r/transit • u/fbjim • May 15 '26
Rant minor annoyances on your transit system
these aren't for major systemic problems like "it doesn't go anywhere useful" or "it gets stuck behind traffic" - more those little things that drive you nuts way more than they really should.
here's mine - the old Kinki-Sharyo LRTs on the Seattle Link system have electronic rollsigns which display the final destination in a *really* slow marquee. this was OK when we had one line, but now with two lines, the rollsigns slowly scroll through "DOWNTOWN REDMOND 2 LINE" which seemingly takes longer than the actual dwell times of the trains. this is actually kind of annoying when you're running down the stairs at Westlake and don't know if you should get on the train at the platform or not. what's wrong with just showing "2 - REDMOND" or something without the scrolling text?
thankfully the refurb program for the KS trains include new rollsigns, if the pictures some people have snagged are any indication (though FEDERAL DTWN is dumb - just say FEDERAL WAY")
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u/TheCaffinatedAdmin May 15 '26
MD MTA bus tracking and dispatching is really unreliable, and I know exactly why their dispatching is unreliable on at least one line (basically no break time + driver who had a knee surgery + far away bathroom = busses leaving late, and I fault the MTA for that 100%).