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Friday, May 27, 2011

Follow up, Jeri Ellsworth vs Talking buses #Trimet … Jeri won

Flop of the day: an audible warning system intended to alert pedestrians that a TriMet bus was turning.
The transit agency announced Friday that after three months of testing the system, at a cost of $46,000, the tests had come to the end of the line. Announcements broadcast over external speaker systems on 10 buses didn’t activate when they were supposed to and did activate at inappropriate times, such as when buses were changing lanes.
“It was determined,” a TriMet news release said, “that the technology has not advanced enough to make it an effective tool to help alert pedestrians and people riding bikes that a bus is turning.”
The system was made by ProTran1 of New Jersey, and because the agency bought the book-sized units, they can’t be returned.
Spokeswoman Mary Fetsch said she didn’t know what TriMet would do with the units, but “if there are other transit agencies that would like to try it, we’d be happy to help them out.”
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/05/follow-up-jeri-ellsworth-vs-talking-buses-trimet-jeri-won.html

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