Last week, Victoria Bailey, the executive director of the Theater Development Fund — the nonprofit organization that operates New York City’s three discount TKTS booths — offered advice on how to navigate the TKTS system. This week she will be answering readers’ questions.

In this installment she discusses ticket availability and breaks some news about a new look for the lighted signs.
Q
Do all three booths offer the same tickets? — Posted by Linda Miller
A
For the most part, yes, all three booths have the same productions and can access the same seats to those productions. Occasionally, a production will choose to sell seats at only one booth but that is rare. If we are using “hard” tickets, that is tickets that are generated by a ticketing system other than Telecharge or Ticketmaster (which serve almost all Broadway shows and numerous Off Broadway shows) they are only sold in Times Square.
Q
Can you actually get good seats for plays from the TKTS booth? — Posted by fluff
A
Yes you actually can. As you will see from the experiences posted by others on this blog, people often get prime locations. At other times, the seats may not be as good. It all depends on what is available that day.
Q
Why in the redesign, did you not make it easier to see what shows are available? The signs are so small that you have to leave the line to see what tickets are for sale. — Posted by Rebecca
A
First, we are delighted to announce here that we will be installing new screens in the coming months which will be easier to read. Additionally, we are exploring ways to use new technologies to get the information to people more easily, perhaps by providing the information over cell phones.

The redesign was for the booth, the red steps and the plaza and thus balanced the design needs for each component and for three different organizations. A key goal for the plaza was to create open space with a clear vista. Thus we were not able to put signs further down the plaza. The size of the signs reflects a balancing between the need to minimize the footprint they occupy and the size of the screens themselves. Erik Piepenburg