Swimmeret coordinating neurons in the crayfish CNS collectively encode a detailed cycle-by-cycle report on features of the motor output to each swimmeret. This information coordinates motor output that drives swimmeret movements. To see how coordinating neurons responded to forced changes in intersegmental phase, we used a split-bath, repeated-measures experimental design to expose different regions of isolated abdominal nerve cords to different levels of excitation. We present a quantitative description of the firing of power-stroke (PS) motor units and two kinds of coordinating interneurons, ASC_E and DSC, recorded simultaneously from each swimmeret ganglion under uniform and non-uniform excitation. When anterior and posterior ganglia were excited differently, several parameters of the swimmeret motor pattern were affected. Strengths of PS bursts in each ganglion were determined by local excitation. The phase of PS bursts in neighboring ganglia changed at the excitation boundary. Coordinating neurons from the two ganglia closest to the excitation boundary were most affected by non-uniform excitation. ASC_E neurons tracked the timing and duration of each PS burst in their home ganglion, but did not follow changes in PS burst strength. DSC neurons changed the duration, phase, and number of spikes per burst. We propose two models to explain these results. First, the period expressed under non-uniform conditions is the sum of local intersegmental latencies, and these latencies are determined by local excitation. Second, the phase change at the excitation boundary is determined by local modulation of the targets of the intersegmental coordinating neurons, not by modulation of coordinating neurons themselves.