I know everyone around here loves the 30th Street Station flip sign. While I like the fact that it is much easier to read from everywhere in the great hall than a computer screen would be, I find it a little confusing because of the way it displays where the train is going to the left of where it is coming from.
Because I read English from left to right, my brain assumes that the first place the train goes is to the left (the thing I read first) and subsequent stops will be to the right (the thing I read second). So, for example, if I am looking at the entry for the Acela Express #2173 at 9:10 in the above photo, at first glance it looks to me like the train his heading North from Washington to Boston. In fact, it started at Boston and is heading South to Washington. If I want to go South, I might think that's not the train I want just because to my left-to-right reading brain it looks like it is going the opposite way.
I have found the sign to be mildly confusing for years. It is not a big deal. Once I look at the sign a little closer, I can remind myself that the "To" column is displayed before (i.e. to the left of) the "From" and figure it out. So instead of replacing the sign, why not just switch those two columns?
Because I read English from left to right, my brain assumes that the first place the train goes is to the left (the thing I read first) and subsequent stops will be to the right (the thing I read second). So, for example, if I am looking at the entry for the Acela Express #2173 at 9:10 in the above photo, at first glance it looks to me like the train his heading North from Washington to Boston. In fact, it started at Boston and is heading South to Washington. If I want to go South, I might think that's not the train I want just because to my left-to-right reading brain it looks like it is going the opposite way.
I have found the sign to be mildly confusing for years. It is not a big deal. Once I look at the sign a little closer, I can remind myself that the "To" column is displayed before (i.e. to the left of) the "From" and figure it out. So instead of replacing the sign, why not just switch those two columns?
