’ve been counting my average time through a few CTA stations and it takes about 8 seconds from the door through the turnstiles and past the sign — not long enough to see anything more than one information cycle which may or may not be applicable to me and we can do better.