Today I got on the Milwaukee Bus in Chicago and it was automatically calling out the streets. When I wento on the Diversey Bus in Chicago it was also talking. Each time we got about 5-10 feet from a stop it would call out the name of the stop and the name would appear on an LED overhead.
How does this work? There must be some sort of electronic device planted somewhere right?
Quite possible. For the streets, it could also be using a map program and GPS.
Or the bus driver just pushes a button. It doesn’t have to be complex, it just has to work.
Our new trams do that. But I figured there was a signal sent through the overhead electrickery cable it gets its power from.
The Munich trams, subways and suburban trains do it automatically, I guess.
In the buses, I’d opt for the button method. I’m gonna ask the driver tonight.
After some googling I found a site (German only, sorry) claiming that in Würzburg’s trams it is actually linked to the door circuitry.
My bus has talked for a few years now. (When my friend first told me, I thought she was going insane). I’m not sure how it works though.
Our buses have had the gift of gab for a couple years in San Francisco. Each (if new or upgraded) vehicle has a GPS receiver so it knows where it is, and the GPS info is mixed with the route database so the system can announce the upcoming stops inside the bus by voice and LED message board. When the door opens, a voice announcement gives the route number, name and destination.
The only button-pressing the drivers need to do is at the start of the route where they punch in what route number they’re driving. As it is, they can’t always be trusted to do this. There’s no way they’d be able to handle remembering to press something at each stop.
Here’s a SITE that tells more on the subject in the “City by the Bay”