Announcements

[sbt]

If you hated that announcement you would hate London Overground ones even more, about every third stop the announcements about having a valid ticket or Oyster card or being liable to a penalty fare is announced! Especially as the Overground has stops every minute or two!

I'm somewhat shamefaced to say that I was becoming tempted to travel without a ticket by the time they halted the SWT announcements, on the basis that if one is going to be regarded as scum one might as well do something towards meriting that description.

I do wonder what SWT were and LO are, trying to achieve - I cant see it changing fare evaders behaviour, few are as clueless as to have not worked out what the barriers etc are for. Legally I cant see them being worth a damn - 'I didn't know' is not a defence as far as I'm aware. I can only conclude that they are there in a misguided attempt to make someone in power think that the TOC is doing something about fare evasion or to fill out the CV of some 'Risingest Young Executive' type as 'something innovative and new achieved'.

I have made a note to avoid LO if at all possible.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Damned if we do, damned if we don't......

? I fail to see the 'Catch 22' situation.

In one case we have a message that repatedly insults passengers, in the other a sales message that includes a poorly executed attempt at humour. Not insulting passengers does not force you to execute poor attempts at topical humour nor does not making irritating 'humourous' additions to a human-delivered sales message force you to play automated messages that imply that your customers are crooks every five minutes.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Sorry to be blunt, but if folk think that announcements are useless and annoying, then wear headphones. Announcements are of great use to many people - such as the blind, or those less familiar with train travel, and having a friendly voice on the tannoy really can subconsciously change the mood of the train from a negative one to a positive one.

Of course, if you choose to wear headphones, then don't blame the staff when you miss an important announcement...

I think one of the key points people are trying to get over is that mis- and/or over-use of announcements can drive people to ignore or mask them out, defeating the whole point of them. This can be damaging on a personal level (eg. missed train), to the TOC (passengers slow to react to important service information, affecting the running of the system) or society in general (emergency and important safety and security information missed).

Just because you CAN broadcast something every 2 minutes doesn't mean you SHOULD, especially if it would be better used as an occasional reminder.

 

[GatwickDepress]

on southern we have to endure a guard who tells us to take out artificial limbs, small children, kitchen sink etc etc with you when you leave the train.

Aw, I like him! His announcements have cheered me right up.

 

[Qwerty133]

The 222 electronic announcer, is useless, it's really quiet and goes like this 'this is the Sheffield train calling at Chesterfield' If it's not calling at Sheffield it's can't be the Sheffield train.
And no I'm not leaving my seat on a full and standing 153 just to read some generic safety poster that tells me to move to another coach in emergencies.
As for XC don't bother telling me not to get off in certain coaches as you don't want me to break my leg, if you can't get the correct number of coaches.

 

[dvboy]

I don't like the Pendo announcements for two reasons:

1) I would prefer 'Virgin Trains service to' than 'Virgin Train to' (sorry a bit pedantic!)

2) And when the woman reads the list of calling stations she always seems to end abruptly at the penultimate station - it just seems odd.

You forgot "Sandwell and Dudley" in a different voice to the other stations as if it was an afterthought.

 

[aylesbury2]

On a recent journey to Heathrow on the Heathrow Connect, I found the announcements to be particularly unbearable, particularly the ones saying "Oyster cards are not valid on this service beyond Hayes and Harlington" being repeated 3 times after every stop.

 

[sarahj]

Sometime we as staff get sick of the auto woman. Her 'this is a southern service to Brighton' (eg) each and every time. and if you ever get on a train from Brighton to Portsmouth or VV on a sunday, heaven help you. (a clue, its all stations except Hilsea)

As for the manual ones, I make them as and when needed. In fact, some managers listen out and tell you off for not making enough.

for some there are never enough, and others too many, sometimes on the same train.

As for set up, on our 313's,377's and 442's. You are given a CIS code. The driver normaly enters it into the Mitrac or PA system, and off she goes. she then relies on GSP to know where she is, thus she gets confused say at places near tunnels (eg St Leonards Warrior Square), and then when she finds herself, blurts it all out in one go. She also sometimes gets confused when a train reverses on route, eg Eastbourne and might start all over again and not recover until near Polegate or Pevency. Or sometimes she just gets totaly lost and your still approaching London Rd as you pull into Seaford.

fun and games

 

[hassaanhc]

On Friday the guard on my Weybridge via Hounslow train set the announcements after Wandsworth Town, which started all the way from Vauxhall and wasn't until Barnes it sorted itself out. The guard did shout out that we were at Putney and then at Barnes, even if he did end up with egg on his face by saying we were approaching Weybridge when we were ages away at Putney

 

[Hellfire]

Sorry to be blunt, but if folk think that announcements are useless and annoying, then wear headphones. Announcements are of great use to many people - such as the blind, or those less familiar with train travel, and having a friendly voice on the tannoy really can subconsciously change the mood of the train from a negative one to a positive one.

Of course, if you choose to wear headphones, then don't blame the staff when you miss an important announcement...

But some announcements are useless and annoying. No one is suggesting important safety announcements should not be made. It's all the non-essential ones that annoy people

 

[t_star2001uk]

Apart from Southeastern High Speed how many other operators announce where the toilets are on every train???

 

[theshillito]

It has been known for a passenger to make an announcement with permission from the guard (if they're busy selling tickets). All the passanger does is yell the next station stop.

I'm gonna ask to have a go next time!

 

[trentside]

Apart from Southeastern High Speed how many other operators announce where the toilets are on every train???

I've been told about it being done during manual announcements on other TOCs.

Not something I've ever done, but might be an idea on certain late night trains

 

[Fincra5]

Apart from Southeastern High Speed how many other operators announce where the toilets are on every train???

A couple of ex-airline guards do this, as well as reminding people that this is a strictly none smoking service....

 

[starrymarkb]

The DDA regulations lay down a minimum requirement for audible announcements, and frankly what they regard as a minimum is what many passengers regard as intrusive and excessive.

Pretty much this Swiss trains have an auto announcer that does three languages quicker then most UK announcements.

French and German trains just announce the next stop, though German ones are a little more verbose as they include "Next Stop: [Station], Change for IC/S/U-Bahn/Tram as applicable, Doors open on Left/Right"

 

[TDK]

So I take it that its down to conductors discretion whether the automated announcement is used or not?

On many units it is the driver who inputs the route code for the auto announcer. It can be annoying on some stock as the announcer is triggered by the door interlock being broken and before the days of GSM-R if a driver had to egress the train to go to an SPT the auto announcer would take that as a station stop. Most of the units I drive have pretty good auto announcers even allowing for request stops.

 

[moogal]

But some announcements are useless and annoying. No one is suggesting important safety announcements should not be made. It's all the non-essential ones that annoy people

Problem is, of course, everyone has their own idea of what is or isn't essential or useless...

 

[Squaddie]

I've noticed recently that Underground train drivers in London seem compelled to announce

Ladies and gentlemen, we're being held at a red signal. We should be moving as soon as possible.

every time the train stops between stations. None of that message actually imparts any useful information whatsoever.

 

[trentside]

I believe that Underground drivers are required to make an announcement when stopped for 30 seconds or longer.

This is regardless of whether they have additional information to offer than that quoted above or not.

 

[sd0733]

We're required at LM, as part of their PIDD policy (passenger information during disruption) to make an announcement within 2 minutes of coming to a stand even if its just saying further information will be said when known. There's all sorts of scripts to use for various scenarios that are supposed to be used when thing go wrong.

With general safety announcements, I'll often add something to the end of an auto-announcement such as connection times, platforms, where lifts are etc, or now and again ill just press the PA button before the auto starts and do a manual one instead. the rest of the time I leave it to get on with it. I try and cut to the chase on manual ones, not waffle on and bore people but say the useful stuff that they may need.
I'll do different trains differently so a train out of town at 17:30 I probably wont add anything as its full of commuters who want a bit of peace whereas a maybe 10am train on a mid-week morning full of irregular day-trippers want a bit more help with connecting platforms etc.

On the 350s there used to be a load of recorded announcements such as keep feet off seats, 1st class tickets in 1st, sorry for no toilets, general delays and underground service on different lines a few months ago they all disappeared overnight and now there are no extra messages programmed in.

 

[Via Bank]

I've noticed recently that Underground train drivers in London seem compelled to announceevery time the train stops between stations. None of that message actually imparts any useful information whatsoever.

Well, it tells the passengers that the train hasn't broken down between stations, and that no-one on the train has pulled the alarm. So it eliminates two possibilities—and what alternative is there? Passengers like to be told, and should be told, particularly if they're unfamiliar with the system, why the train has stopped between stations.

 

[6Gman]

My pet hate is the ATW "this train calls at the following principal stations", and then lists every calling point.

What's that all about?

Why not "this train calls at ..." ?

 

[Starmill]

My pet hate is the ATW "this train calls at the following principal stations", and then lists every calling point.

What's that all about?

Why not "this train calls at ..." ?

It does not list request stops, which is what that refers to.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Virgin (both during- and post- CrossCountry franchise) Voyagers also display 'the following principal stations...'. Can't recall if the automatic announcements say it however.

 

[talldave]

The automated announcement on a southbound FCC 377 this afternoon at East Croydon warned Oyster users that it was the last Oyster stop and to get off or get a Penalty Fare.

 

[CC 72100]

Virgin (both during- and post- CrossCountry franchise) Voyagers also display 'the following principal stations...'. Can't recall if the automatic announcements say it however.

Indeed, although this makes all of the stations 'Principal stations'.... I mean Torre is now a 'principal station'!

On the (sort of subject) of announcements, classic example of poor, computer-generated information today at Exeter St Davids.

The 11:06 Pad - Plymouth, due at around 13:30 but running around 35 late is announced as full and standing. This train calls at Newton Abbot, Totnes and Plymouth.

The 12:06 Pad - Penzance, due in at 14:10 (right time) is also announced. However, as the 11:06 comes into platform 3, and the 12:06 into platform 4 (alongside), the decision is made that any passengers for stations beyond Plymouth should do the change here as opposed to at Plymouth.

So the train announced as 'Full and standing' has now emptied half of its load onto the 12:06*, which as we pull out of Exeter is guess what... now full and standing. :roll:

My question/gripe is therefore the following: why announce a train as full and standing (so people don't pick that one and choose the 12:06), when they then decide to turf as many people off this train as possible and make the other train, not announced as busy, standing throughout?

*To be fair the 12:06 is a bad enough train anyway on whatever day it is, and I believe the 11:06 was busier than usual as it was a 2+7 set with just 4 standard coaches.