c2c quiet zones - have things improved?

[Class 33]

When I used to use c2c, the so called "Quiet Zones" were a joke as hardly anyone took notice of them. What with people gosipping away on their mobiles loudly, and business people discussing the days events at the office, and chavvy teenagers playing awful rap music through their mobiles.

Anyway some two years ago now c2c announced they would be putting an end to these "mobile phone bores" by installing hi-tech coating film on the windows of Quiet Zones to block mobile phone signals. Much to the welcome relief of passengers fed up with these nuisance mobile phone users. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...ain-carriages-block-mobile-phone-signals.html

But has this actually happened? What are c2c Quiet Zones like now? The last time I used c2c in February 2009, there was none of this special mobile phone blocking film coating in the Quiet Zones. Only more visible stickers advising mobile phones should not be used in Quiet Zones, yet there was still inevitably inconsiderate ignorant people ignoring these notices.

 

[asylumxl]

I was on one not to long ago and nobody was being obnoxious.

 

[12CSVT]

It seems to be a problem on all TOCs - travel in the quiet coach and there is usually at least one ignorant **** yapping into a mobile. From my experience the business types are no better than the teenage hoodies, and when you point out to them the notices which clearly state 'Quiet Coach' or 'please do not use mobile phones' they usually pretend either to be illiterate or non-English speaking.

 

[mickey]

when you point out to them the notices which clearly state 'Quiet Coach' or 'please do not use mobile phones' they usually pretend either to be illiterate or non-English speaking.

...whereas in France, not usually known for being a place people care about what others think, absolutely no one uses a mobile phone in any carriage - that's what the vestibules are for. And anyone, of any nationality, who starts speaking into a phone immediately gets glared at by everyone in his/her vicinity and sheepishly walks off apologising.

 

[Fred26]

...whereas in France, not usually known for being a place people care about what others think, absolutely no one uses a mobile phone in any carriage - that's what the vestibules are for. And anyone, of any nationality, who starts speaking into a phone immediately gets glared at by everyone in his/her vicinity and sheepishly walks off apologising.

It's privacy, isn't it? I hate other people hearing my conversations, especially in the quiet coach.
As far as I know, c2c's quiet coach works well in the morning peak - but then commuters don't tend to make much noise early on anyway.

 

[wintonian]

It's privacy, isn't it? I hate other people hearing my conversations, especially in the quiet coach.
As far as I know, c2c's quiet coach works well in the morning peak - but then commuters don't tend to make much noise early on anyway.

Same on SWT in my experiance.

 

[Oliver]

...whereas in France, not usually known for being a place people care about what others think, absolutely no one uses a mobile phone in any carriage - that's what the vestibules are for. And anyone, of any nationality, who starts speaking into a phone immediately gets glared at by everyone in his/her vicinity and sheepishly walks off apologising.

That's not my experience of France, which seems pretty much like England in that respect. In my experience people In England are mainly OK about not using phones in quiet coaches - if they do use them they tend to keep it quick and low volume, which I don't much mind.

 

[W-on-Sea]

Well, I travel on c2c daily (on the main line: the Tilbury loop may be a different story...), and I'd say the quiet zones are generally respected in the rush-hours, certainly (especially in the morning when some people like to sleep on their way into London!); and a bit less so at other times. (I'm not sure that I'd say that they are entirely disregarded, at least not across the board, anyway)

But one of the joys of the c2c line is that people are, more often than not, willing to give a verbal ear-bashing to anyone looking to cause trouble anyway. I did once hear a kid try to claim that he could play music out loud in a carriage precisely "because he WASN'T in the quiet zone", but he soon realised that this trying it on wasn't gonna wash for very long....

And that "film on windows" things was, AFAIK, just a publicity stunt - or at any rate a hypothetical aspiration that NX assessed (correctly) would get them a bit of publicity. The Quiet Zone carriages did get a bit of a make-over last year, with more vinyls statig that this is the quiet zone - one on every window, not just on the outside of the doors, and inside above the doors, as previously, and they are mentioned in the on-board announcement, too. But my mobile phone has never lost a signal while in those carriages!

(On another point raised here, of course the 357s don't have any vestibules)