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I'm not personally against next stop announcements, but I do have to question how beneficial they actually are, especially in my local area, under Arriva.
The announcements are too quiet to hear over the noise of the engine and various ADL/Optare rattles and the screens are too small for anyone without 20/20 vision to see, it seems to be more of a box ticking exercise...
This sounds like a set up issue as the guidelines are pretty specific about volumes. Screen sizes also should be visible from a certain percentage of each deck.
As an update on the new Uno EV buses, I've just been on one that is fully working. Colour monitor, screen at the front (looking in) and a screen in the middle (facing front). The colour monitor is also showing ads (silent) - currently for army cadets - and the other information is nicely animated (not annoyingly like Blackbox CIS displays).
There's also a nice projected 'welcome aboard' on the ground outside the doors. Not sure if they can change to show anything else (such as route number and destination) or it's just a static slide in a projector light.
As an update on the new Uno EV buses, I've just been on one that is fully working. Colour monitor, screen at the front (looking in) and a screen in the middle (facing front). The colour monitor is also showing ads (silent) - currently for army cadets - and the other information is nicely animated (not annoyingly like Blackbox CIS displays).
There's also a nice projected 'welcome aboard' on the ground outside the doors. Not sure if they can change to show anything else (such as route number and destination) or it's just a static slide in a projector light.
As an update on the new Uno EV buses, I've just been on one that is fully working. Colour monitor, screen at the front (looking in) and a screen in the middle (facing front). The colour monitor is also showing ads (silent) - currently for army cadets - and the other information is nicely animated (not annoyingly like Blackbox CIS displays).
There's also a nice projected 'welcome aboard' on the ground outside the doors. Not sure if they can change to show anything else (such as route number and destination) or it's just a static slide in a projector light.
Thanks to the air cooling, they're literally cool too - and the windows are lockable to stop all the cold air escaping.
I am not sure yet how good they are at heating. I did note that one bus was full of condensation so the air isn't being conditioned to remove humidity, and that's a shame. It does mean they might not be quite as nice in the coming winter.
The bus drivers mostly seem to love them, but one did say he hates them. He says it is too erratic on acceleration and braking, and he believes it's just a Government scam ('tick-box exercise') and a stop-gap before they return to more modern clean diesels.
I have a feeling he might be wrong on that assumption.
To keep on topic, the bus I took later the same day was back to just having the information on the colour screen and the LED displays were off.. and no audio either. In fact, I don't think I've heard any of the BYD EV buses say anything yet.
There are now a lot more of them in daily use but I'm not keeping track of which ones I'm on.
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Update: Went on one of the newest BYD buses with Uno (I guess they've taken more deliveries) and it has a different interior and screen layout (screen on another side) and this one was fully working with all three displays on AND audio.