Who to contact--wrong destination sign

[Busjack]

Do any of the Pace drivers out there know who to contact with regard to buses displaying the wrong destination sign? I have had some e-mail correspondence with passenger.services@pacebus.com, but that hasn't progressed past them telling me that there is no mechanical malfunction. I doubt that there is a mechanical malfunction, since some runs do show the correct sign. [bTW, this is a North Shore route, so I hope I'm not implicating any of you.] Is there an e-mail address to the division dispatcher that would work?

Also, are the programmable destination signs controlled by the driver or by the Siemens Intelligent Bus System?

[trainman8119]

For all it is worth, Passenger Services won't be of too much assistance. All they will do is forward the complaint to the division manager for a response and then let you know. I know this because that is one of the things I used to do there.

If you have a schedule from a route at North Shore, call the lost and found number. This should get you straight into North Shore. Ask to speak with either the Division Superintendant or the Safety Manager and give them the specifics. I think you'll get a little bit farther this way then going through PS.

I know in the old days, the destination signs were programmed through the fare box. With all the new gadgets, who knows, maybe it is a combination of both. I would bet that the driver does have some sort of input on this. On the trains we have to input the info so the GPS would track. If you get nowhere, let me know and I'll try to get in touch with some of my old contacts at Pace that are still around and see if I could get an answer.

[MetroShadow]

Still through the farebox, and the gadget device, but I know the drivers fix the destination sign through the farebox.

[pace2322]

The signs are work fro the ibs now. It doesnt it when u hit a the end so the drives doesnt have to do it.But sometimes it doesnt work so the drive have to do it the farbox way. So i bet thats what it is the drives not seiing if the ibs is doing it.

[Busjack]

The signs are work fro the ibs now. It doesnt it when u hit a the end so the drives doesnt have to do it.But sometimes it doesnt work so the drive have to do it the farbox way. So i bet thats what it is the drives not seiing if the ibs is doing it.

Pace2322,

Before I take up trainman8119's suggestion to call the division superintendent at the North Shore garage, could you clarify? Are you saying that in this case, the IBS is programmed wrong? I'll give this example: On Monday, run 503 has the wrong sign, but on Tuesday it has the correct one, but run 204 that follows it an hour later always has the wrong sign. All are running NABI 6262s or 6624s, so I assume the they all have the same sign equipment, although this pattern has also appeared on Orion Is. If it is in the IBS, how could it be wrong one day and right the next?

Also, why do the North Shore buses have this problem, but a Northwest bus on the same route (422, usually an Orion VI) always has the right sign?

The problem is that the sign shows an intermediate point, not the final destination, although the IBS audio announcement is correct (not the usual problem that the sign doesn't flip at the end of the route; it always flips at the terminal, but, again, not to the optimal sign for the return route).

To all, is it the farebox, or the touchpad that says "Luminator" above the driver that controls the sign (or can override the IBS)?

[trainman8119]

I am not sure how the IBS plays into this. Pace does not really use the keypad above the driver unless the fare box relay is not working. This is important to them because they use this information in audits as to how many people and how they pay are on each trip. We always had to program the destination along with the run and the badge number of the operator through the fare box. Print outs are then sent to the auditors in Arlington Heights to verify that fares are collected as well as track ridership on runs.

[pace2322]

At south some buses are right and some are not it might be the ibs that is mess up.

[Busjack]

Ask Pace got me some action on this. Customer Service said that it was the IBS and it was reprogrammed on March 7. The terminals are now correct (although I questioned which of the two south terminal signs should be used).