Last night, as I came home on the Spadina streetcar, I enjoyed my first experience of automatic stop calls on a streetcar. Finally, after all these years, they have arrived!
The system was great. Not only did that neutral but pleasant woman’s voice we’ve got used to on the Yonge-Spadina subway line call the stops clearly and audibly even from the back of the streetcar, but there was also a lit display behind the driver’s seat that showed the stops in print (it’s hard to see directly from the back when there are lots of people, but I first realized something was up when I saw “Wilcox Willcocks St” in lights reflected in a streetcar side window).
Another benefit is that they appear to have integrated key destinations into the system — at Nassau we heard “Nassau Street — Kensington Market.”
Not only is this great for accessibility for both the visually and hearing impaired, but I think it’s also a huge benefit to all other passengers too, especially when you are venturing into parts of the city you’re not familiar with. The calling by the drivers was so erratic, you often had to peer out the window trying to work out what stop you were approaching. The new system will be a small but real boost to the quality of the streetcar experience.
The only downside is that we will lose the experience of listening to the small number of drivers who chose to call their stops in an interesting or entertaining manner, as well as a lot of the opportunities some of them took to add a human touch to the trip (on my trip up, the driver called “Spadina Station — have a good evening, everyone”). My own feeling is that the TTC should get a few of these entertaining drivers to record the stop announcements their own way, and then introduce one of these alternative recordings randomly in one out of every ten streetcars, just for the sake of fun, variety and delight.
photo by Miles Storey
Added note: apparently the first one was tried out a while ago, but this is the first I’ve seen of them.
43 comments
Yea I agree. There was a streetcar driver who would sing each stop! Loved that.
Saw this feature on the King car southbound from Dundas West Station yesterday morning. My only gripe is with the placement of the LED display behind the drivers as it get’s blocked by the metal hand grip poles. It should be more centrally located.. below the stop request sign would be ideal.
This is not only great for residents, but for tourists too. The stops are displayed and announced on the buses in Berlin Germany, and even if you don’t speak German, with a route map you could easily find your way.
This should be a must on any major transit system anywhere in the world.
The automated systems use two different voices, and the one in the subway is not good enough by a longshot. (Quick: Ride up from Union to Downsview and count how many station names are questions: “The next station is Queen’s Park?”)
They also have the automated stop calls on thw 191 express bus to Humber College (leaves from Kipling Station).
I like it but they have to test them out more thoroughly so that the enunciation is proper: Arboretum Drive is pronounced: Ah-BORE-e-TUM” instead of “AR-BORE-REE-TUM.” It sounds like Stephane Dion enunciation (in a charming kind of way, not derogatory kind of way).
Wilcox? The correct spelling is Willcocks.
I sure hope it didn’t say Wilcox street.
The subway announcer woman needs to learn how to pronounce things properly. It’s “Bloor”, not “Bloo-er”, and it’s “Summerhill”, not “Summer Hill”.
I saw this on the King car a few days ago, and I’m very happy that this is finally in place
I’m happy to hear that this feature is finally being rolled out, and I’m especially pleased that some stops are being announed with proximal attractions as well (i.e. Kensington Market); HOWEVER, I really wish there was some more variety in the voices. Though the present voice is OK and at least easy to understand, I can’t help but feel that a city such as Toronto deserves a bit more class, something more creative yet still useful to the disabled (for whom the system was designed).
Kensington Market is the first example I’ve heard of that adds a local attraction. Any other routes I’ve heard use only the street or the street address. In at least one case the operator has called out another “attraction” (on the 24 northbound at O’Connor, the operator added “Eglinton Square”).
Some of the designations don’t make sense to me:
a) It isn’t necessary to insert “East” and “West” (e.g., “Next stop: Lawrence Avenue East”), unless the route actually intersects the street twice (e.g., “Thorncliffe Park Drive West”).
b) On the Coxwell bus, the northbound bus calls out “Eastwood Road” and “Gerrard Street East”, and the southbound bus calls out “Fairford Drive” and “Gerrard Street East”. I think it would be a lot clearer and more useful to call out “Upper Gerrard Street” / “Lower Gerrard Street”, especially southbound (I would think of “Gerrard East” as Upper Gerrard).
I will miss hearing the Queen operators calling out stops (“Carlaw… Pape bus”). Having said that, it’s nice to have the stop announcements, and they’ve already worked out some bugs (e.g. local stops being called on express routes), and I find the voice clear enough to hear yet nondescript and pleasant enough to tune out if I don’t want to hear them.
An interesting typo on the southbound Woodbine bus: “Queens Street East”.
The stop announcements are not previously recorded, they are computer generated.
A good addition I think. Although I will miss the one driver on the Royal York South route who had a comment for each stop.
“Norseman. My name is John. That’s not a good name for a Norseman. A better one would be Sven.”
“Queensway. My wife is the queen, and she gets her way.”
And so on. Added some nice colour to the trip.
A while back I took a subway from the west to Danforth and the operator was pushing the vowelimits and purronunseeations to give some entertainment and consternation to riders. I wish it’d been taped, though I can understand why someone would complain if it were a constant instead of a unique trip.
It helped point out how messed up English is though.
This isn’t a new sighting, not by a long shot (they’ve been spotted many times before, and were on the 11 Bayview bus for over a year). I was on a Dundas Car that had it as well, and even worked for the diversions, even non-typical stops like Parliament and Shuter.
All the bus routes running out of Arrow Road garage have it working – the Jane, Martin Grove/Highway 27, Wilson, Weston Road North, Keele, Sheppard West, etc have them, but only for the Orion VII low-floor buses.
I prefer the bus announcements – they are simple – over the subway announcements, where they are too lengthy. But I also agree the “West/East” is redundant, especially when the street generic (road, street, avenue) is also called. St. Clair Avenue West doesn’t even fit on a screen, so it flashes ‘St. Clair Avenue’/’West’.
I asked about the possibility of having varying voices, and here is the story: After testing with number of people, the female voice pitched where it is was found to be the clearest to all in the test audience. I hate to be a spoilsport (because I love all of the personalized announcements too), but consistency and clarity are the goals here.
Having said that, yes, some of the choices of street names for the stops are rather odd, and seem to have been made by people who know nothing about the neighbourhoods.
1. Wouldn’t it have been cool to tape kids reading them? And to let them know in advance when “their” day would be?
2. Alternatively — or, additionally; or, as part of the same idea (kids with different mother tongues) — especially for subway: wouldn’t it have been cool to do the “next station is” in different languages? I mean, people know the “next station is” (or whatever, can’t remember) part.
So wouldn’t it have been nice to get on, say, a Spanish-language train, where you’d get “La proxima estacià ³n es Finch. Finch, proxima estacià ³n”, etc.?
Just thinking out loud…
The idea is terrific but I do not like the voice, it’s robotic and dispassionate. I agree that clarity is critical and a female voice is generally less obtrusive. However, I work in theatre so I can say definitively that a message can be clearly delivered (even by a machine) without seeming to have come from a machine. There are numerous actors in this city that could handily provide a clear message with a pleasing tone.
Providing more information to travelers is crucial to improving the experience of residents and tourists. However, we must constantly be aware of the Toronto brand and give thought to how it is being presented. Despite our problems, this is still a friendly city to visitors and all aspects of our services should convey that message. One of the primary duties of a central civic government should be to ensure exactly that. We’ve all heard about how important sounds are to triggering emotions…think about tourists listening to our Toronto Female Robot Voice and consider the message it sends about our entire city.
I want the voice to sound hotter. Then I can finally write my play about a guy who falls in love with the automated voice on the subway and set it in Toronto instead of New York.
Well, I speculate that if you try to file a bug report about spelling or pronunciation, TTC will ignore you or fight you tooth and nail. That’s what they do to all their transit fans.
Another example for the pile: Mountnoel Ave. at Greenwood is two syllables, not three extravagant ones (“Noel†here does not mean Christmas). Example actually from a driver: 94/65 from Chà ¢teau Frank calling Parliament and Howard just “Parliament St.,†confusing new immigrants.
im in ur streetcars
confuzin ur immigrants
Do the drivers have the option of turning the system off and calling out the stops instead?
But I also agree the “West/East†is redundant, especially when the street generic (road, street, avenue) is also called. St. Clair Avenue West doesn’t even fit on a screen, so it flashes ‘St. Clair Avenue’/’West’.
No. Not redundant. What about people not from Toronto who don’t know whether they’re on an East or West street? Just because YOU know the difference doesn’t mean everyone does. Come on, people, think.
1. Wouldn’t it have been cool to tape kids reading them? And to let them know in advance when “their†day would be?
2. Alternatively  or, additionally; or, as part of the same idea (kids with different mother tongues)  especially for subway: wouldn’t it have been cool to do the “next station is†in different languages? I mean, people know the “next station is†(or whatever, can’t remember) part.
So wouldn’t it have been nice to get on, say, a Spanish-language train, where you’d get “La proxima estacià ³n es Finch. Finch, proxima estacià ³nâ€Â, etc.?
Ummm. no. It would not be cool to tape kids reading them. The goal is clear, understandable announcements, not wasting money to make fun for kiddies. And no, the announcements should be in English. What’s fun about someone who doesn’t know the city getting announcements in a random language that they can’t understand and shouldn’t reasonably be expected to understand?
THE GOAL IS UNDERSTANDABLE ANNOUNCEMENTS, NOT CUTENESS.
I think we need more Toronto based lolcats!
Actually Joe, the TTC has already made changes to some subway stop announcements based on rider feedback (according to a Toronto Star profile of the subway stop announcer). Maybe the Glencairn people asked very nicely.
But overall, it seems to me this has been handled as an engineering problem (where any clear voice is an optimal solution) and not a marketing opportunity. That’s pretty much par for the course for the TTC.
thickslab, you’ve got to be one of the most unpleasant posters on the internet. can’t you say what you need to say without acting like a comic-book-guy-esque parody of guy-who-posts-on-the-internet? good luck with your depression.
No. Not redundant. What about people not from Toronto who don’t know whether they’re on an East or West street? Just because YOU know the difference doesn’t mean everyone does. Come on, people, think.
Uh, is there anyone you know that identifies a street or gives directions based upon which side of Yonge it is (Queen West notwithstanding). Do you say “the corner of Dundas Street West and Bathurst Street”? Do you tell someone to turn right onto Bloor Street West? I doubt it. I really can’t see people missing their stop because the announcement did not say west or east. The exceptions, of course, would be the loop roads in Don Mills, Thorncliffe Park and Scarborough.
Another problem I find with the system on some buses or routes is inconsistent volume. On the Keele bus, for example, the stops for minor roads blast at high volumes, while the major stops, St. Clair, Eglinton, Lawrence, are much quieter, almost inaudible. The stop I get off at sometimes is for a street address, not a street name, and those can be confusing.
The Star article that Matt L. links to mentions that the subway stop announcer has two daughters. I feel for those two.
Can you imagine how infantilizing it would be to have your mother telling you which stop to get off at for the rest of your life?
Ummm. no. It would not be cool to tape kids reading them. The goal is clear, understandable announcements, not wasting money to make fun for kiddies. And no, the announcements should be in English.
On your first point: I’d have thought it possible for kids’ voices to be clear, too.
On your second point: the salient part is the station name. The station name is not in any language — it’s a name. The “next station is” piece of the announcement is basically a audio signpost to listen for the station name about to come.
So, yes, I think there is probably some wriggle room there without compromising understandability. As long, of course, as the station names are quite clear.
THE GOAL IS UNDERSTANDABLE ANNOUNCEMENTS, NOT CUTENESS.
That the goal is understandable announcements is not under dispute. Your message, though, is that this goal cannot accommodate others. It’s hard to see why that should be so.
The announcements — which should, of course, be understandable — are in our faces (well, ears) constantly. There is no more reason to make audio boring than there is to make street furniture boring.
Yes, bus shelters should shelter, and trashcans need trash to fit and enter easily into them, and audio announcements should be understandable.
But none of those functional requirements need prevent creativity being brought to bear. So yes, I get that THERE ARE FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS. But that’s not the end of it, Thickslab.
Oh look, someone named Judy Morioka thinks I’m unpleasant. What a shame I don’t care.
Uh, is there anyone you know that identifies a street or gives directions based upon which side of Yonge it is (Queen West notwithstanding). Do you say “the corner of Dundas Street West and Bathurst Street� Do you tell someone to turn right onto Bloor Street West? I doubt it. I really can’t see people missing their stop because the announcement did not say west or east. The exceptions, of course, would be the loop roads in Don Mills, Thorncliffe Park and Scarborough.
What about a tourist who looks up an address on a web site and finds out that she needs to go to an address on Gerrard Street East? Don’t assume that people not familiar with the city know which streets are East and which are WEst.
Thickslab is correct about East-West issues. It should not bother the regular riders and can really help others from out of town or new local riders.
But Disparishun makes the best analysis — you can have accessiblity but that does not exclude added benefits like personalization of name calls. Since they are automated and not pre-recorded, this becomes much harder to accomplish. But that shouldn’t exclude the idea from being explored.
As a side note: if you don’t like the tone of a writer, just respond to their opinion instead of tone. Calling people out on the tone of comments only degrades a comment string and emboldens them to keep acting like a know-it-all.
I would also suspect that calling out East and West is a good thing since there are enough east enders who are overly sensitive to the so-called West End bias of the city. Wouldn’t want to give them another reason to add to their somewhat deserved, but usually misplaced, insecurity.
PS: I love the east end.
I was on the Don Mills bus the other day and noticed the computer is at work there, too.
I liked it when the stop was across from the shopping mall somewhere south of Lawrence. No cross street. So the computer gave the street address of the adjacent apartment building. How cool would that be, if that’s where you lived. “Ah, just take the Don Mills bus and don’t sweat the stop. They always announce my building.”
Like the occasional residential street in Toronto where some enterprising person’s managed to install a post and ring in front of their house. Everyone’s house should be announced by the TTC. Everyone should have their own Post and Ring.
Jenny: I know, I fell for the troll trap. The thing posters like that don’t realize (“internet experts”) is that they might actually convince a lot of people of their point if they weren’t so condescending and their “tone” (you are too kind) wasn’t so sneering.
If what they have to say is solid, it’ll stand on its own without the sneer and condscention. It’s really strange that they don’t get it. The downside of the internet, I suppose. Keyboard big boys.
These have been rolling out on the 501 streetcars which are currently diverted on Spadina, along King and back up Shaw. Approaching Queen and Spadina coming north the system calls out Queen as the next stop even though the car actually swings left and Peter is the next stop. I guess they work completely on auto which could cause some confusion. On the car I was riding about half the passengers got up, thinking the car was continuing north on Spadina.
I meant “swings right” not left.
I was in Chicago this summer and rode the bus there. Thankfully, they had easily understood, although also computerized-sounding, announcements and a screen system like Toronto’s. I wouldn’t have managed without it.
I got home and – presto! – Toronto was installing the system as well. Daily, I ride the Jane bus or Runnymede bus, and the Spadina streetcar. All use the stop announcements.
Apparently the system is run off a GPS grid somehow. So if you’re stuck in traffic, or re-routed, the announcements should adjust. Pretty cool. Anyone have more info about this?
I agree the TTC could always be thinking more about communication in a marketing context, but I’d say the improvement is vast. And after the battle by a blind man to even get the subway stops announced at all, the surface route system is a major step in the right direction for everyone.
The same blind man had to battle to get the surface stops announced.
I personally really do prefer the calm, female, “neutral” voice over anything they could do to “fun” the system up. I like reading on the system and this voice is not intrusive while still registering.
The driver announcing the stops had much more character. There were those drivers that sang the stops. Once I heard a stop announced, “Spa-dee-na, spa-die-na….toe-may-toe, tah-mah-toe.”
On one humid day, the driver started singing a song about asking Mr. Miller of an air conditioned street car.
I am wondering how the system acutally works. I ride a bus almost daily and the announcements are never consistent. Often there is only one or two automatic announcements, if at all, with the driver calling those he/she feels like. Is the system simply flaky? Do the drivers have the ability to turn the system off? Are the drivers responsible for pushing a button for every announcement or are the announcments triggered by some beacon at the street level. If there are street-level beacons of some kind, are they networked together? If so, why can’t that information be relayed to each bus stop so that accurate times for the next approaching bus be displayed? And while we’re at it then, why can’t we check the internet for the exact time of the next bus for the stop outside your door?
I was wondering the same thing as skube – it seems to be GPS-based: http://www.toronto.ca/ttc/coupler/0907/automated%20stops.html
I, for one, have been to Chicago and have heard their announcements. After comparing them with Toronto’s announcements, particularly those in the subway, there is one useful thing on Chicago’s announcements that would be handy in Toronto: platform side announcements.
In Chicago, they announce the next station and what side the platform will be on, relative to the direction of travel (eg. center platform=left side, side platform=right side, except at terminal stations). That would come in real handy here in Toronto, for those who aren’t used to the subway and for those who are forgetful.
On a final note, we can learn something else from Chicago’s announcements. Sometimes when there is some extra time before the vehicle arrives at the next stop, PSAs will be played on the announcement system, mostly detailing some rules or fare offerings by the agency in question, kind of like some low-key announcements made in subway stations currently. This could come in handy for Toronto.
On the topic about languages, yes the announcements should be in English, but there’s no reason why announcements can’t be made in other languages, especially around areas like Chinatown, the Danforth, Roncesvalles Village, among others.