A New Voice for the Toronto Subway
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) has begun using an automated voice to announce each transit stop according to this Toronto Star article.
How does it work? At all the stations, tiny metal transponders have been placed between the tracks.When a train rolls over the transponder, a “location tag” signal is sent to a receiver in the driver’s car, which contains information on a database of station names. The announcement is then made over the public address system.
Automation doesn’t stop at the subway. By 2008, all streetcar and bus routes will also have recorded voices announcing stops. The total cost of the project is about $5 million, Cornacchia estimates.
More clarity, fewer mistakes.
But what do we lose? The personality of the drivers.
“That’s the price of automation,” Cornacchia concedes. He says this has been the only lament he’s heard from passengers so far.
Most TTC riders have experienced a colourful driver who went the extra mile to brighten their riders’ day. Some drivers have done impersonations on the mic; others have given riders neighbourhood history lessons.
Passengers filled a page on the website of urban magazine Spacing with their personal favourites. “A streetcar driver who would announce the locations of every LCBO and Beer Store,” one person wrote.
Photo by Kevin Steele, 2002
Relevance: Location-based ubicomp technology is used for automated voice system and I am wondering what the human impact is of this. I like hearing the bus driver’s voice announcing stops when I take the bus and wouldn’t want this in Vancouver.