GTR Tweet of the day

[rdwarr]

Still not sure if this is stupidity or actually mocking a customer.

https://twitter.com/GNRailUK/status/698184380410425344

@GNRailUK platform display is wrong at Stv. Just tried to explain to confused tourists that board says Cam but train is terminating here

@katylou13 Hi, stevenston is managed by @ScotRail it would be best to report this to them ^J

 

[Bletchleyite]

It did take me a few seconds to realise they meant Stevenage. I guess if you're in a railway mindset...

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Still not sure if this is stupidity or actually mocking a customer.

View attachment 25508

Or genuine miscommunication?....

The problem with using your own particular TLAs is that no-one else really knows what they are until you tell them. Confusion is a big hazard when both parties use their own.

 

[Saint66]

Clearly a misunderstanding (And no intent to mock a customer, either?).

Shock horror, we're all humans! Not sure a whole thread is necessary over this!

 

[rdwarr]

Fair enough - I was annoyed by it at the time but there's now been an apology so all's well.
Why you think somebody would tweet Great Northern about tourists going from Stevenston to Camberley does show that there can sometimes be a lack of empathy though.

 

[bengley]

I don't know if these twitter people have ever considered finding a member of staff on the station and letting them know..?

 

[rdwarr]

I don't know if these twitter people have ever considered finding a member of staff on the station and letting them know..?

I must admit that occurred to me as well but perhaps "after the event". Stevenage does normally have staff on the platform and they're really helpful when you ask.

 

[yorkie]

At some times, are the GTR Twitter feeds managed by contractors working many miles from the route? If so, it's unsurprising they will take people at 'face value' for whatever codes they are given as contractors can't be expected to have a detailed knowledge of the rail network and auto-correct codes which passengers have got wrong.

Yes, we can guess that 'Stv' means Stevenage [SVG] in this context, but not everyone would. So I think it's a genuine mistake, by both parties.

 

[maniacmartin]

In my books its only a CRS code if its in all capitals, otherwise it is just a random contraction.

 

[Jonfun]

Fair enough - I was annoyed by it at the time but there's now been an apology so all's well.
Why you think somebody would tweet Great Northern about tourists going from Stevenston to Camberley does show that there can sometimes be a lack of empathy though.

The amount of normal passengers who don't know the different train companies is quite staggering. A lot of older folk still think it's all British Rail, and a number of less old folk assume if it's a fast train it's Virgin and if it's a slow train it's Great Northern Transpennine.

 

[Surreytraveller]

Why you think somebody would tweet Great Northern about tourists going from Stevenston to Camberley does show that there can sometimes be a lack of empathy though.

Because the name of the company would imply that it operates trains in the north. When in reality it operates trains in the south -east. The railway does not think in a public-friendly way.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Obviously, someone has Tweeted GN using a three letter abbreviation to describe a station, not realising that the railway uses three letter codes to describe its stations. And they have inadvertently used a code to describe a station they did not mean to describe, and the Twitter team did not realise this.

 

[yorkie]

Because the name of the company would imply that it operates trains in the north. When in reality it operates trains in the south -east. The railway does not think in a public-friendly way.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Obviously, someone has Tweeted GN using a three letter abbreviation to describe a station, not realising that the railway uses three letter codes to describe its stations. And they have inadvertently used a code to describe a station they did not mean to describe, and the Twitter team did not realise this.

Possibly. Or they just guessed a possible code and got it wrong.

I agree "Great Northern" is a bit confusing, but the bigger confusion is that it is not a company, merely a route brand! If it was called "GTR Great Northern" that would make more sense, or "GTR London Northern" or something.

 

[PermitToTravel]

It doesn't take very much common sense to see what was actually meant though, and if Twitter is managed from a call-centre type thing in Plymouth or Bangalore then they should still at least know which stations they serve

 

[yorkie]

It doesn't take very much common sense to see what was actually meant though, and if Twitter is managed from a call-centre type thing in Plymouth or Bangalore then they should still at least know which stations they serve

If you can be certain the mistake is getting the wrong code/name, yes.

But sometimes that is not the mistake; tweeting the wrong train company can be the mistake! Okay this is more common with Virgin Trains and Virgin Trains East Coast, but it happens with various others too.

 

[PermitToTravel]

...it also doesn't take very much common sense to determine which of those things happened in this scenario.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

...it also doesn't take very much common sense to determine which of those things happened in this scenario.

I've got hours to sit at home looking over one tweet to see what it means and criticise. A Twitter operative might have thousands to look over every hour, not to mention any outgoing tweets that need to be sent.

So they get a tweet "The screens at stv are wrong....". Hold on, where's stv? Stevenston? Where's that? Oh, Scotland, "Stevenston isn't our station" Next tweet...

 

[Skimble19]

It doesn't take very much common sense to see what was actually meant though, and if Twitter is managed from a call-centre type thing in Plymouth or Bangalore then they should still at least know which stations they serve

It's not, they're now based in the ROC at Three Bridges I believe, having moved from the (now closed) Hertford House.

It's staffed by GTR staff only at all times as well now, they do not use NRE to cover overnight anymore.

 

[SaveECRewards]

I've got hours to sit at home looking over one tweet to see what it means and criticise. A Twitter operative might have thousands to look over every hour, not to mention any outgoing tweets that need to be sent.

So they get a tweet "The screens at stv are wrong....". Hold on, where's stv? Stevenston? Where's that? Oh, Scotland, "Stevenston isn't our station" Next tweet...

It's true they don't have much time to look over individual tweets although the number they get is not as high as you'd imagine.

Commute London tracks the Tweets to all operators and they're in their tens per hour, not hundreds or thousands. Here's the stats for Great Northern.

Even the Virgin TOCs that are quite chatty rarely break 100 an hour on the west coast or 50 an hour on the east coast.

 

[causton]

The amount of normal passengers who don't know the different train companies is quite staggering. A lot of older folk still think it's all British Rail, and a number of less old folk assume if it's a fast train it's Virgin and if it's a slow train it's Great Northern Transpennine.

Yes, for all the people that ask for their Virgin train from Watford to Milton Keynes at xx:03 - "No, that's London Midland" "But it only has one stop" "...yes"

 

[hairyhandedfool]

It's true they don't have much time to look over individual tweets although the number they get is not as high as you'd imagine.

Commute London tracks the Tweets to all operators and they're in their tens per hour, not hundreds or thousands. Here's the stats for Great Northern.

Even the Virgin TOCs that are quite chatty rarely break 100 an hour on the west coast or 50 an hour on the east coast.

Okay, it wasn't meant as a literal thousands per hour (that would be a minimum of three every second), in the same way I don't really have hours to sit and look at one, but it was more an indication that they might be relatively busy doing whatever it is they do.

 

[LLivery]

This probably would be avoided if station codes were actually put on signage, maps and timetables. Everyone knows what Airport LHR is but how many daily commuters, let alone casual users know their local station code? The only ones I've bothered to learn are SYD, LSY, WIM, CLJ, NXG, LST, STP, NOT, KET, WEL and NRW.

 

[Mojo]

This probably would be avoided if station codes were actually put on signage, maps and timetables. Everyone knows what Airport LHR is but how many daily commuters, let alone casual users know their local station code? The only ones I've bothered to learn are SYD, LSY, WIM, CLJ, NXG, LST, STP, NOT, KET, WEL and NRW.

I agree. Some Tocs publicise codes more than others. Capital Connect used to put the codes on some versions of their route map, and Chiltern have a station listing towards the front of their full timetable that has the station code. I'm sure there are other Tocs, past or present, that have similar.

Further, some Toc websites are better at handling codes than others; some will tell you the code in brackets when you type the full station name, some will accept the code when you type it in, some will recognise the code on the dropdown but make you select the full station name, and others will only accept the station name only and don't even acknowledge the code.

 

[LBSCR Times]

It's not, they're now based in the ROC at Three Bridges I believe, having moved from the (now closed) Hertford House.

It's staffed by GTR staff only at all times as well now, they do not use NRE to cover overnight anymore.

Not staffed at night in the ROC.
Not sure who does it overnight.

 

[Hophead]

This probably would be avoided if station codes were actually put on signage, maps and timetables. Everyone knows what Airport LHR is but how many daily commuters, let alone casual users know their local station code? The only ones I've bothered to learn are SYD, LSY, WIM, CLJ, NXG, LST, STP, NOT, KET, WEL and NRW.

Pretty sure the train time sheets on the platforms at Gatwick show the code for every station featured.

 

[Llanigraham]

It doesn't take very much common sense to see what was actually meant though, and if Twitter is managed from a call-centre type thing in Plymouth or Bangalore then they should still at least know which stations they serve

Why should they?
Why do people think that everyone on the railway uses these 3 letter acronyms for stations?
PLEASE NOTE, SOME OF US NEVER USE THEM!!
We don't need to.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

This probably would be avoided if station codes were actually put on signage, maps and timetables. Everyone knows what Airport LHR is but how many daily commuters, let alone casual users know their local station code? The only ones I've bothered to learn are SYD, LSY, WIM, CLJ, NXG, LST, STP, NOT, KET, WEL and NRW.

Why?
See above!!

 

[backontrack]

Why should they?
Why do people think that everyone on the railway uses these 3 letter acronyms for stations?
PLEASE NOTE, SOME OF US NEVER USE THEM!!
We don't need to.

I don't think I've ever used them; except for in NR's Journey Planner, when they come up automatically.

 

[Gemz91]

I don't think I've ever used them; except for in NR's Journey Planner, when they come up automatically.

I struggle to think of a reason why I would ever need to use them (apart from as you say maybe on NR's journey planner).

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I agree. Some Tocs publicise codes more than others. Capital Connect used to put the codes on some versions of their route map, and Chiltern have a station listing towards the front of their full timetable that has the station code. I'm sure there are other Tocs, past or present, that have similar.

I'm pretty sure Southern do this on their timetable sheets at the stations - haven't looked to see if they still do it since they became GTR though.

 

[backontrack]

I struggle to think of a reason why I would ever need to use them (apart from as you say maybe on NR's journey planner).

For me, it's not having to type 'St Pancras International' (just put STP), and stuff similar to that, when I can't be bothered to type the full name, really. I hardly know many codes anyway.

 

[Class 170101]

On twitter don't forget there is a limit of 160 characters so people will use them to save characters. It therefore needs to be borne in mind that not everyone will know all the station codes or even know they exist, NRES does not need them to function it can operate using the full name of any given station. Most people using the trains aren't railway mad like this board and just want an easy journey from A to B and when it goes wrong they want to know why and what alternatives are available.

It sounds like the twitter team made an awful mistake and potentially need some training on these matters.