I found my first example at Melbourne Central station, where arrows on a directional sign at concourse level can be turned on or off, depending on which direction the escalators are running in.

The reason for the sign – Melbourne Central has a number of escalators that don’t have a matching set alongside, meaning that they only operate in the ‘peak’ direction.

I then found a similar sign on the concourse at Flagstaff station, directing passengers down the escalators to platform level.

Again, the reason for the sign is the escalators – the direction of operation is changed in peak times to move passengers in the dominant direction, with passengers headed the other way only having on route to follow.

Finally, I found this illuminated ‘Degraves/Flinders Street Exit via subway’ sign at Flinders Street Station.

It directs passengers towards the ticket gates at the Campbell Arcade subway.

This exit sees little use outside peak hour, so is often closed late at night, hence the indication can be switched off to avoid sending passengers on a while goose chase.

Another Flinders Street Station footnote

Until a few years ago the Southbank and Elizabeth Street exits from Flinders Street Station were closed between 10pm at night and 6am in the morning – station signage pointing out the operating hours.

I wonder why the Degraves Street exit warranted an illuminated sign, but Southbank and Elizabeth Street had to settle for fixed times?

And on the subject of ticket gates

Myki ticket gates also have illuminated directional signs on them – green for open, red for closed.

As did the previous Metcard ticket gates.

However these indications aren’t very useful in peak times, when crowds of passengers block them from view.

A more useful solution is an additional set of open/closed indications located above the gates, such as this setup in Sydney.

The indications are also deceptive when the Myki gate develops a fault, displaying the ‘go’ indication on the approach, but the ticker reader isn’t active.

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You’re probably going to look at one of these screens – but what order are the trains being displayed in?

It isn’t alphabetical – South Morang occupies the first two slots. Is it ordered by the network map? Possibly – Cranbourne is next to Pakenham, and Alamein is next to Glen Waverley.

Worked it out yet?

I’ll give you the answer – the next two services for each line are displayed, no matter where they terminate, and the lines are grouped by their operational ‘groups’ – ‘Clifton Hill’, ‘Burnley’, ‘Northern’, ‘Caulfield’, ‘Cross City’ and V/Line.

The same ordering logic is applied on the smaller ‘summary’ boards scattered around the station, just squeezed into less space and with a smaller font.

Given that the PTV network map has shown each group of lines in a different colour since 2017, why do the screens at Flinders Street Station persist with living in the monochrome past?

Fixing the problem

Turns out Transport for Victoria asked the same question in 2017 and set to work finding a better way, lead by senior user experience designer Carolina Gaitan.

They defined the problem in terms of user experience.

Then came up with a way to test out their hypothesis.

Spending three days sending people through a mock up railway station.

First navigating using the current monochrome design, then a new design where each railway line was a separate colour.

And the result – navigating the station was was easier with colour.

What else did they find?

An important part of the new design was realising that there two groups of users of Flinders Street Station: people unfamiliar with the station, and those who use it every day.

Some signage is tailored for people trying to find their way somewhere new.

While others deliver ‘how long until the next train to X’ information to regular users.

So what next?

Turns out what was learnt through user experience testing is being put into practice, with a wayfinding upgrade coming soon:

Flinders Street Station will be the first station across the metropolitan network to feature signage and information screens where each line has its own colour for easier navigation.

Though I take offence to the boastful “first station” claim – until the 1990s the Melbourne train network used a different colour for each group of lines.

As did the next train displays in the City Loop until 2011.

Everything old is new again?

A signage related footnote

Designer Shane Bradbury explains the new style of regulatory signage as well the suite of maps that appear around Flinders Street Station.

Further reading

You can find a summary of work at the UX Australia 2017 website: ‘Flinders Street Station: A journey to implement UX in wayfinding and customer information‘. The full set of presentation slides is also available.

Alexandra Almond has also published an article on the design process, titled Improving wayfinding at Melbourne’s busiest train station.

Meld Studios has also covered their role in the redesign of both the ‘motherboard’ screens at the station entrance, and the platform screens.

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