On Tue, 10 Jul 2007 20:40:14 +0100, Paul Corfield wrote:

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.

Actually, that's a good example of only making the announcement in the
case of something unusual. The MTR uses left-hand running with mostly
island platforms, so most platforms are on the right-hand side of the
train. If the next station has its platform on the left side, the
announcement is made that "doors will open on the left". If its
platform is on the right side, *no* announcement about this is made.

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!

But it surely only works if the reminder takes place just as they are
leaving their belongings behind.

Is there any empirical evidence that these announcements actually make
a difference?