A camera phone-toting tipster reports seeing workers installing what appears to be New York City’s first-ever real-time bus status display board this morning inside a bus shelter at First Avenue and E. 14th Street along the M15 route. We’ll put in some calls to the MTA and DOT to get the details.

Unfortunately, for now it appears that the new displays can only be read and understood by bus riders fluent in Klingon.

Correction: The digital sign displays text smoothly. Our tipster’s camera phone was unable to capture a clear image.

Update: A Dept. of Transportation source says that the MTA is installing 15 of these real-time bus information displays around Manhattan as a pilot program. DOT is responsible for the shelters, MTA is responsible for the electronic signs. The project is part of the city’s contract with Cemusa, the company that builds and sells ads on the new bus shelters as DOT’s sub-contractor.