Fran Sans – font inspired by San Francisco light rail displays

Font Design and Typography Enthusiasm

• Many readers praise the concept: translating a constrained, segmented train display into a refined typeface is seen as “very cool” and surprisingly effective for such a primitive grid.
• Typography fans enjoy the attention to small details, e.g., specific segments seemingly added just to render a single letter cleanly.
• The poem set in the font at the end of the article is highlighted as a memorable, evocative touch that captures “classic SF” atmosphere.

Website UX and Presentation

• Multiple people complain the site appears tuned for mobile only: excessively large type on desktop, no zoom, and image-heavy scrolling that some find user‑hostile.
• Animated specimens and image carousels draw mixed reactions: some love the subtle text‑selection effects and design polish; others find the animations distracting or unpleasant.
• A hidden NSFW-ish photo project is reachable via the keyboard arrow navigation on the homepage carousel; some appreciate the art, but note the risk in public or professional contexts.

Transit Displays, Technology, and Nostalgia

• Commenters discuss the retirement of the Breda LRVs and their LCD “mosaic” displays with mixed feelings: nostalgia for the distinctive signs vs. relief at more reliable modern hardware.
• There’s broad geeky interest in segmented displays: comparisons to systems in Vienna, NJ Transit, Penn Station, Munich, Helsinki, etc., and links to other multi‑segment type experiments and tools.
• Several reminisce about earlier display technologies (split‑flap boards, cloth curtain rolls, noisy solenoid-driven signs) and their quirks, costs, and failures.

Licensing, Community, and Derivative Tools

• The font currently has no public download; access is via emailing the designer. Some initially see this as inconvenient, but the designer frames it as a deliberate, community‑oriented choice.
• In-thread, the designer encourages others to build tools and programmatic editors inspired by the font, suggesting a permissive attitude toward experimentation.
• People share related font editors and resources, and at least one commenter plans to create an interactive segmented-type editor based on Fran Sans’s primitives.

Naming and Local Culture

• The pun “Fran Sans” is widely admired, even by those who dislike the nickname “San Fran.”
• A long subthread explores local shibboleths around what to call San Francisco and the Bay Area, reflecting broader transplant vs. native identity dynamics.