On Tue, 10 Jul 2007 11:53:53 -0700, alex_t
wrote:


Sorry but trains can and do terminate at North Greenwich, West Ham and
Stratford heading east on the Jubilee Line. Similarly on the Northern
Line trains can and do terminate at Euston, Charing Cross, Kennington,
Tooting Broadway and Morden. Some of these are only used on rare
occasions but announcements and displays are needed to cover this.

Well, I use Jubilee frequently and only once the train terminated at
North Greenwich (without any warnings before actually stopping at N.
Greenwich) - everything else continued to Stratford. As for
Northern, I was talking only about the southbound part south of
Kennington - where once again I've yet to catch any train going NOT to
Morden (but I use Northern much less frequently, so I'm probably
wrong).

Anyway, the point is that many other mass transit systems do not
announce the destination if the destination is the end of the line and
most trains usually go there. The announcements only made when the
destination is unusual. LUL for some reason uses more railway-like
announcements, which is understandable on some lines, but rather
strange on others.

Many lines on other networks are end to end and have no overlapping
service patterns or branches. London has those in abundance and
therefore information has to be provided. Certain other networks do make
announcements about destinations, interchanges and safety announcements
- Hong Kong MTR makes them in three languages for every stop including
telling you what side the platform will be on at the next stop.
Personally I find that very helpful as a visitor.

If you're bugged by the LU announcements then I can't imagine how you'll
react to the I-Bus system on the bus network.

I was just in the mood for a quick rant. Much better now, thank
you :-)

So glad to be of service.

And don't tell me that you think that all those excessive "security"
or "important" announcements are actually needed.

one of the biggest gripes about the system is lack of information - this
has been proven time and again via market research and customer
complaints. A number of initiatives like "Good Service" and the line
boards showing service status and the announcements were brought in
under Tim O'Toole's instruction.

I'll be the first to say it is not always perfect when an incident has
happened and displays and announcements haven't caught up. I get
particularly irritated to be told "good service" when the DMI shows 8
minutes for a train! However I do really like the service status boards
and I will always check them before going through the gates.

It is recognised that practice on announcements and messages at some
parts of the network is wrong and excessive. Work is being done to give
sensible guidelines to staff to get the right frequency and tone of
messages - give it some time and I'm sure things will improve.

I think people are forgetting that the security situation and assessment
of risk to the tube network means that certain things *have* to be said.
You only need to look at the impact of security alerts on the service
just because people have left bags, boxes and other items lying around.
The fact people leave them behind warrants a reminder! The "stand
behind the yellow line" announcements are because the platform train
interface is an area of high safety risk and people do not properly
understand what sorts of accidents can happen if they get too close to
the edge of the platform / close to a moving train. These announcements
are not given lightly - they are part of ensuring the safety and
security of the system.

I'm sure I will now get lambasted for "defending" what everyone seems to
hate.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!