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Red horizontal "stop" indication instead of white for LRV / Bus indications?

Started by fwydriver405, February 20, 2024, 01:35:52 AM

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fwydriver405

Do any other transit agencies use a red horizontal bar for the "stop" indication, instead of the white horizontal bar for "stop" that's prescribed in Figure 8D-3 for LRV and/or bus signals? I've seen a red horizontal bar for the "stop" indication in these three cities:

Boston, MA - MBTA Green Line and bus, though some locations have the white bar instead.
San Jose, CA - VTA light rail and bus
San Francisco, CA - MUNI, some signals use "X" indications for MUNI signals instead. The triangle for yellow clearance is not used in SF like in San Jose / Boston, I think the "go" indication is flashed for clearance.

The 11th edition MUTCD (2023) in Section 8D.15, 06 says the colour of all indications shall be white as quoted below:

Quote from: MUTCD 11th Edition, Section 8D.15 Use of LRT Signals for Control of LRT Vehicles at Highway-LRT Grade CrossingsStandard: 06 If special LRT signal indications such as those shown in Figure 8D-3 are used, the color of the signal indications shall be white.

...though MBTA signal policy (source, page 44 or PDF page 14) states:

Quote from: MBTA - Chapter 3, Transit Signal Priority TreatmentsThe MBTA uses transit signal heads with a horizontal red bar as the red indication, white triangle as the yellow indication and a vertical white bar as the green indication.

A new bus signal was installed in Davis Square in Somerville on the Holland St approach as part of a signal replacement, and having the bus signal alongside the right turn signal initially confused some motorists when the new signals were active. As of now there is no bus queue jump - the bus signal changes to a white vertical bar at the same time the through movement gets a circular green, and the right turn gets a flashing yellow right turn arrow.



Curious to know if there's any difference between using red vs white for the "stop" indication for these purposes.


Big John

When first implemented, it was white for the reason that non-BRT traffic would not confuse it for a signal they need to obey.

fwydriver405

Quote from: Big John on February 20, 2024, 03:17:25 AM
When first implemented, it was white for the reason that non-BRT traffic would not confuse it for a signal they need to obey.

I get that part, especially in places where regular RYG signals were used for BRT or LRT movements instead of these special signals. In the case of Boston (Green Line) before the transit signals were used, sometimes the LRV signals were louvered, sometimes PV / 3M signals were used, and sometimes the indications weren't masked at all.

Curious why some agencies either decided to implement or switch back to red horizontal "stop" indications from the white variants (especially in places like in Boston, where their use seems to be mixed, unless the MBTA policy is more recent).



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