Jonn Elledge wrote:
"Neil Williams" wrote in message
...

On Mon, 13 Dec 2004 14:21:24 +0000, Mrs Redboots
wrote:


True, but I'd rather be told "Next Stop: Streatham Station" than "Bus
stopping at next bus-stop, please stand well clear of doors", which is
what one is told with monotonous regularity every 2 minutes or
thereabouts..... "Next stop: Lambeth Town Hall, please stand clear of
doors" would be less infuriating by a very long way!

A chime to get attention (preferably in the German style of using a
bell chime sample rather than a nasty electronic bing-bong) followed
by the name of the stop once should suffice. It may be worth
including information on important connections if there are any.



It wouldn't have to be every stop either, as that would get irritating. But
major stop announcements could be useful. For example, on the 21 (picked out
of the air because I used it today), Moorgate, Bank, Monument, London
Bridge, Borough, Bricklayer's Arms, Old Kent Road/Dun Cow, etc. That's
somewhat less than half the stops, and would perhaps mean an announcemetn
about every three minutes. For those who don't know the route it would be
very useful.

It would be a vast improvement on current information. Then people could
give directions like "it's the second stop after Borough station" and
others might actually be able to follow those directions.

However, some of the stops you mentioned (basically the Tube stations)
are already the most obvious stops, and it would be useful to know what
the intermediate stops are - after all, many people take a bus when it
gets them closer to their destination than the Tube.

There is also the issue of multiple stops at one location (e.g. Marble
Arch, where through buses stop once entering the area, and once leaving
it - like the 74 which stops at the top end of Park Lane and the bottom
end of Gloucester Place or Baker St).

Announcing major stops whilst displaying minor stops on a screen would
probably be the best combination. If TfL really wanted to impress, the
ideal would be to use their new TV displays, showing a location map
surrounding the next stop (of the same sort they have on the bus stops
themselves) along with the name and connection information.

Bonus points for announcing/displaying realtime information at relevant
points during the journey (e.g. on a 19 approaching Sloane Square,
warning of delays to the District Line so that passengers can decide
whether to stay on to Knightsbridge for the Piccadilly).

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London