I’m working on some improvements to our local transit system. I don’t have a car and take the bus/train everywhere, which is not always easy in a car-centric place like ours, and it’s even harder on the south end where our transit stops and facilities don’t get the same sort of attention they do in other places
There are lots of things we might fix — seating at stops comes to mind as we’ve got stops with no seating at all and stops with long-broken seating
But the first thing I’m looking at is arrival signs for bus stops. Significant stops along the 7 line have LED arrival signs, but in the south end few of them work. The same system is still in use and working in West Seattle, but not along the 7. The sign at Genesee & Rainier has been off since at least 2020. The sign at the Mount Baker Transit Center — a major transfer point for buses and light rail — spent several years displaying arrivals from July 2022 before finally going dark in 2026
I want to create something like this project from Philadelphia’s SEPTA system. I am not building a copy of this particular project, but it’s a good example of the sort of thing I want to build:
- Shows upcoming arrival times on an e-ink display
- Updated via LoRa radio, so no need for WiFi or cellular
- Solar+battery power, so no need to plug in to power
- Sturdy enough to stand up to outdoor installation in Seattle
- Looks enough like transit infrastructure to be recognizable
- Maybe has some space for arts
I have some experience building e-ink displays and low-power computers, but this will be my first project with long-range radio. I have ordered components to start testing and I hope to have some updates in September
