Luton DART and Luton Airport Parkway Updates

[Kite159]

Luton Council have announced an enquiry into the DART project around lateness and overspends.

This seems more about political point scoring than a sensible use of time and money.

Similar to the ongoing Edinburgh Tram Inquiry. At least it will allow the Luton council to waste some money on 'fact- finding' trips and report back by 2027 that everything that could go wrong went wrong

 

[Haywain]

Luton Council have announced an enquiry into the DART project around lateness and overspends.

This seems more about political point scoring than a sensible use of time and money.

As a matter of interest, who will be point scoring against who?

 

[Backroom_boy]

As a matter of interest, who will be point scoring against who?

Lib dem councillors vs. the ruling Labour Council.

 

[Haywain]

Lib dem councillors vs. the ruling Labour Council.

Well, the elections in May will be long gone before any enquiry is completed so any point scoring of that nature will have no impact at all.

 

[jon0844]

Well, the elections in May will be long gone before any enquiry is completed so any point scoring of that nature will have no impact at all.

Isn't it better if the outcome isn't known, but you can just point out that there is one?

 

[Haywain]

Isn't it better if the outcome isn't known, but you can just point out that there is one?

The political landscape in Luton is duch that even with an enquiry taking place it would be a major shock if Labour did not come out of the election as the ruling party.

 

[spag23]

Getting this back on track (!), the DART trials restart next Wednesday, 15th, but unfortunately I've had to turn my invite down as I'll be 'oop North'.

Have you got a link to the invitation? Or was it to previous responders only?

 

[zwk500]

Isn't it better if the outcome isn't known, but you can just point out that there is one?

This is the kind of political point scoring that is likely to put voters off engaging at all, let alone voting for one party over another.

If there are lessons to be learned from the project, by all means have an inquriy to establish what went wrong and how to fix them. But turning it into a political football means that 1. It's outputs will be largely ignored as partisan and 2. It will cost a lot more money as people fight for control of the summary statement.

 

[John R]

This is the kind of political point scoring that is likely to put voters off engaging at all, let alone voting for one party over another.

If there are lessons to be learned from the project, by all means have an inquriy to establish what went wrong and how to fix them. But turning it into a political football means that 1. It's outputs will be largely ignored as partisan and 2. It will cost a lot more money as people fight for control of the summary statement.

To be fair, it was only the poster who originally reported the enquiry who said it would be used for political point scoring. Personally I'd be somewhat upset if a project which had gone so far over budget wasn't the subject of some retrospective scrutiny as to what went wrong.

In Bristol, the cost of refurbishing the Bristol Beacon (prev Colston Hall) has leapt from 52m to 135m, with the City Council's (who own it) contribution rising from an original 10m to 80m. I'm sure council tax payers would welcome understanding at some point what went wrong that has saddled the council with 2.3m per annum of borrowing costs for the next 50 years to pay for it.

 

[zwk500]

To be fair, it was only the poster who originally reported the enquiry who said it would be used for political point scoring. Personally I'd be somewhat upset if a project which had gone so far over budget wasn't the subject of some retrospective scrutiny as to what went wrong.

In Bristol, the cost of refurbishing the Bristol Beacon (prev Colston Hall) has leapt from 52m to 135m, with the City Council's (who own it) contribution rising from an original 10m to 80m. I'm sure council tax payers would welcome understanding at some point what went wrong that has saddled the council with 2.3m per annum of borrowing costs for the next 50 years to pay for it.

Oh totally understand the desire to learn lessons. However, such an inquiry needs to be clearly independent from the body(ies) who are going to be roundly criticised by it.

 

[jon0844]

This is the kind of political point scoring that is likely to put voters off engaging at all, let alone voting for one party over another.

I meant better for the party calling for an inquiry, on the basis that most people will just jump to the conclusion of 'guilty as charged'.

 

[TheHSRailFan]

Had a friend who did yesterday's testing. In his own words, he called it "A Mess" as well as pointing out many faults with the system.

 

[spag23]

Had a friend who did yesterday's testing. In his own words, he called it "A Mess" as well as pointing out many faults with the system

Disappointing, given it was the second exercise. Can he expand on the issues?

 

[Mike395]

Disappointing, given it was the second exercise. Can he expand on the issues?

I was also there and I wouldn't say it was a mess - generally I was fairly impressed, and the main problems are easily resolveable.

Biggest single one for me personally was signage, it's lacking in several areas (lots of small niggles I won't detail here, but notably at the airport end, there's a fire exit underneath a big sign with 'Welcome to Luton Airport' or similar wording, and insufficient pointers to where the lifts are, or what the buttons in the lift do - there's also some confusing digital signage which don't map the platform numbers correctly) but that's all easily rectifiable, and in the debrief I had confidence that the feedback was being taken on board.

But yeah, the system itself is actually quite impressive, I love the large windows on the shuttles themselves and the team there seem to have thought through how to deal with passenger comms when issues occur like needing to temporarily go to single-shuttle operations.

 

[jon0844]

Signage at St Pancras was awful when I did the testing for Eurostar. I recall Heathrow T5 being awful from day one too.

Amazing that these things can't be worked out from the outset. You surely don't need hundreds of people testing a service to identify things anyone could do on their own either on the floor during construction or on a computer.

And yet it seems to happen over and over.

 

[DDB]

Signage at St Pancras was awful when I did the testing for Eurostar. I recall Heathrow T5 being awful from day one too.

Amazing that these things can't be worked out from the outset. You surely don't need hundreds of people testing a service to identify things anyone could do on their own either on the floor during construction or on a computer.

And yet it seems to happen over and over.

Probably the benefit of outsiders looking at it. If you have spent weeks/years designing/building a system you know it so well it is hard to forget everything and work out what isn't obvious for someone new.

 

[Basil Jet]

Probably the benefit of outsiders looking at it. If you have spent weeks/years designing/building a system you know it so well it is hard to forget everything and work out what isn't obvious for someone new.

But if you've spent years looking at previous systems, seen how the signage was implemented, seen how it failed and seen how it had to be changed, you should have learnt from that.

 

[jon0844]

Probably the benefit of outsiders looking at it. If you have spent weeks/years designing/building a system you know it so well it is hard to forget everything and work out what isn't obvious for someone new.

I was once a software playtester and agree that sometimes you need another set of eyes (just as when writing, you usually need someone else to read what you wrote to look for typos you're blind to), but the issues seem so obvious that I am surprised it always seems to be overlooked by loads of people before the official testing.

It feels like the usability aspects are simply not designed properly from the outset.

 

[MML]

The large external Luton Dart Parkway sign on the railway side of the building still has failed illumination. In the dark anybody arriving by rail is greated by the words 'Luton Dart kway'.
I really hope after spending £290m on this project, it isn't signed off without someone insisting the light bulbs are replaced.

 

[Basil Jet]

'Luton Dart kway'.

That's below par!

 

[stuu]

I was once a software playtester and agree that sometimes you need another set of eyes (just as when writing, you usually need someone else to read what you wrote to look for typos you're blind to), but the issues seem so obvious that I am surprised it always seems to be overlooked by loads of people before the official testing.

It feels like the usability aspects are simply not designed properly from the outset.

One part of the company I work for does customer experience testing, for companies and organisations. Some of the problems they find are so blatantly obvious you wonder how they can have been missed. See also Oyster validators at Farringdon for transfers

 

[jon0844]

Ah, yes, Farringdon is a great example. I mean, let's all walk up to the exit to touch in or out as required. Thankfully now sorted.

Still, I guess they only had 4 or 5 years to notice...

 

[Kite159]

Email received from Thameslink gives a date of the 10th March for a soft launch for 4 hours a day;

A soft-launch of the DART is scheduled for the 10th March when it will operate for four hours per day. It will gradually increase its operating hours on the run-up to its full launch, currently scheduled to take place before Easter.

Thameslink - Luton Airport Parkway

www.thameslinkrailway.com

 

[InOban]

That seems unlikely when there are test events after the 10th, up to the 18th.

Volunteers wanted to test the Luton DART shuttle train

The Luton DART is a new airport shuttle which will transport passengers from Luton Airport Parkway station to London Luton Airport in under 4 minutes.

www.ianvisits.co.uk

During the trials, volunteers will be asked to take part in a series of trial situations including fire evacuation, station evacuation and a series of customer service scenarios.

Volunteers are required to detail their availability for each date, volunteers will be chosen based on a first come first serve basis.

• Wednesday 8th March 2023, 9am – 1pm
• Monday 13th March 2023, 2pm – 5pm
• Wednesday 15th March 2023, 9am – 1pm
• Saturday 18th March 2023, 9am – 1pm

 

[baz962]

I just had the same email

 

[43066]

The large external Luton Dart Parkway sign on the railway side of the building still has failed illumination. In the dark anybody arriving by rail is greated by the words 'Luton Dart kway'.
I really hope after spending £290m on this project, it isn't signed off without someone insisting the light bulbs are replaced.

I’ve also noticed this. Its been like it for ages, and does look very sloppy. I assume replacing them is a difficult/expensive exercise given the size/how high up they are. Hopefully it’ll be sorted by the launch.

 

[Bald Rick]

Email received from Thameslink gives a date of the 10th March for a soft launch for 4 hours a day;

Thameslink - Luton Airport Parkway

www.thameslinkrailway.com

Perfect for anyone flying on the 11th

 

[Meerkat]

Perfect for anyone flying on the 11th

Maybe on the way home but don't think I would risk missing a flight until they have it working reliably for a while. At least you can get off a bus and walk!

 

[Haywain]

At least you can get off a bus and walk!

There's an evacuation walkway for the whole length of the DART track too.

 

[jon0844]

There's an evacuation walkway for the whole length of the DART track too.

Maybe they should just open that to the public and use it as a nice direct walkway!!