MTA’S CLOCK CROCK
Inaccurate In & weirdly wei placed
A stopped clock is right twice a day. The MTA’s new countdown clocks . . . not so much. Although the transit agency met its New Year’s Day goal of placing digital train timers in every subway station, many of the clocks are wildly inaccurate or placed in ridiculous locations —— such as directly behind exit signs, a survey of stations by Post reporters found. At the Cathedral Parkway station on the B and C lines, C trains show up when they’re not on the clock at all. On the F line, the estimates were three to five minutes off at various stations in Brooklyn. One sign said a train was one minute away, then changed to 19 and then to 10. It finally showed up after 12 minutes.
“These clocks are a waste of time and money. They’re usually wrong and just end up confusing me,” said Richard Black, 36, from Ditmas Park.
“I mostly ignore them, honestly.”
Elsewhere, the clocks are in awkward or unreadable spots. In some stations, they were placed at the far end of the platform, away from where most patrons enter.
At several 7 train stations, the clocks were installed so close to exit signs that they are unreadable.
“It’s a fairly stupid design,” said Roni Ahmed, 30, of Sunnyside, who was waiting at the 33rd Street platform for the 7. “I don’t know why they would put it there. You can’t even see the display.”
MTA officials said they are still working out the kinks in the clocks and are testing them regularly to make them more accurate.
“The new countdown clocks are performing well overall, and as we track how the technology operates in the subway system, we’re constantly making upgrades to the software,” said agency spokesman Jon Weinstein.