Flip-dot displays are a bit more tedious to maintain because of
the motion parts involved, as compared to LEDs which are purely
electronical.
The main limitation with flip-dots is illumination. To
illuminate the display at night, you need to project a flourescent
tube onto it's surface, which greatly reduces the visible contrast
of the display. The other solution would be to use LEDs that
light up concurrently wtih the flip-dots for illumination (e.g.
Dennis Lance & Hispano Habit), but should that be adopted, then
might as well just go for purely LEDs since it would be much
cheaper.
I do suppose SBS Transit has intentions to eventually do
away with plastic plates. It's not a question of "looking
modern" or "catching up with technology", but rather because the
plastic plates are bulky and cumbersome for both bus captains and
despatchers / depot and interchange staff. This was not done
in the earlier years as the cost has yet to come down, but it now
has, with parallel technology available from cheaper sources such
as *ahem* China.
