Is Countdown usually this confused?
 

In article
,
(Mizter T) wrote:

On Nov 28, 12:03*am, wrote:

In article ,
(Paul Corfield) wrote:
[Countdown]
Yes it can get confused. *My guess is that because the 45 and 63
start one stop earlier at St Pancras International there is
something odd about how it deals with reality against possibly
using a scheduled departure time (i.e. the timetable). *I may, of
course, be talking complete nonsense!

I happened to see that the Countdown displays on Oxford Street
outside John Lewis were all happily displaying bus arrival times
even though the entire street was closed for the VIP event and no
bus will turn up for about another 2 hours!

The Cambridge real time bus information displays do distinguish real
time from timetable information which does reduce the confusion.
Minutes to go mean there is real time data, a clock time means it's
just in the timetable.

Are some buses just not plugged into the system at all in Cambridge
though?

At some stops, yes.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Is Countdown usually this confused?
 

On Nov 28, 11:05*am, Neil Williams
wrote:
On Sun, 28 Nov 2010 09:56:13 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

That's a display convention used all over the country.

Except Milton Keynes, apparently. *Another reason why it's a broken
waste of money.

Is there a display? I seem to remember the displays being in place
about three years ago, saying that they were under test. Last time I
looked, they were still under test.

Is Countdown usually this confused?
 

On Sun, 28 Nov 2010 12:35:28 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

What's different about Milton Keynes - the only variation that would
qualify as broken is a countdown based on the timetable rather than
actual running.

It only ever shows actual departure times rather than "N minutes", but
I'm informed by a few people who should know about such things that
the timetable is *not* loaded so these are based on actual running.

So you see:-

5 Lakes Estate 10:15

but the 10:15 is a generated real-time time, not a timetabled one.

I class this as broken because it breaks the convention used
everywhere else, so is confusing. It also means you have to look at
your watch!

Neil
--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
To reply put my first name before the at.

Is Countdown usually this confused?
 

On Sun, 28 Nov 2010 05:13:18 -0800 (PST), MIG
wrote:

Is there a display? I seem to remember the displays being in place
about three years ago, saying that they were under test. Last time I
looked, they were still under test.

They're "working" now. For some values of "working".

The whole thing was a mis-planned waste of money. As another example,
no displays are provided at the railway station, which is easily in
the top 4 busiest locations on the network. (This was supposedly
because of difficulty getting agreement on where to put them as much
of it isn't Council land, but such things are not insurmountable).

Neil
--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
To reply put my first name before the at.

Is Countdown usually this confused?
 

On Nov 28, 1:20*pm, Neil Williams
wrote:
On Sun, 28 Nov 2010 05:13:18 -0800 (PST), MIG

wrote:
Is there a display? *I seem to remember the displays being in place
about three years ago, saying that they were under test. *Last time I
looked, they were still under test.

They're "working" now. *For some values of "working".

The whole thing was a mis-planned waste of money. *As another example,
no displays are provided at the railway station, which is easily in
the top 4 busiest locations on the network. *(This was supposedly
because of difficulty getting agreement on where to put them as much
of it isn't Council land, but such things are not insurmountable).

I did wonder about that rather grand omission. But I would have
thought, er ... by the bus stops? One would have thought that it was
a yes/no question "can we put them by the bus stops?" rather any issue
of where.

Is Countdown usually this confused?
 

In message , at 13:18:17 on
Sun, 28 Nov 2010, Neil Williams
remarked:
What's different about Milton Keynes - the only variation that would
qualify as broken is a countdown based on the timetable rather than
actual running.

It only ever shows actual departure times rather than "N minutes", but
I'm informed by a few people who should know about such things that
the timetable is *not* loaded so these are based on actual running.

So you see:-

5 Lakes Estate 10:15

but the 10:15 is a generated real-time time, not a timetabled one.

I class this as broken because it breaks the convention used
everywhere else, so is confusing. It also means you have to look at
your watch!

The signs in Nottingham have a time on them. For some reason I took this
photo a couple of weeks ago (on the route heading out of the City
towards Trent Bridge): http://yfrog.com/73zb3012j

It was probably to illustrate the number of services available. In the
end I got a Premier 51/52, which isn't even included on the sign!
--
Roland Perry

Is Countdown usually this confused?
 

On Sun, 28 Nov 2010 05:27:44 -0800 (PST), MIG
wrote:

I did wonder about that rather grand omission. But I would have
thought, er ... by the bus stops? One would have thought that it was
a yes/no question "can we put them by the bus stops?" rather any issue
of where.

The stops aren't of the new type, though, which is part of the issue.
The old, flimsy green ones don't have anywhere to put it, so it'd need
to go on a pole. And there's the plan to redevelop Station Square, if
it ever happens.

Ideally, there'd be a main departure board at each of the main
locations, including inside the station. There are a few in the
shopping centre, but I can't think of any others.

Neil
--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
To reply put my first name before the at.

Is Countdown usually this confused?
 

On Sun, 28 Nov 2010 13:41:55 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

The signs in Nottingham have a time on them. For some reason I took this
photo a couple of weeks ago (on the route heading out of the City
towards Trent Bridge): http://yfrog.com/73zb3012j

As I think others have posted, the usual convention is that if it's a
timetabled time, it is shown as the time, but if it's real-time it's
shown as a number of minutes.

Neil
--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
To reply put my first name before the at.

Is Countdown usually this confused?
 

In message , at 14:04:26 on
Sun, 28 Nov 2010, Neil Williams
remarked:
As I think others have posted, the usual convention is that if it's a
timetabled time, it is shown as the time, but if it's real-time it's
shown as a number of minutes.

That's also for signs which show one or the other at different times of
day, or for different buses (depending on how well they are tracking the
buses at the time).

It sounds like the Milton Keynes ones show the time, always. But it's
going to be fairly obvious that it's not showing the timetable because
you can compare it to the timetable you are expecting and it's quite
likely to be a minute or two before or after at random.
--
Roland Perry

Is Countdown usually this confused?
 

On Nov 28, 8:00*pm, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 14:04:26 on
Sun, 28 Nov 2010, Neil Williams
remarked:

As I think others have posted, the usual convention is that if it's a
timetabled time, it is shown as the time, but if it's real-time it's
shown as a number of minutes.

That's also for signs which show one or the other at different times of
day, or for different buses (depending on how well they are tracking the
buses at the time).

It sounds like the Milton Keynes ones show the time, always. But it's
going to be fairly obvious that it's not showing the timetable because
you can compare it to the timetable you are expecting and it's quite
likely to be a minute or two before or after at random.
--
Roland Perry

Maybe it's because in Milton Keynes, they've recognised that the
timetable is of absolutely no relevance. Buses sometimes turn up;
that's about all one can say, so something telling what time that may
happen is a bonus.