On System Friendliness, a follow-up to Human Connections and Jingles

As discussed in my previous post,  Human Connections and Jingles, a large complaint with North American public transport is how unfriendly and complicated it is (or seems to be).

"Thank you for choosing public transport," an obvious indicator you are at a station. Montréal, Québec

This goes beyond simply thanking and acknowledging your riders, however. To attract choice riders (what I would say is an indicator of a robust transit network, but more on choice riders another time), people must be able to decipher first and foremost how to get where they are going.

Many writers have already commented on the concept of "total transit", which takes in to account the full experience of riding starting the moment when you leave your home. An equal number have discussed transit planning, mapping, and the importance (or requirement, really) of frequent service  intervals for transit to be useful. Instead, there is hybrid aspect that is more subtle in the design of networks and their user-friendliness. It's so simple that it is often overlooked.

Metrobús, Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá

Examine the image above, and then take in to consideration my duo of primary criticisms.
1) There is no indication that the bus stops here. This is as much a failure of branding as it is of transit. Bus stops (or tram stops, etc) can be free advertisement for a system. Without Google Maps, I would have been clueless where to catch this bus.
2) Worse yet, the display on this bus is useless. Many of the buses in Panama either use Corredor Norte (North Corridor) or Corredor Sur (South Corridor), two main highways. At first glance, you have no idea what line this is (there is no number, letter, or color assigned to it). If you wait a few seconds, it will flash "TOCUMEN", and then return to "CORREDOR SUR". Whether or not this means the district of Tocumen or Aeropuerto Internacional de Tocumen (Panama's largest and primary airport) is any new riders' guess. Spoiler alert: this does actually go by the airport.

At least this sad bus stop in Albuquerque, New Mexico gives you a number and a destination (sort of).

This problem of visual identity is primarily a bus network problem, but not always.

A Belgrade tram operated at grade. Photo by SO Marissa

Many European cities still have this layout with old tramways located in the median of streets. Many Trams in Eastern Europe operate down the center of roads and open their doors to traffic, generally with little or no signage at major intersections. Side note: this can have a traffic calming effect!

The point is this: you should be able to at least tell where the transit stops are at. If you cannot, then the system has failed.

Minimum: there should be some kind of identifiable station. It should be well branded. And to excel and truly be a world class system, the branding should be meaningful.

Hong Kong MTR (Mass Transit Railway) sign inside a station.

You do not need to be flashy, you just need to make the system human. And, because transit is a more human (and healthy!) way to travel, this should be easy.