Destination sign
A destination sign (North American English) or destination indicator/destination blind (British English) is a sign mounted on the front, side or rear of a
Technology types
Several different types of technology have been used for destination signs, from simple rigid placards held in place by a frame or clips, to rollsigns, to various types of computerized, and more recently
Rollsign
For many decades, the most common type of multiple-option destination sign was the rollsign (or bus blind, curtain sign, destination blind, or tram scroll): a roll of flexible material with pre-printed route number/letter and destinations (or route name), which is turned by the vehicle operator at the end of the route when reversing direction, either by a hand
In the 1990s rollsigns were still commonly seen in older
The roll is attached to metal tubes at the top and bottom, and flanges at the ends of the tubes are inserted into a mechanism which controls the rolling of the sign. The upper and lower rollers are positioned sufficiently far apart to permit a complete "reading" (a destination or route name) to be displayed, and a strip light is located behind the blind to illuminate it at night.[citation needed]
When the display needs to be changed, the driver/operator/conductor turns a handle/crank—or holds a switch if the sign mechanism is motorized—which engages one roller to gather up the blind and disengages the other, until the desired display is found. A small viewing window in the back of the signbox (the compartment housing the sign mechanism) permits the driver to see an indication of what is being shown on the exterior.[citation needed]
Automatic changing of rollsign/blind displays, through electronic control, has been possible since at least the 1970s, but is an option that primarily has been used on rail systems—where a
Most
Plastic sign
Plastic signs are inserted by the driver into the slot at the front of the bus before a service run. In Hong Kong, plastic signs had been used since the mid-1990s on Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) and Long Win Bus (LWB) buses to replace rollsigns on the existing fleet, and became a standard equipment until 2000 when electronic display became mainstream, with the exception of single decker buses, presumably because the number of destinations in the network was so large that rolling the destination between every trip was impractical.
These buses were equipped with a destination sign slot which 2 plastic destination signs could be placed in it, such that the driver could press a button to flip them at the terminus, and one slot at the front, side and back of the bus respectively for the route number only.
All buses with plastic signs were retired in 2017 upon completing 18 years of service. [citation needed]
Flip-disc display
In the United States, the first electronic destination signs for buses were developed by Luminator in the mid-1970s[1] and became available to transit operators in the late 1970s, but did not become common until the 1980s. [citation needed] These are known as flip-disc, or "flip-dot", displays. Some transit systems still use these today.[citation needed]
Flap display
Another technology that has been employed for destination signs is the split-flap display, or Solari display, but outside Italy, this technology was never common for use in transit vehicles. [citation needed] Such displays were more often used at transit hubs and at airports to display arrival and departure information, rather than as destination signs on transit vehicles.[citation needed]
Electronic displays
Starting in the early 1990s, and becoming the primary type of destination sign by the end of the decade, electronic displays consist of
Some such signs also have the capability of changing on-the-fly as the vehicle moves along its route, with the help of
See also
Notes
- ^ Hanover-brand Flip-Dot display on front, passenger-side and rear number display controlled by a Hanover ERIC+ display controller. Hanover Displays is a manufacturer from Lewes, Sussex in England, near the Brighton suburb of Hanover.
References
- ^ a b c d "Sign of the Times: Transit signs have evolved from curtain signs to the first electronic sign introduced by Luminator to the present ADA-regulated visual and audio signs". Mass Transit magazine, January–February 1993, pp. 30–32. Fort Atkinson, WI (USA): Cygnus Publishing. ISSN 0364-3484.
- ^ Destination and route signs (guidelines for), section 39 within Part 38 (Accessibility Specifications for Transportation Vehicles) of the U.S. Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
- ^ a b Tucker, Joanne (September 2011). "The Wireless Age for Digital Destination Signage Arrives". Metro Magazine. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
- ISSN 1048-3845.
- ^ Duncan, Cliff (15 May 2024), 2 Different Types of LED Blinds (TFL), retrieved 8 June 2024
External links
- www.rollsigngallery.com Rollsign Gallery, showing the history of public transit through their destination signs – USA, Canada, overseas