The big innovation seems to be trains with fewer seats and more standing space. That increases capacity, but few people get to sit down.
No platform edge doors, surprisingly. Many newer systems have those. But they require that the trains all have their doors in the same places, so you can't mix types of train sets.
Display signs may just duplicate info people can get on some phone app. (The MTA has an API with their train and bus position info, at least for the lines that have reporting gear.[1]) But those are cheap.
> Display signs may just duplicate info people can get on some phone app.
Public transit should never require ownership of a smartphone. All features should be accessible equally to everyone. Having an app is great, but you can't reasonably advocate for the removal of physical signs in public transport.
I believe the GP was referring to the train arrival and other dynamic signage, rather than the static signage that exists now.
Bang for the buck, it feels like getting wifi (and cellular data) into all stations is way more useful and future-proof than a bunch of displays that are going to look quaint and outdated a year after we spend billions getting them installed.
If you want to know which track is downtown, or what the stops are on the express, the existing maps and signage will get you there. If you want to know about service interruptions and arrival information (or potentially connecting train information or more detailed trip estimates based on subway traffic in the future), then unless you can understand the static coming out of the loudspeakers, you're out of luck.
It's taken them more than 10 years to get arrival signs into the stations, and (as above) they already seem very outdated, with insufficient information many times (because three display lines is not enough lines for busy stations when you're waiting for a 6). Plus most stations still don't have them, which seems absurd given that every other subway system in the world has them.
Echoing others' points about not requiring people to own smartphones to get around the city.
But more than that, the physical signs are superior to smartphone feeds in many ways - we already have situations where people are milling around outside stations fetching the status feed. Crowding is a severe problem with the NYC subway, and a sign that you can just glance at while walking is much more efficient than having everyone stop and check their phones.
If you're not a tourist without a data plan. If your phone is charged. If you're the kind of person to own a phone that can run apps. If you've taken the time to install the app.
The sub-surface lines in London are about to finish changing over to new trains. These look a lot like the images in the article, differences include that the flexible area between carridges is full width and height. We have air cooling (that's not air con), cctv and wifi but no usb. Stations and crossrail will have wifi and 3/4G.
The new BART cars also have less seating than the current cars. Good for Oakland to Civic Center trips, not so for longer trips from Fremont ( and soon to be) points south.
No platform edge doors, surprisingly. Many newer systems have those. But they require that the trains all have their doors in the same places, so you can't mix types of train sets.
Display signs may just duplicate info people can get on some phone app. (The MTA has an API with their train and bus position info, at least for the lines that have reporting gear.[1]) But those are cheap.
[1] http://datamine.mta.info/