"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 21:23:19 on Tue, 5 Jan 2021,
NY remarked:
"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
Indeed, I don't think anyone stopped calling Thameslink, "Thameslink",
even when it was operated by FCC.

I remember arriving at St Pancras, maybe on foot or maybe by a tube line,
looking for the "new" (as it was then)

The station opened in 2007...

Thameslink station, following the closure of old KX Midland City station
on Pentonville Road. And I couldn't find it anywhere. All the other lines
were clearly marked on overhead signs, but there were no signs to
Thameslink. Eventually I though I'd try the "Govia" line

...and Govia didn't take over the franchise until 2014.

Interesting. I must have mis-remembered the timing of my visit. I thought
that it was soon after the new station opened, but maybe it was some time
(at least 7 years) later. Either way, it was a "new" station to *me* ;-)


- and found that this was what the Thameslink part of the station was now
called. Bloody stupid to rename it after the old name was so well known
and established. It's like all the renamings of football stadiums to
include the name of the latest sponsor.

But I agree that the different parts of the station should really be named
to represent stability (eg Thameslink/HS1/E*/MML) rather than the name of
the franchise operating it this week.

Very definitely. I'm firmly of the school of thought with everything in life
that you aim to get it right the first time and then never change it if
possible. This is diammetrically opposite to the normal school of thought
that you should rearrange the deckchairs on the Titanic as often as possible
to prevent things getting "stale". The current here-today-gone-tomorrow
owner/operator is a very different concept to the long-term service name.
Sadly each operator wants to publicise their own name rather than the
service name.

If I was in charge of allocating TOCs, I'd build a condition into the
franchise agreement that all signage, timetables etc must use the
long-established service/route name, and that your own company branding must
be *in addition* to this rather than as a *replacement* for it. Hence
"Thameslink" rather than "Govia".

In particular, a descriptive name (eg Thameslink) is always better than a
made-up name like Govia that doesn't indicate the route or coverage area.
Old "grouping" company names like LNER, LMS, GWR, Southern indicated the
territory. Modern franchise owner names like Avanti, Abellio, C2C, Govia,
Connex are meaningless. Company names should endeavour to *mean* something
about their business - sorry if that is a heretical idea!

How is Govia pronounced? GO-vee-ah (as in the classical guitarist Segovia),
Go-VI-a (as in "go via")?