TfL countdown problems

[Railcar]

(for non-London readers, a countdown display is dot-matrix in a rectangular box fitted to a bus shelter which shows when the buses on a route will arrive. )

A countdown display local to me has been faulty for about a month. All it shows is an amber dot at the top LH corner (so the unit has power)

Other countdowns in the borough have had this fault and they have come to life in a matter of hours. This local one has been dead for four weeks.
There is a countdown in the bus shelter across the road which is working (so the system is OK)
Is anyone familiar with these countdown boxes? Do they have a processor running Windows 95, which has to be re-booted?

TfL Buses have a 'Contact Centre' (0343 222 1234)(charges apply) which is of the "press 1 for", "press 2 for" variety and which plays awful music while you are waiting. After 30 mins you get to speak to someone who has to have the whole countdown concept explained and then makes notes - but nothing gets fixed.

If you try to visit the Contact Centre (near the Westfiield shopping centre in Stratford in East London) you are halted in the reception area. The receptionist has to have the whole countdown concept explained and only then will they phone. The number that they have is that same 0343 222 1234 and their phone joins the queue "because all our operators are busy"

Has anyone out there managed to get a countdown fixed? (and what method did you use?

 

[greenline712]

Countdown is seriously old now . . . think c2005! It is also not far off being replaced by something much more techie updated. It may well be that this one is actually impossible to repair . . . there are some BR info displays along the Chiltern line that are similarly aged and long-term broken. Not ideal, but that's the way it is.

 

[Thirteen]

Countdown is seriously old now . . . think c2005! It is also not far off being replaced by something much more techie updated. It may well be that this one is actually impossible to repair . . . there are some BR info displays along the Chiltern line that are similarly aged and long-term broken. Not ideal, but that's the way it is.

Bus countdown tends to vary from borough to borough.

A more modern LED display would be ideal.

 

[Deerfold]

Bus countdown tends to vary from borough to borough.

A more modern LED display would be ideal

There's only 2 types of sign. I finalised the list of stops that were to receive Countdown II (Countdown I signs were installed in the 90s). They're all managed via TfL. There used to be a department that dealt with them (TSG) along with bus radios and ticket machines but I think it's all passed to the IT department (or IM as TfL call it) with far fewer dedicated staff.

The staff on that phone line should be able to help if you can get through.

The signs should reboot daily at about 0330 which should take less than 24 minutes (watch an example if you like

). If they're not doing for longer than that there's a fault (as you say, the amber light shows power is present).

A tender for Countdown 3 should be issued sometime soon.

 

[Edvid]

A tender for Countdown 3 should be issued sometime soon.

Contract was awarded to Vix Technology for 6 years.

Procurement of Countdown3 (CD3) Services - Find a Tender

www.find-tender.service.gov.uk

 

[Joe Paxton]

[...]
Has anyone out there managed to get a countdown fixed? (and what method did you use?)

Yes - one of the 'Contact us' web forms on the TfL website. As I recall, it took a little while for the message to work its way through the system to the relevant people, but when it did it was acknowledged and the sign did get fixed after a little while longer.

There is a 'Contact us about buses' web form, but worth noting that these days there's also the TfL Streetcare reporting system - and I can see on there a report from someone about a broken Countdown sign in Hayes (west London). From the Streetcare FAQs it states that one of the problems you can use the system to report on is issues with "bus stops and shelters".

In fact, after randomly clicking on a few markers on the map, I found this report of a broken Countdown sign aloing with an update that the fault had been resolved.

(I can also see a rather obsessional collection of reports of every bit of graffiti that someone - and one must assume it's the same person - reported along Chelsea Embankment and Cheyne Walk!)

 

[Deerfold]

Contract was awarded to Vix Technology for 6 years.

Procurement of Countdown3 (CD3) Services - Find a Tender

www.find-tender.service.gov.uk

Thanks.
I'm slightly surprised they've gone for just one supplier.
(Though less surprised when I see there were only 2 bids).