Many definitions of a circle
Suffice to say, the LTA’s new wayfinding strategy for the Circle Line needs some explanation.
There’s been plenty of debate on the new information systems strategy the LTA plans to introduce, when the Circle Line loop is finally completed on July 12.
Much relies on what they specifically chose to highlight. Some took issue with why they chose to make “clockwise” and “anticlockwise” matter. Others were not amused with the choices of graphic design.
Somehow, Singapore has achieved the impossible — we’ve managed to make many definitions of a circle. Could it be less complex? Perhaps. But there’s some pitfalls to consider. While it seems that the Singaporean internet’s first instinct is to denounce all change as “user-unfriendly”, past changes in transport have demonstrated that what they must do is to explain themselves better and improve what they have.
I think the same needs to happen here. They’re trying, which is a start, but the issue is not about whether they did it, but about how it was done.
Careful, this post is picture heavy.
It’s about the signs
The LTA even had to develop a whole online simulator with mockups of the displays one can expect to see, and the announcements that one can expect to hear, after July 12.
I get the logic. But there’s a bit of a disconnect between physical signs, which only say “via XXX”, and information systems, which place more emphasis on “clockwise/anticlockwise”.
That may be a cause of the new signage system, which seeks to reduce the amount of wordy language that ends up on the signs, so in-station wayfinding sticks just to the shorter “via XXX” wording.
But that said, clockwise/anticlockwise maybe should be viewed as a separate concept — as the name of the service. That in principle doesn’t matter in the station, because multiple types of service can stop at the same platform; already a daily occurrence on the LRT.
Help can thus sound like this:
at Holland Village station:
Commuter: how go bishan?
Staff: take a clockwise train. any clockwise train. you don’t need to worry about where it goes.
One more thing to consider is the offchance that clockwise and anticlockwise screens do stop at the same platform, such as when single-tracking due to a train disruption.
I must admit, though, that there’s a certain genius in the much-maligned circle. Plenty of people seem to think it’s a poorly designed map, not helped by placing station caplets in them. But that said, the smaller arrows, and placing the symbol for Dhoby Ghaut within the circle for services to Dhoby Ghaut, may help with identifying the service from a distance. All the more so as from preview pictures, CCL6 stations still only have one set of train arrival screens per platform.
I’ve taken some super shrunken down screenshots to emulate viewing the screens from a distance; can you tell the difference?
This doesn’t exactly exist in isolation — it exists with the new signage system, where overhead signs above platform doors and standing signage on platforms say which stations the train stops at, so you don’t have to squint at a tiny symbol on a screen 30m away. Just look up.
This itself apparently has been controversial, to the point the LTA has to address it in its FAQ about the new system. If the system identifies services by “clockwise” and “anticlockwise”, then why show the map in the direction of travel? But well, it gets the point across; take the train from these platforms if you’re going to these stations.
Perhaps for the platform doors, something like what’s done at Sengkang LRT might be better, though, without force-fitting a circle into a long rectangle. Show only the stations best served by this direction, and hide the rest.
It’s about the culture
I haven’t been talking a lot about this because I’ve been out in the Japanese countryside. But when this news was released, I happened to be in Osaka. So I looked up and saw these:
The Osaka Loop Line might be a close example to what the LTA turned the Circle Line routing system into, due to its complexity; as we can see, trains through-run from the Osaka Loop Line onto other railways to Kansai Airport, Wakayama, and Nara, in addition to the regular loop trains goung around the loop.
A thing that’s interesting to note, is that JR West only wrote “外回り” in Japanese, whilst English directions only show the major stations on the Osaka Loop Line. I’d hazard a guess that this is because “outer loop” would mean different things to a German visitor and an English visitor, and if you can understand the Japanese, you probably know enough about Japan to know that they drive on the left.
Which goes back to an important point. Japan, Singapore, and the UK, are all in the minority of countries that drive on the left, unlike many other countries in the world, which drive on the right. For what it’s worth, this is probably a thing about cultural differences;it seems to be Chinese-language social media that largely disapproves of this design decision, but those terms mean different things in Singapore and in Mainland China.
In Singapore, the inner loop goes anticlockwise, while the outer loop goes clockwise (edit: typo)— but someone from Germany, or Mainland China for that matter, would assume the opposite.
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The Berlin S-Bahn uses a clockwise/anticlockwise icon to denote their Ring services; though they also use line numbers to differentiate, in case you don’t understand what the icon means.
As an international society, Singapore perhaps needs to be a bit more explicit. “Inner” and “outer” can refer to the physical tracks, but it’s possible to run either clockwise or anti-clockwise on each physical track, so the track namings lose their relevance without an actual direction.
It’s about the service
The second complexity about the Osaka Loop Line, is that the fastest train to Tennoji station is not necessarily the train that has “Tennoji” written on signs on its side. And that train also doesn’t stop at the platform that’s marked for “Tennoji”.
The LTA has unfortunately emulated this in Singapore. Someone going from Paya Lebar to Prince Edward Road should not take the train that “ends at Prince Edward Road”, or they could find themselves going the long way. They want the Clockwise Loop services.
But overall, I can’t help if a strategy like London makes more sense. In London, their Circle Line trains are only advertised as terminating destinations when it makes sense to do so — such as, when more than one train from the platform is going to the same place. Otherwise, they’re put up as “Circle Line via (next major station)”.
At King’s Cross, all westbound trains go to Hammersmith, so they can be called Hammersmith trains. But eastbound, it’s a different story, as it can be faster to use other lines to reach stations on the southwestern side of the Circle, so all Circle Line trains are branded as “Circle Line via Liverpool Street” even if their run eventually ends at Edgware Road — because it’s faster to go westbound to get to Edgware Road.
How this could work in Singapore is, for one, to show only “Dhoby Ghaut” from Stadium or Paya Lebar onwards, removing “Clockwise/Anticlockwise” as trains approach their destinations. The “Loop” word can still be kept to distinguish looping trains from terminating trains at other stations, as a protip to power users, but if everything is going through the next major interchange anyway, “Clockwise via XXX” would work equally well.
Someone at Serangoon or Caldecott going clockwise likely won’t care so much about where the train actually ends — I’d hazard a guess that if they were interested in the Dhoby Ghaut branch, they wouldn’t take the Circle Line, they would probably take another (hopefully high-capacity) line and switch trains in the central area.
This also applies to short trips, such as the Paya Lebar to Caldecott services run on the weekends. “Clockwise via Bishan/Serangoon” can work, and after Serangoon, they are just described as Paya Lebar terminators, so anyone going any further knows not to take those trains. Or in the off-peak period, when trains from Dhoby Ghaut only go as far as Stadium.
It’s about the systems
I’ve said so much things, but can they even be done with the existing system? It’s hard to say for sure without a good knowledge of the system design itself; whether the graphics can be varied on a station by station basis. Even the color wheel may be more useful if the half of the Circle better served by the other direction, was greyed out or something — which would differ on a station by station basis.
It might also be useful to have better hardware and other systems in place to enable such customized displays; and if that upgrading wasn’t done now, perhaps all the budding AI-powered User Experience designers can have a hackathon or something; the winners can contribute their ideas towards the needed upgrading work.
With the old low-poly LED screens from the late 2000s (because that was when the Circle Line was built), these new signage concepts look awfully cramped. There should be plans to replace these, because I daresay it’s hard to read in person. Harder still, the way this picture turned out on my camera.
And oddly, the system no longer shows more than one next train. Not just for the Circle, but also for the Downtown Line at Promenade as well. This means there’s plenty of awkwardly large empty spaces, possibly affecting the reading experience.
For what it’s worth, it’s not that much better on the platforms.
Of course, some of these are inspired by what’s been done on the TEL and upgrading projects at older stations. But those still show two next trains, even if the implementation is a little odd when the two trains have different end points. But that’s an issue that needs solving on a system-wide level, not only for the peak-hour trains that go out of service at Springleaf station to go back to the depot, but also if only some trains go to Changi Airport Terminal 5, and not all the way to Tanah Merah, in the mid 2030s.
A thing that was also done with other lines, but not extended to the Circle, is not to show “arrived” trains — perhaps a behavioral tweak to prevent people running for trains. This perhaps should also be added.
Other systems that may also need intervention is how to display the loop services on the flashing LED maps, as well as how the services describe themselves within the train. We know they experimented with some things, then they turned it off, but perhaps all will only be revealed come July 12.
And perhaps one more thing to think about, is why this was done now, when there aren’t any Loop services running — not officially, at least, even though they actually are looping as part of pre-opening testing.
If they want people to learn to tell the difference, the difference has to be there. I really cannot help but think whether this would have been better off waiting for July 12, then subsequently with additional help on the platforms (including station staff, additional wayfinding material, maybe even a contingent of crowd marshals) to guide commuters, especially those who need an in-person touch.
Otherwise, it’s purely an academic exercise. And without the complete picture, it’s not surprising that people derive the wrong answers, finding extra complexity in what should be a relatively simple choice.
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