[nerdjon]

I feel like almost every screen I just ignore, either it was just put there for ads or it is wrong/broken.

It is now a fairly regular occurrence to have a train show up that the screen had no reference too existing a minute or two before.

But yeah it feels like they were not designed or setup by people that actually use the trains and were setup by a comity thinking they know best.

Maybe that is the big difference, in other countries the people using it are also the ones managing it?

[rtkwe]

The big issue is putting those screens in isn't just a simple task, you need the entire support and switching network to be able to track individual trains which is a relatively new thing in terms of the age of many of the subway swtiching and train tacking (where those even exist) systems in the US.

[asdff]

Honestly a big issue seems to be in other countries, especially ones like Japan people frequently site as the model for public transit, transit is privately run and developed more pragmatically/more profitably. There wouldn't be sense in adding useless screens with useless information, but there sure would be a lot of consideration on how we can make our station more attractive than a competing line's station, paring down overhead to its most base items to further that goal.

Whereas here in the US, its like transit departments are handed budgets generated by tax dollars but no clear direction or plan for how to maximize those dollars. So they have to turn to subcontractors who eat through the pile of money like a vulture eats carrion. This is a system that over time lobbies to further entrench and sustain itself and becomes impossible to rip out and restart. If you go advocating for privatizing the transit system you'd be likened to Judge Doom before people stop and think for a second of what that would actually look like: the shinkansen for example.