Unhelpful announcement timing

[MCR247]

Arrived in Waterloo from Basingstoke and the guard told everyone to get out their tickets for the barriers and, for those with etickets, to make sure their phones were fully charged.

The latter statement allowed at least a full 3 minutes for that phone charging to occur! As the train was fully equipped with power sockets, an earlier reminder might have been slightly more helpful.

Does it take much longer than a few minutes minutes to charge a phone from ‘dead’ to ‘enough battery to last the few minutes it’ll take you to get you off the train and through the barriers’ battery level?

(If they wanted their phone to last longer than through the barriers then I imagine they would’ve charged it on the journey instead of allowing it to go flat.)

As the train terminated at Waterloo could they not simply remain in their seat charging the phone for the extra couple of minutes to get to the required battery level?

(If they were in a rush and needed to make a connection then they’d presumably need their e-ticket for the rest of the journey and wouldn’t have allowed their phone to go flat on a train with plug sockets.)

 

[Falcon1200]

I do wonder how those that complain about this are going to cope when more and more town and potentially station signs are going to revert to their Welsh names and not the English "translation": "Croeso y Drenewydd" (*) for example.

I must admit I am quite happy to to see all place names go to Welsh only.

Can we take that Welsh speakers and institutions are now referring to Deutschland, Espana, Osterreich etc, instead of the Anglicised (or if they exist) Welshified versions of their names?!!

 

[Silenos]

Can we take that Welsh speakers and institutions are now referring to Deutschland, Espana, Osterreich etc, instead of the Anglicised (or if they exist) Welshified versions of their names?!!

I imagine that when speaking Welsh, speakers are doing as they always did, and referring to Yr Almaen and so on, in exactly the same way as English speakers use their own names. And when in Deutschland or España, I expect they deal with the local names of places being in the language of the country, just as English speakers should.

Returning to topic, doesn’t it depend on whether the intention of the announcement is to convey its surface message (in which case it needs to be given in time to allow appropriate action) or, as another poster commented, to convey a coded message to those trying to evade fares?

 

[Deafdoggie]

I don't mind the Welsh announcements in Wales, what I found irksome was the 175s "calling at the following principle stations..." then listing all stations, principle or not!
That, for me, is the tiresome thing with Welsh announcements, the sheer number of stations! The heart of Wales lines has lots of stations to sit through-twice!

 

[CaptainHaddock]

The railway can’t win either way, too many announcements people complain, too few they complain because they were not told and didn’t know etc

Not really. The problem is that there's so many pointless announcements that people switch off so on the rare occasion there's an announcement you actually need to hear, no-one's listening!

It's not the number of announcements that's the problem but the relevance of them and the example the OP gives is yet another completely unnecessary one.

 

[al78]

I’m serious. If people don’t plan ahead a little and make sure their phones are adequately charged so they can use their mobile tickets, they’re asking for trouble. Not sure how that could be the guard’s responsibility.

If people struggle with the concept of having their credit card ready whilst waiting in a supermarket checkout queue on anticipation they will soon be asked to pay for their goods instead of, when asked, going through the full fumble fumble it was here somewhere palava, I see no reason why people would think to check and charge their phones in anticipation of having to show their e-ticket. My experience over the last few years living in the SE is that spatial awareness and thinking have deteriorated.

 

[merry]

Does it take much longer than a few minutes minutes to charge a phone from ‘dead’ to ‘enough battery to last the few minutes it’ll take you to get you off the train and through the barriers’ battery level?

(If they wanted their phone to last longer than through the barriers then I imagine they would’ve charged it on the journey instead of allowing it to go flat.)

As the train terminated at Waterloo could they not simply remain in their seat charging the phone for the extra couple of minutes to get to the required battery level?

(If they were in a rush and needed to make a connection then they’d presumably need their e-ticket for the rest of the journey and wouldn’t have allowed their phone to go flat on a train with plug sockets.)

Last time I travelled from NOT to Mansfield, the guard did the usual ticket check and the guy opposite moaned his phone was out of charge. The guard offered him the chance to get off and quickly buy a valid ticket, she would hold the train for the 2 minutes needed. He was not very impressed, and she wandered off to leave him to stew. Being the nice guy I am, i offered charging from my power pack and he duly showed his phone to the guard on her return... it was almost fully charged and and (as I suspected) carried no e-ticket.
Oh dear. Her polite helpfulness ended and he was thrown off at Hucknall to buy a ticket and wait an hour for the next one. What a shame...
The guard thanked me - basically with my help the guy dug a hole too deep to climb out of!

 

[chesterred16]

TfW 197s always announce the upcoming stop in Welsh a couple of minutes before arrival. Then there’s a long pause, and the English announcement is about 30 seconds before, often as you’re pulling into the station, so not giving much time for people to gather their stuff together and get to the doors.

I messaged them about this and the reply was that due to their “bilingual policy” they will always do the Welsh announcement first. So you’re okay if Welsh is your only language .

I was on a delayed Carmarthen-Picc the other week which terminated at Wilmslow - the announcement was made in Welsh but then no English followed. As I speak Welsh I was left to tell those around me what was going on. Poor by TfW.

 

[Stampy]

Does it take much longer than a few minutes minutes to charge a phone from ‘dead’ to ‘enough battery to last the few minutes it’ll take you to get you off the train and through the barriers’ battery level?

(If they wanted their phone to last longer than through the barriers then I imagine they would’ve charged it on the journey instead of allowing it to go flat.)

As the train terminated at Waterloo could they not simply remain in their seat charging the phone for the extra couple of minutes to get to the required battery level?

(If they were in a rush and needed to make a connection then they’d presumably need their e-ticket for the rest of the journey and wouldn’t have allowed their phone to go flat on a train with plug sockets.)

Not sure on the charging times from a FLAT phone, but I DO know that they don't give all that good a charge on a half-full battery (as I tried to "top-up" the charge on my Samsung s20 from 35% on a Azuma from York to Peterborough - and it only added 10% battery) - I suppose it depends on the "demands" on the train as to how much charge you'd get....


Which reminds me of a trip from Peterborough to Northallerton once, where a family of 4 had a 4-way USB charger in one socket charging devices - a laptop and a phone plugged into the OTHER socket in their bay... AND a pair of devices plugged into the socket BEHIND their seats....

 

[43096]

I was on a delayed Carmarthen-Picc the other week which terminated at Wilmslow - the announcement was made in Welsh but then no English followed. As I speak Welsh I was left to tell those around me what was going on. Poor by TfW.

Discriminatory, too.

 

[185]

The prevalence of Welsh-language speakers is only in certain parts of Wales. In many areas they are primarily English-speaking, so dropping the English announcements would upset a lot of Welsh people.

A little discussion with two Welsh colleagues about this the other day. They are horrified that the water torture 'primary language Welsh' announcements now also appear to be used on services entirely in England - eg Chester - Crewe, Chester - Manchester, Shrewsbury - Crewe etc... the opinion seems to be that the Welsh announcement is spoken like some slow-speaking patronising Welsh teacher at school and not fit to be a train announcement, knocking the Ruth Madoc-esque English announcement so far back it announces after arrival, like an afterthought.

There was some suggestion that someone behind a desk in Cardiff who rarely uses their trains though this was a good idea. And here's me criticising Mrs Tourettes, ATW's 175 announcements in 2003. This is ten times worse.

 

[TUC]

Arrived in Waterloo from Basingstoke and the guard told everyone to get out their tickets for the barriers and, for those with etickets, to make sure their phones were fully charged.

The latter statement allowed at least a full 3 minutes for that phone charging to occur! As the train was fully equipped with power sockets, an earlier reminder might have been slightly more helpful.

I don't think most adults would expect to be patronised by being reminded to charge their phone. That's the kind of thing a teenager would complain about their mum reminding them to do.

 

[Parallel]

A little discussion with two Welsh colleagues about this the other day. They are horrified that the water torture 'primary language Welsh' announcements now also appear to be used on services entirely in England - eg Chester - Crewe, Chester - Manchester, Shrewsbury - Crewe etc... the opinion seems to be that the Welsh announcement is spoken like some slow-speaking patronising Welsh teacher at school and not fit to be a train announcement, knocking the Ruth Madoc-esque English announcement so far back it announces after arrival, like an afterthought.

There was some suggestion that someone behind a desk in Cardiff who rarely uses their trains though this was a good idea. And here's me criticising Mrs Tourettes, ATW's 175 announcements in 2003. This is ten times worse.

The announcements on TfW’s 158s, 150s, 153s and 231s are about 10 times better than the ones on the 197s, even if they are a bit basic. The Welsh is too slow, the pauses are too long, and the English voice just isn’t the right tone for train announcements - it’s too harsh.

They ideally would’ve recorded the Welsh faster, reduced the pauses and used the same voice they use on their older stock.

 

[Parham Wood]

If people struggle with the concept of having their credit card ready whilst waiting in a supermarket checkout queue on anticipation they will soon be asked to pay for their goods instead of, when asked, going through the full fumble fumble it was here somewhere palava, I see no reason why people would think to check and charge their phones in anticipation of having to show their e-ticket. My experience over the last few years living in the SE is that spatial awareness and thinking have deteriorated.

People still do this with cash at supermarkets. Women who delve into their handbags to find their purse and slowly search for the exact amount in notes and coins. Men also fumble in their many pockets at times for money but since the ladies tend to shop more in supermarkets they seem to be in the majority. Of course credit card finding as has been said is the same. Regarding phone tickets I think many people have no awareness of how a slight delay caused by them and others builds up. The same applies with drivers at traffic lights, some are slow away or approach a green slowly, both cases will mean some cars that should have got through don't and the drivers "at fault" are totally oblivious to this. Fortunately being retired I can (or try to) not be bothered by such actions as time is not normally so critical for me.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

I don't mind the Welsh announcements in Wales, what I found irksome was the 175s "calling at the following principle stations..." then listing all stations, principle or not!
That, for me, is the tiresome thing with Welsh announcements, the sheer number of stations! The heart of Wales lines has lots of stations to sit through-twice!

Doesn't the "Principal Stations" list all but request stops, with requests then being announced after whatever station is before it?