When will excessive announcements cease?

[fgwrich]

Those announcements are a common thing outside of the 80x fleet, not just limited to the HST's. There were also (but i can't remember if it's still used) announcements mentioning that for more detail for buses to visit the transport for cornwall website buses. It does seem to be include as much information as possible, which is good for those who rarely travel by rail or those on holiday and don't know the area well, but there is always the risk of giving too much information and risk causing confusion.

Ah, I spent the majority of my week avoiding IETs wherever I could. The problem I find is that it went on for too long - at some stops, the announcements were longer than the time we were actually stopped for. And some of them are far too wordy, just say change here for local bus services to this place and that, rather than listing all the stops to get it from. And cut out the doors closing and looking out for Fellow passenger ones too. On an all stops, it becomes more of an irritant than a help I found.

 

[Via Bank]

I’m not sure if anyone has mentioned it yet (quite likely), but I’d like to add GWRs HSTs into the mix for the amount of endless waffling now included. Sure, some of it may be helpful, but does it need to go on at great length now. As well as the usual This is xxx, Do not try to board the train while the doors are closing, the next station is, this is a great western railway service to xxx” we now seem to have announcements about helping passengers on and off the train, interchanges (as in change here for rail services to xxx and local bus services to xx, xx and xx, and the location of bus and taxi stops outside said station.

It certainly hit the level of when is enough, too much. Especially when you have a set with an overbearingly loud PA that vibrates every time it’s in use.

One has to wonder how useful this is when people are going to be busy getting their belongings together, hauling their bags out of the racks, sidling through the corridor, etc. They won't have time to listen to, and presumably take notes from, an essay being read out over the PA.

Surely the location of taxis and bus stops is a problem for station wayfinding (both signs and tactile maps for visually-impaired folks) rather than 'put an announcement on it'?

 

[BeijingDave]

I think the passenger experience is quite awful on UK railways now because of this.

They should make more use of PIS screens, even if just 1 scrolling message can be displayed. That is what is done here in China, and it's much less intrusive (although there are still announcements too).

The whole experience of a long journey is nowadays a miserable one in the UK. No peace and quiet, due to a combination of idiots watching rubbish on their mobile phones (volume up, no headphones) and loud, repetitive announcements. Flying is little better - we are the worst flyers I have encountered. That is confirmed to me by an English Etihad stewardess who is a distant cousin: industry-wide, the Brits in Economy Class are known to be unruly, selfish, often drunk when boarding and don't follow instructions anyway (Brits in Business Class not bad, though, compared to demanding Emiratis).

 

[Howardh]

I think the passenger experience is quite awful on UK railways now because of this.

They should make more use of PIS screens, even if just 1 scrolling message can be displayed. That is what is done here in China, and it's much less intrusive (although there are still announcements too).

The whole experience of a long journey is nowadays a miserable one in the UK. No peace and quiet, due to a combination of idiots watching rubbish on their mobile phones (volume up, no headphones) and loud, repetitive announcements. Flying is little better - we are the worst flyers I have encountered. That is confirmed to me by an English Etihad stewardess who is a distant cousin: industry-wide, the Brits in Economy Class are known to be unruly, selfish, often drunk when boarding and don't follow instructions anyway (Brits in Business Class not bad, though, compared to demanding Emiratis).

If they are drunk when boarding, that is against the law and the airline is at fault for letting them on.

Happily airlines don't flood the cabin with excessive annoying announcements, save for the sell announcements when it's buy the duty free time. Everything's in the magazine that can be downloaded, and I'm sure pax can ask what's on the trolly!

Noted on some Northern trains although the long message about suspicious items is there at least they have dropped the "see it, say it, sort it" strapline.

 

[BeijingDave]

If they are drunk when boarding, that is against the law and the airline is at fault for letting them on.

That is true but how often does it actually happen?

The fact is people are not denied boarding despite having visibly 'had a few' (especially on EasyJet and Ryanair to sunny destinations) unless they are really being a pain.

 

[takno]

One has to wonder how useful this is when people are going to be busy getting their belongings together, hauling their bags out of the racks, sidling through the corridor, etc. They won't have time to listen to, and presumably take notes from, an essay being read out over the PA.

Surely the location of taxis and bus stops is a problem for station wayfinding (both signs and tactile maps for visually-impaired folks) rather than 'put an announcement on it'?

To my mind, nobody has hopped on to a train to Cornwall figuring that they can find out on the train how to get a bus to somewhere that doesn't have a station. They will know where they're supposed to change. It's far more important to say the station name clearly and not give any false impressions than anything else.

If you are going to give information about buses it should be because something has changed, like they aren't running today. The automated garbage about things everybody who is interested already knew is literally just damaging the chances of people hearing the station name, which is what they need to know

 

[Howardh]

That is true but how often does it actually happen?

The fact is people are not denied boarding despite having visibly 'had a few' (especially on EasyJet and Ryanair to sunny destinations) unless they are really being a pain.

Started a thread under "aviation" r/e that!

Drunks allowed on planes?

We all know those who have had a few to many are still being allowed to board planes, despite it being illegal to do so. I think that's in the hope that the airline can flog them more over-priced booze on the plane to boost profits at the expense of all the other passengers wanting a pleasant...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[bramling]

If they are drunk when boarding, that is against the law and the airline is at fault for letting them on.

How would that be enforced in practice, though? Short of going down the road of a mandatory breath test on every passenger immediately prior to boarding, it’s very difficult to single people out as unfit to travel, especially when things are likely to get emotive - “so you’re leaving me stranded 4,000 miles from home?”.

That said, if it’s well known that these things will be robustly enforced then people will eventually get the message.

 

[Howardh]

To my mind, nobody has hopped on to a train to Cornwall figuring that they can find out on the train how to get a bus to somewhere that doesn't have a station. They will know where they're supposed to change. It's far more important to say the station name clearly and not give any false impressions than anything else.

If you are going to give information about buses it should be because something has changed, like they aren't running today. The automated garbage about things everybody who is interested already knew is literally just damaging the chances of people hearing the station name, which is what they need to know

Interesting that the on screen displays that I see on Northern give you information r/e connecting trains at the next station, but they are not announced over the speakers.

So if that's the case, why aren't all the announcements displayed instead? A conductor/guard may need to be aware if a blind person is travelling solo, and have the messages read out then?

 

[bramling]

It's illegal to be "drunk and disorderly" on a train - or anywhere in public - as far as I'm aware, I suppose the police would detain anyone they think falls foul of the law and let the courts decide afterwards, unless they are released after a night's sleep? At an airport the airport security police, the ones carrying guns!, could physically prevent boarding and remove them to a secure area, then charge later as police would do.

I was unfortunate enough to be a passenger when a youth, who was sat opposite me and at the start was quite pleasant, took "something" in the toilet and his behaviour was so intolerable after, the police were called to escort him off the plane on arrival. At least a train can stop to offload unruly behaviour.

The thing is chucking people off trains tends to be a last resort. Indeed station staff tend to want to offload problem people *on* to trains as it gets them out of a way, and they are less of a hazard to themselves on a train than being a liability on a station. BTP know this as well.

Really what needs to happen is an attempt to address the awful alcohol culture which pervades this country, but that will never happen. Alcohol keeps people happy, superficially at least, and there’s enough depressive in this country for many people to need an escape from. Upsetting that apple cart is in the government “too difficult” box.

 

[Krokodil]

The thing is chucking people off trains tends to be a last resort. Indeed station staff tend to want to offload problem people *on* to trains as it gets them out of a way, and they are less of a hazard to themselves on a train than being a liability on a station. BTP know this as well.

Yep, BTP are only too keen to get rid of them onto your train.

 

[Howardh]

The thing is chucking people off trains tends to be a last resort. Indeed station staff tend to want to offload problem people *on* to trains as it gets them out of a way, and they are less of a hazard to themselves on a train than being a liability on a station. BTP know this as well.

Really what needs to happen is an attempt to address the awful alcohol culture which pervades this country, but that will never happen. Alcohol keeps people happy, superficially at least, and there’s enough depressive in this country for many people to need an escape from. Upsetting that apple cart is in the government “too difficult” box.

If anyone's wondering, I deleted my original reply (which you quoted) as to not stray too much off-topic. I started a thread under aviation to cover drunks on planes!

 

[387star]

Interestingly Dilton Marsh has been added to automated on train announcements at last! Oddly it omits the fact it's a request stop and a front door only platform.

There's a glitch at SWR manned stations as they announce GWR Portsmouth to Cardiff services as conveying first class. This has been going on for weeks.

I'd rather little things like that were sorted than waffle about buses although buses just as important as Rail in fighting climate change

 

[Bikeman78]

I think the passenger experience is quite awful on UK railways now because of this.

They should make more use of PIS screens, even if just 1 scrolling message can be displayed. That is what is done here in China, and it's much less intrusive (although there are still announcements too).

The whole experience of a long journey is nowadays a miserable one in the UK. No peace and quiet, due to a combination of idiots watching rubbish on their mobile phones (volume up, no headphones) and loud, repetitive announcements. Flying is little better - we are the worst flyers I have encountered. That is confirmed to me by an English Etihad stewardess who is a distant cousin: industry-wide, the Brits in Economy Class are known to be unruly, selfish, often drunk when boarding and don't follow instructions anyway (Brits in Business Class not bad, though, compared to demanding Emiratis).

I've been in Europe for the past week. No automatic announcements, just occasional brief messages from the guard about the next stop. Absolute bliss.

Also interesting to compare the number of platform staff. At busy stations such at Utrecht the guard dispatches the train on their own. One train had three people pressing the buttons after the guard had closed her local door. They all stepped back as soon as it moved. No one shouted at them to stand behind the yellow line. In fact there is no yellow line.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 22 Apr 2023 ==

To my mind, nobody has hopped on to a train to Cornwall figuring that they can find out on the train how to get a bus to somewhere that doesn't have a station. They will know where they're supposed to change. It's far more important to say the station name clearly and not give any false impressions than anything else.

Agreed. When I went to the US, I didn't rock up at the airport and hope for the best. I planned the train and bus journey to the hotel before I left home.