Azur to be on display downtown
The model of the metro’s new Azur train will be on display Friday and Saturday on McGill College, a good move because it may catch the eye of people who don’t normally ride the metro.
I have a minor carp about the existing metro interface. On the orange line, the trains now play a recorded dou-dou-dou sound to warn that the doors will close. It’s deliberately a copy of the MR-73′s mechanical current chopper sound, and the STM explains their rationale here and says the dou-dou-dou was the most popular sound as chosen by users.
I suspect the eventual point is to use the sound on the new Azur cars, which is fine because they won’t also be producing the sound mechanically. But at the moment I think it’s precisely the wrong sound, because although the STM page says “the recorded audio signal is slightly different and sounds more electronically-generated than the original one produced by the power converter” they’re still very similar, and if you have two trains in a station both dou-dou-dou-ing away, especially given how many people wear headphones in the metro, the import of the signal is lost.
Am I not right that in designing user interfaces generally, you don’t create one signal deliberately to echo another with which it can easily be confused? As a visual designer, I know you don’t do that – by using two similar but different fonts, for example – and this strikes me as analogous. You want some contrast so’s not to confuse.
Of course, this problem will resolve in time as the old trains are phased out. Still, we’re stuck with it for a couple of years at least.
Mathieu 08:52 on 2012/09/17 Permalink
I agree with you that using the same signal for different things can create confusion, but in this case I don’t find it problematic. With all the surrounding noise in the metro, we barely hear the “electric” sound. And when it’s silent enough to be heard, the sound or tires and friction is just too loud for us to hear it.
Tux 09:21 on 2012/09/17 Permalink
I think the main problem with the electric dou-dou-dou is that it serves no useful purpose. The doors close while the sound is playing, so if you hear it that means “you’re too late” rather than the more useful “beep-beep-beep-*doors close* which means “you can make this train if you’re close enough and you hurry”
MB 11:19 on 2012/09/17 Permalink
The “You’re too late” meaning is precisely the point. It’s a signal to back off, the train is leaving. Most delays in the metro are due to people holding the doors up, thinking that they’re close enough if they hurry. This is one of the last manual, non-automated operations in the metro, so the door can’t just re-shut on its own. The driver has to open them all and then close them all again, and then verify that the doors are all closed before being able to leave the station.
I think it sounds completely different than the electric motors, really doubt it will prove to be confusing. Plus it’s a hell of a lot less annoying than that hilariously loud buzz in the Paris métro, or the horror movie-esque electronic tritone on the Boston T, or the militant “Stand Clear of the Closing Doors, Please!” in the New York City subway.
Kate 11:39 on 2012/09/17 Permalink
There used to be a beep they used at the terminus stations, where trains rest longer than usual, to alert people that the train was about to shut its doors and depart. Don’t know why they couldn’t've used that, as a sound already familiar in the system and whose meaning was already clear.
TransportJames 11:55 on 2012/09/17 Permalink
Kate: The beep sound is still in use at the terminus stations. It corresponds to the programmed departure of the train. If you sit in the first car you can see the countdown timer that the operators use. When it reaches approximately 15 seconds – it starts beeping. This gives the operator time to get back into the cab,close the doors, and leave at the right time.
The new trains will have to doo-doo-doo sound and lights beside the doors (red/green/white) to tell you when the doors will close. This is in keeping with international accessibility standards for people with handicaps.
Blork 12:01 on 2012/09/17 Permalink
I think the “door closing” sound is also for the people who are still squeezing onto a crowded train; i.e., the ones that have one foot on, or even both feet on but their backpack is sticking outside the doorframe or whatever. Basically it’s a signal to quit dawdling, suck in your gut, and let the doors close.
Benoit 08:52 on 2012/09/18 Permalink
Kate, 2-3 years ago, the STM did test a Beep that was similar to the one they use at the terminus stations, or similar to the one they use in Paris. But it was annoying as hell to hear it at each station, and it got more complaints than votes from the métro users in the survey they were conducting…
Kate 09:09 on 2012/09/18 Permalink
Benoit, that doesn’t surprise me, but I’m not sure the STM is always being smart to get a popular vote on points like this. People may find the old dou-dou-dou sound less annoying, but in a way it’s the job of an alert sound to be slightly annoying. Sometimes experts on interface and safety issues ought to be consulted rather than the general public.