Red Line Ashmont Train is Now Approaching

December 13th, 2023
transit
The MBTA has now fully fixed the sign issue I was complaining about! It's great:

Red Line
Ashmont Train is Now Approaching

For years I grumbled inside whenever I was approaching a station and saw the digital signs switch to "Attention passengers, the next red line train". This could signal any of:

  • 25%: My train is coming, I can catch it if I hustle.
  • 25%: I'm missing my train.
  • 50%: A train I don't care about is doing something.

If I waited the sign would switch to, for example, "to Ashmont is now approaching", but time when I'm trying to decide whether to hurry to catch a train is unusually precious!

The issue was that they were displaying a transcription of the audio announcement instead of tailoring the textual notification to the medium. Several months ago they fixed the arriving version, and recently they fixed the "approaching" version as well. Yay!

Comment via: facebook, lesswrong, mastodon, substack

Recent posts on blogs I like:

AI risk is not a Pascal's wager

In the 17th century, the mathematician Blaise Pascal devised the idea of Pascal’s Wager.

via Thing of Things April 6, 2026

Microfictions

A few microfictions, very much inspired by Quiet Pine Trees. I hope to add more over time. No LLMs.

via Evan Fields March 27, 2026

Daycares and the Brown School

As someone in Somerville I notice that there are quite high prices regarding childcare. The average family in Somerville pays $1,100 to $3,500 for daycare per month, and I want to make the costs more affordable. I have also noticed that housing is quite …

via Lily Wise's Blog Posts March 22, 2026

more     (via openring)