ASA Discussion (split from New Blue Line Car Discussion)

On a recent trip on the Blue Line, at every stop there was an automated announcement saying the train would run express to that stop, once we were stopped with the doors open. Is this a common problem?

boblothrope wrote:On a recent trip on the Blue Line, at every stop there was an automated announcement saying the train would run express to that stop, once we were stopped with the doors open. Is this a common problem?

Not really. The Blue Line has a "different" version of the ASA on 3 sets of cars. These cars were all together in 1 set, so the ASA ran fine. However, the set was recently broken, and each train that isn't in the front will say "This train will run express to X station." where X is where it is. When the train becomes the first in the set, it announces the destination and "This stop, X." I managed to get a video of the destination-announcing version the other day, and a few sound clips announcing expresses.

vivelasondas wrote:

boblothrope wrote:On a recent trip on the Blue Line, at every stop there was an automated announcement saying the train would run express to that stop, once we were stopped with the doors open. Is this a common problem?

Not really. The Blue Line has a "different" version of the ASA on 3 sets of cars. These cars were all together in 1 set, so the ASA ran fine. However, the set was recently broken, and each train that isn't in the front will say "This train will run express to X station." where X is where it is. When the train becomes the first in the set, it announces the destination and "This stop, X." I managed to get a video of the destination-announcing version the other day, and a few sound clips announcing expresses.

Ugh, why are they too lazy to update the software?!?! T: JUST UPDATE IT SO IT WORKS PROPERLY. I like the one that's not Oglesby...it's easier to understand. But even if they used Oglesby's verison, they'd all be uniform. UGH..

They should just do it like the green line. NEXT STOP: XX, ENTERING XX DOORS WILL OPEN ON THE L/R, XX - THE DESTINATION OF THIS TRAIN IS XXXX. Clear and straight to the point.

CircusFreakGRITZ wrote:

vivelasondas wrote:

boblothrope wrote:On a recent trip on the Blue Line, at every stop there was an automated announcement saying the train would run express to that stop, once we were stopped with the doors open. Is this a common problem?

Not really. The Blue Line has a "different" version of the ASA on 3 sets of cars. These cars were all together in 1 set, so the ASA ran fine. However, the set was recently broken, and each train that isn't in the front will say "This train will run express to X station." where X is where it is. When the train becomes the first in the set, it announces the destination and "This stop, X." I managed to get a video of the destination-announcing version the other day, and a few sound clips announcing expresses.

Ugh, why are they too lazy to update the software?!?! T: JUST UPDATE IT SO IT WORKS PROPERLY. I like the one that's not Oglesby...it's easier to understand. But even if they used Oglesby's verison, they'd all be uniform. UGH..

I have the urge to go to Park Plaza, take the original software, and put it on to every train I find. Maybe that can be my community service for my school, working for the T . But in all seriousness, I'm tired of running into the doors when they're closing and I don't hear a door chime. Half the time, the door lights were flashing anyway but no doors were closing.

diburning wrote:They should just do it like the green line. NEXT STOP: XX, ENTERING XX DOORS WILL OPEN ON THE L/R, XX - THE DESTINATION OF THIS TRAIN IS XXXX. Clear and straight to the point.

I guess I agree to some extent. The courtesy messages get pretty annoying after you hear them after 3 or 4 stops, but the layout of the destination-announcing is just better, since it ramble on and on while in a station. I think the Siemens system is different from what the Green and Red Line uses, though, judging by their completely different ways of displaying information. I have no evidence of this, though.

Here's a video of the new Blue Line ASA that I managed to record when coming home the other day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO_8I3B_wzs

I was on 0700 the other day and it had what I assume to be the "original" announcements still going. Later on, I was on 711 (I think, it was a low number though, maybe 707), and I can't remember if it was the same as 700, or if it was an entirely different third ASA style.


The wording is kind of funky some times, but I think I liked them better.


Is there a reason anymore as to why there's a a few that are NOT Oglesby? Are they testing to see what's more effective or what? It's been a while, I think it's time to pick one out.

As I've said before, there are a few versions of the ASA, and there are currently 4 main versions.

1. There's the original ASA voice which to me sounded like George Clooney hosting The Price Is Right (somewhat deep enthusiastic voice).

2. Then there is the Frank Ogelsby ASA.

3. Then there was a "revision" done to the original Frank Ogelsby scheme that only involved a software upgrade (the voice was not changed) to fix the door chime problem. The door chime is part of the ASA system and are not separate as with some of the other subway cars. This is the current version

With the original Frank Oglesby version, the ASA would announce the next stop, announce that the train is entering the stop, then when the doors open, the ASA announces the stop, then a "did you know?" tidbit such as "no smoking please, federal law requires that priority seating be given to seniors, and persons with disabilities, please take your belongings with you" and by the time the ASA stopped talking, the doors had already closed and the train was halfway to the next station. After it stopped talking, it would play the door chime. Not so useful while the train is moving! The revision made sure that the door chime interrupted whatever the ASA was saying.

4. Then there is the experimental "Gil Santos" version of the ASA. It sounds suspiciously like the original ASA (maybe they were done by the same guy?) but with the enthusiasm toned down. As far as I know, this version was experimental and was not implemented on the whole fleet. The cars that had it most likely still have it.

I noticed the original voice sounds just like the guy on the commuter rail announcements that says "Please exit the train only at a door attended by a crew member."

When updates are made, they are not done to the entire fleet at once for some reason. For a long time the 01800s had a female voice come on after Oglesby at Charles saying "Mass Eye and Ear Infirmary." The discontinuance of that began quite a while ago, but it's still heard from time to time. South Station is a smorgasbord. Rarely you'll hear the original "Change here for the Commuter Rail," but it's usually the skinny, twerpy, and nasally congested sounding guy saying "Change here for the Commuter Rail and the Silver Line with service to Logan Airport." Although the Logan Airport part is sometimes omitted.

Point is you'll probably hear all three for years, even when the others become rare, they'll still pop up from time to time.

What I don't understand is, why bother fixing the door chime problem if they don't apply the update to all cars. Seems like a waste of time.

CircusFreakGRITZ wrote:What I don't understand is, why bother fixing the door chime problem if they don't apply the update to all cars. Seems like a waste of time.

It was the same way with the Bredas. There were a couple units that missed the change-out and still had the dog whistle-pitch searing ear pain door chimes for awhile after the rest of the fleet had them adjusted down. Likewise, there were a few 7's and 8's that were still erroneously announcing "doors open on the right" at North Station inbound from the old El configuration for 3 years after the new superstation opened.

Same deal with the 01800's where a a minority of the cars have the woman's voice at Charles tacking on the "Mass Eye and Ear", but the ASA firmware in the others was never updated to match. Even when the firmware on all Red Line cars was updated to announce the Silver Line Logan transfer at SS.

F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:

CircusFreakGRITZ wrote:What I don't understand is, why bother fixing the door chime problem if they don't apply the update to all cars. Seems like a waste of time.

It was the same way with the Bredas. There were a couple units that missed the change-out and still had the dog whistle-pitch searing ear pain door chimes for awhile after the rest of the fleet had them adjusted down. Likewise, there were a few 7's and 8's that were still erroneously announcing "doors open on the right" at North Station inbound from the old El configuration for 3 years after the new superstation opened.

Same deal with the 01800's where a a minority of the cars have the woman's voice at Charles tacking on the "Mass Eye and Ear", but the ASA firmware in the others was never updated to match. Even when the firmware on all Red Line cars was updated to announce the Silver Line Logan transfer at SS.

There still is a Breda whose back doors make that pulsing chime when they close.

There're more than one from what I can tell.

CRail wrote:When updates are made, they are not done to the entire fleet at once for some reason. For a long time the 01800s had a female voice come on after Oglesby at Charles saying "Mass Eye and Ear Infirmary." The discontinuance of that began quite a while ago, but it's still heard from time to time. South Station is a smorgasbord. Rarely you'll hear the original "Change here for the Commuter Rail," but it's usually the skinny, twerpy, and nasally congested sounding guy saying "Change here for the Commuter Rail and the Silver Line with service to Logan Airport." Although the Logan Airport part is sometimes omitted.

Point is you'll probably hear all three for years, even when the others become rare, they'll still pop up from time to time.

The "Change here for the Commuter Rail and the Silver Line with service to Logan Airport." still isn't always played. Also, that recording was done by Frank Ogelsby fairly recently, but the original recording been sped up which makes him sound like he's high on helium.

That's interesting. Don't they know they can increase speed without increasing pitch? That's annoying.

They could always cut off words.

South Station. Change here for the Commuter Rail and the Silver Line with service to Logan Airport.
24 syllables
=
South Station. Commuter Rail and Silver Line Logan Airport.
15 syllables