Kniwt Sunday, February 19, 2006 at 10:36pm

A couple weeks back, I had occasion to take Muni Metro one-way back from the Financial District up here to the Church Street station late on a Saturday night. Since it was a one-way trip, I didn't have a transfer, which meant I had to proffer the required $1.50 in coins to pass through the turnstile.

No problem -- I'd made the trip in the other direction many times, so I knew the drill: Find one of those little Muni change-making machines, one that takes dollars and coughs up dollar coins, the other that coughs up quarters.

But when I went into the Montgomery station, I didn't see any of those machines. So I walked clear to the other end of the station and the other Muni entrance. But no machines there, either. Everywhere around me were various BART machines: buy a ticket, add fare to a ticket. But I didn't want a BART ticket. And I was starting to get more than mildly annoyed.

I was starting to confront the bitter reality of having to return to street level and start making random mini-mart purchases to get enough quarters in change. Then I happened to glance at one of the (closed, of course) Muni attendant windows. There was a handwritten sign loosely taped to the window: "To get change, go to a BART ticket machine and press H."

Press H!?

Well, I did, and (as any self-respecting San Franciscan probably figured out long ago), you can get change in a BART ticket machine by pressing the H key. But there was no permanent signage to that effect, and it was counterintuitive at best to send me to a BART machine for Muni service.

Just another random story for the Metropolitan Transit Authority horror file.

Patrick Monday, February 20, 2006 at 5:49pm

Another area where signage could be improved is the Embarcadero Station during baseball season. From April until October, thousands of baseball fans do the BART-Muni shuffle to get to AT&T Park. Except, the BART and Muni entrances don't face each other, so the clueless baseball fans have to walk around the BART escalators to get to find the Muni entrances, then enter the Muni station and wait for the Mission Bay trains, all the time being hollered at by Muni personnel who herd them through the station like steers at a KC stockyard. Some well placed signage would really help orient the non transit users on their trips to the ballpark and make transit riding a more pleasant experience.

Jamison Monday, February 20, 2006 at 6:41pm

I've been thinking about writing an entry about the effect of doubt in using transit systems. I've repeatedly seen people trying to get on Muni or BART get confused by some misleading or conflicting information (Being told to use the BART machine to get change for Muni is one example) which makes them uneasy when they get to the next decision, and sooner or later you're on a train next to them and help them figure out they got on the train going the wrong way because they got nervous.

In his First Principals of Interaction Design , Tog discusses quite a bit the importance of status, with transit there is a lot less to interact with, but an even greater importance in understandable information and being able to feel confident you're doing the right thing, I phrase this as eliminating doubt because of the effect making one mistake has on the next decision point.

Steve Boland Tuesday, February 21, 2006 at 10:18am

Jamison, I've got another for your archives. Hillsdale Caltrain, sign on the southbound platform says board here for San Francisco, cross to get to San Jose. I shouldn't still be surprised, but I am.

Here's another one, less egregious perhaps and a bit far afield, but the new(-ish) VTA light rail stop at San Jose Diridon includes exactly zero permanent signage directing users to the Caltrain/Amtrak/ACE platforms (and the way is not visible). And, once you're in the ped tunnel, there's are no signs to indicate which platform your train might be on (changeable displays would be ideal, but even simple schedules would suffice). I'm an experienced transit user, if a newbie to that location, and it took me several minutes to make what should've been a 60-second transfer. I damn near missed my train.

Mehranpolis Tuesday, February 21, 2006 at 8:44pm

I agree with you, i think that is alot of money,,,btw how did race go?

Jamison Wednesday, February 22, 2006 at 6:43am

Steve, in searching for your out of date bart map, I came accross the simplfied rail maps and I absolutely love what you've done with the line maps, especially marking only Civic Center and Embarcadero as BART/Metro transfer stations. To much choice can be overwhelming.

The race was a lot of fun to watch. There are just a ton of photos on Flickr too.

Steve Boland Wednesday, February 22, 2006 at 8:53am

Oh, the line maps. Those were inspired by a trip to Singapore, which as I believe I've mentioned to you before is an excellent example of wayfinding done right. You know it's good when it all seems so obvious ... and you don't need to spend a half-million bucks to figure it out.

Mike Friday, February 24, 2006 at 2:27pm

My favorite sign story happened when they were introducing the new $5 and $10 bills a few years back. Most BART machines had the following two signs, side-by-side:

1. Machine does not take new $5 and $10 bills [a printed decal].

2. Old bills will jam the machine [a handwritten note taped to the machine].

So exactly how was I supposed to buy a BART ticket??

Stephen Neuburger Wednesday, March 8, 2006 at 9:12am

Hi there. I was at Will and Brian's last night for game night, then stumbled upon your site today completely at random. Sorry for the useles entry, but I hope to see you again for another Will/Brian function.
-Stephen

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