Should Covid announcements cease from 27th January?

[duncanp]

Moderator note: Split from

Trains told to get rid of torrent of 'Tannoy spam'

This is quite topical considering a few recent threads! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60069429 If you're a commuter returning to the office after a long period of working from home, you may soon notice a subtle difference on your morning train. In the next few months, rail chiefs will...

www.railforums.co.uk

...and they can make a start with all the COVID related nagging, such as. "..please wear a face covering out of respect for others..."

 

[Class 33]

Amazed no one has so far responded to your thread Duncan!

My answer to your question is ABSOLUTELY YES. From 27th January on trains we should no longer be hearing conductors on the PA whittering on with such things as "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard this 1700 LNER service to Edinburgh. Can you please ensure you are wearing a face mask for the entirity of your journey, whether you're in your seat or walking through the train, out of respect to all other passengers and train crew onboard this service today. Your mask should cover your nose and mouth at all times. Covid has not gone away. We're still all in this together... blah.. blah... blah.....". This sort of messaging really needs to end without fail from 27th January! Also they need to remove all the pre-recorded automated PA announcements about face masks too, and from their onboard scrolling display screens/TV monitors, and all the signs/stickers about face masks! All needs to go!

 

[Merseysider]

Yep. Don’t need or want to hear the same thing announced dozens and dozens of times with various degrees of self-righteousness. Round my current area of Birmingham nobody pays attention to the mask announcements anyway.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Indeed and Shapps claim credit for reducing announcements!

 

[SouthEastBuses]

Yeah. We ******* get it that we should wear masks if possible (though no longer mandatory, and I fully support those who chose to wear one, likewise those who chose not to - I believe in freedom of choice), no need to repeat it a billion times!

 

[Nicks]

Absolutely the TfL ones on buses and the underground are off the scale. At the end of the day public transport exists to just move people from A to B not to preach - TfL is also guilty of numerous other poster campaigns instructing behavioural change - just take a look at any underground station and count these messages.

 

[Class 33]

The PA announcements going off in Sports Direct stores are seriously out of date. They go something like this "In line with government guidelines and to keep you safe, we've introduced social distancing measures. Please keep at least a 2 metre distance from other customers and staff at all times. Please also ensure you are wearing a face mask at all times." This was(and still is) going off even during the period of 19th July-29th November when both these restrictions were scrapped anyway! OK we've currently got this mandatory face mask nonsense(but only till Wednesday now thank goodness), but still spouting on about that social distancing nonsense when that was scrapped over 6 months ago now??!! Come Thursday they really need to scrap those PA announcements from their stores, and move on!

 

[317 forever]

I have never liked bus tickets that have printed on them a request or a requirement that we wear masks. I have accepted the inevitability of wearing them though.

 

[yorkie]

Yeah. We ******* get it that we should wear masks if possible (though no longer mandatory, and I fully support those who chose to wear one, likewise those who chose not to - I believe in freedom of choice), no need to repeat it a billion times!

I disagree; we should NOT be asked to wear masks. I do not believe we should ever be asked. It is unacceptable for a train company to mention masks unless they said something completely neutral such as "Face coverings are optional; please respect each person's choice" or wording to that effect.

Anything else should yield a complaint to the TOC; if enough of us do that, they will eventually stop.

I have never liked bus tickets that have printed on them a request or a requirement that we wear masks. I have accepted the inevitability of wearing them though.

There is no inevitability; buses I saw in London yesterday consisted of more people not wearing them than wearing them and that's before the mandate ends on Wednesday.

We need to stop there being any expectation of flimsy masks being worn; it's ludicrous and we need to stand up against it.

 

[SouthEastBuses]

I disagree; we should NOT be asked to wear masks. I do not believe we should ever be asked. It is unacceptable for a train company to mention masks unless they said something completely neutral such as "Face coverings are optional; please respect each person's choice" or wording to that effect.

What I mean is freedom of choice - people should, in my opinion, choose if they want to wear them or not

 

[yorkie]

Yes if they are going to mention it, then they need to do so in a totally neutral way.

I suspect LNER will try to patronise and coerce us as they did before...

 

[Eyersey468]

Yes if they are going to mention it, then they need to do so in a totally neutral way.

I suspect LNER will try to patronise and coerce us as they did before...

I agree

 

[Class 33]

GWR has a new pre-recorded PA announcement. It is "Thank you for wearing a face covering, if you can. Out of courtesy to others.". I had to endure hearing that 26 times on the 1050 Penzance-Cardiff Central service today after departing every station! I find this announcement irritating. Basically saying thanks to those wearing face coverings and being courteous to other passengers. Yet if you're not wearing a face covering you're not getting any thanks and you are deemed not being courteous to other passengers! It's so one sided! Hopefully they're not going to keep those PA announcements going for months and months and months to come. But I wouldn't be surprised if they do unfortunately.

 

[yorkie]

GWR has a new pre-recorded PA announcement. It is "Thank you for wearing a face covering, if you can. Out of courtesy to others.". I had to endure hearing that 26 times on the 1050 Penzance-Cardiff Central service today after departing every station! I find this announcement irritating. Basically saying thanks to those wearing face coverings and being courteous to other passengers. Yet if you're not wearing a face covering you're not getting any thanks and you are deemed not being courteous to other passengers! It's so one sided! Hopefully they're not going to keep those PA announcements going for months and months and months to come. But I wouldn't be surprised if they do unfortunately.

Completely unacceptable behaviour from GWR.

Clearly some of the individuals at the top of the company are out of touch with reality.

This makes me more determined to push back against this nonsense.

 

[MikeWM]

GWR has a new pre-recorded PA announcement. It is "Thank you for wearing a face covering, if you can. Out of courtesy to others.".

Yes, I noticed that on my way to/from Oxford on Saturday. After every station...

Tedious, though for some reason I'm less bothered by the idea that I'm being called 'discourteous' than I was by the idea I was being called 'disrepectful' in the July-November period (not that that concerned me too much either). Of course I'd much prefer not to be called either by a repeated irritating automated announcement.

 

[brad465]

GWR has a new pre-recorded PA announcement. It is "Thank you for wearing a face covering, if you can. Out of courtesy to others.". I had to endure hearing that 26 times on the 1050 Penzance-Cardiff Central service today after departing every station! I find this announcement irritating. Basically saying thanks to those wearing face coverings and being courteous to other passengers. Yet if you're not wearing a face covering you're not getting any thanks and you are deemed not being courteous to other passengers! It's so one sided! Hopefully they're not going to keep those PA announcements going for months and months and months to come. But I wouldn't be surprised if they do unfortunately.

Contrast this with Southeastern, which from recent travel experiences this weekend dropped announcements altogether; even between July 19th and December they still had "please wear a face covering, if your train is busy, unless you are exempt."