Any transit system that describes the direction a train is going using the name of the last stop, and not the cardinal direction is stupid.
You really expect me to know the names of all the middle of nowhere towns at the end of the line ? Come on, that’s just fucking stupid.
@zed Ah yes, am I on the west-northwest or northwest?
@drgroftehauge you’re misunderstanding what I’m saying. There’s still individual lines, but when you’re at the station for the 1 line, it should says west or east, or on the 12 it should say north or south.
I’m not saying you’re at a station and there’s no number or letter designations for the trains, only cardinal directions. And there’s no train in the world that from the station you’re currently will give you the options of going west-northwest or northwest.
@zed What if it's like a u-shaped-ish line (like 2 Line in the Seattle area)?
@austin eastbound, from Mariner to Pioneer Sq. it says "South." From International District to Mercer Island it says "East." And from South Bellevue to Woodinville it says "North."
And basically the same thing in reverse.
(Using this map for station names: https://i.redd.it/wmn8xyc0zne41.jpg)
@austin Though importantly, for someone who doesn't know the typical usage patterns of line 2 in Seattle, I could be off. If people taking the 2 starting from Redmond are primarily going past South Bellevue, then it should say "West" instead of "South."
A transit agency that's aware of its riders typical commuting patterns will be able to identify which cardinal directions to list better than I can.
@zed I think you used some future plan map, it's nowhere like the current service. For the part across the lake and in the Eastside (that's how those suburbs are called) an east-west direction makes sense. The problem is the interlining north of the city, how would you distinguish between the two lines in the northern suburbs that both goes south but forks after the city, yet "points east" isn't exactly accurate?
@austin each line gets its own wayfinding.
It’s not like when you’re at the station that shares a line right now it only gives the last station name of line 1 and not line 2. It gives it for both.
So it could say:
Line 1: South (last station name here).
Line 2: East (last station name here).
Again, where it stops saying South and starts saying East will be determined by the by the ridership data on what the most common destinations are for a particular line from a particular station.