Type 8 Destination Sign Replacment

According to Twitter, Type 8 car #3818 has had it's destination signs replaced with those similar to the Type 9s.

https://twitter.com/jameswebb1987/statu ... 86628?s=20

Good, I hope all the 7s and 8s get those signs. *MUCH* easier to read than those crappy LCD displays.

But they haven't replaced the software running the signs so they can allow real words, instead of the barely comprehensible abbreviations the old LCD signs had to use. Sigh...

I don't think they can fit any more letters. The Type 9s have wider spaces for the signs, whereas, the signs are shoehorned into the smaller space where the old signs used to be, so they can't display any more without decreasing the font, which would affect readability, so the abbrevation is probably still the better option.

If you're artificially limiting resolution to 1 large and 12 smaller characters anyway, might as well save the money and don't bother replacing the LCDs. Otherwise, take advantage of the benefit that LEDs have over LCDs, which include better resolution and more flexibility in what and how characters can be displayed.

I wonder if a rotating or scrolling destination would be possible with whatever controller they use for it.

The Blue Line uses a rotating destination to be able to display Government and Center alternating on the sign.

The local controller for the display itself would probably do that automatically if you sent it a long enough string of characters. However, you're limited by the car's master controller for the destination signs, which is still limited to outputting 13 character strings.

How about rolls of fabric, with the destinations in unpainted white, with the backgrounds painted black?? <giggle>

Not without a multimillion dollar consulting contract to determine the feasibility of the technology and investigate which fabric material and typeface to use.