I noticed at Tottenham Court Road station this afternoon that the service
status board at the top of the escalators had printed stickers saying
"Service running well" instead of "Good service". I think it's a slightly
more acceptable phrase, giving the impression that the trains are running
more or less to timetable, without claiming that the timetable offers a
"good" service.

Other station boards that I saw today, and the painfully loud and
over-frequent announcements at Gloucester Road (District/Circle) about
which I complained, continued to use "Good service".
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

"Richard J." wrote in message
...
I noticed at Tottenham Court Road station this afternoon that the service
status board at the top of the escalators had printed stickers saying
"Service running well" instead of "Good service". I think it's a slightly
more acceptable phrase, giving the impression that the trains are running
more or less to timetable, without claiming that the timetable offers a
"good" service.

Other station boards that I saw today, and the painfully loud and
over-frequent announcements at Gloucester Road (District/Circle) about
which I complained, continued to use "Good service".

Please direct your complaints about "Good service" to:

I noticed at Tottenham Court Road station this afternoon that the
service
status board at the top of the escalators had printed stickers saying
"Service running well" instead of "Good service". I think it's a
slightly
more acceptable phrase, giving the impression that the trains are
running
more or less to timetable, without claiming that the timetable offers a
"good" service.

Other station boards that I saw today, and the painfully loud and
over-frequent announcements at Gloucester Road (District/Circle) about
which I complained, continued to use "Good service".

Please direct your complaints about "Good service" to:




Call me a sceptic, but is the differentiation between "normal service" and
"good service" a very carefully considered one by TFL?

JP

Robin Mayes wrote:
"Richard J." wrote in message
...
I noticed at Tottenham Court Road station this afternoon that the
service status board at the top of the escalators had printed
stickers saying "Service running well" instead of "Good service". I
think it's a slightly more acceptable phrase, giving the impression
that the trains are running more or less to timetable, without
claiming that the timetable offers a "good" service.

Other station boards that I saw today, and the painfully loud and
over-frequent announcements at Gloucester Road (District/Circle)
about which I complained, continued to use "Good service".

Please direct your complaints about "Good service" to:



My complaint today was partly about the excessive volume at Gloucester
Road, and was logged with the station supervisor there. I don't have a
problem with the principle of these messages. It's actually been quite
useful to me on a couple of occasions in Central London to know that there
are delays on my intended line, and to divert immediately to another route.
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

"Richard J." wrote in message
...

My complaint today was partly about the excessive volume at Gloucester
Road, and was logged with the station supervisor there.

The main trouble with 'excessive volume' on P.A. systems on the Underground
is station staff have no way of altering the volume levels for different
parts of the station. A recording that is audible for a platform with a
train arriving will be booming within the ticket hall, a recording that
sounds suitable at 5am will sound too quiet at 5pm. There is no way for the
staff who are doing the recording to know that the volume will be too loud,
as over the years P.A. zones have had the volumes turned up or down by
engineers so it's a case of trial and error, sadly.

Robin Mayes wrote:
"Richard J." wrote in message
...

My complaint today was partly about the excessive volume at
Gloucester Road, and was logged with the station supervisor there.

The main trouble with 'excessive volume' on P.A. systems on the
Underground is station staff have no way of altering the volume
levels for different parts of the station. A recording that is
audible for a platform with a train arriving will be booming within
the ticket hall, a recording that sounds suitable at 5am will sound
too quiet at 5pm. There is no way for the staff who are doing the
recording to know that the volume will be too loud, as over the years
P.A. zones have had the volumes turned up or down by engineers so
it's a case of trial and error, sadly.

Yes, I was given that excuse at Bank a couple of years ago. It was a
reason then, perhaps. After 2 years, it's an excuse. Can't you fit an
adjustable resistor (volume control) to the speakers that are too loud, or
is that too simple?

The problem at Gloucester Road, I was told today, is that broadcasts from
Earl's Court are much louder than announcements made by station staff, and
the engineers haven't managed to balance them properly, or perhaps claim
that this isn't possible.
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

"Richard J." wrote in message
...
Robin Mayes wrote:
"Richard J." wrote in message
...

My complaint today was partly about the excessive volume at
Gloucester Road, and was logged with the station supervisor there.

The main trouble with 'excessive volume' on P.A. systems on the
Underground is station staff have no way of altering the volume
levels for different parts of the station. A recording that is
audible for a platform with a train arriving will be booming within
the ticket hall, a recording that sounds suitable at 5am will sound
too quiet at 5pm. There is no way for the staff who are doing the
recording to know that the volume will be too loud, as over the years
P.A. zones have had the volumes turned up or down by engineers so
it's a case of trial and error, sadly.

Yes, I was given that excuse at Bank a couple of years ago. It was a
reason then, perhaps. After 2 years, it's an excuse. Can't you fit an
adjustable resistor (volume control) to the speakers that are too loud, or
is that too simple?

The problem at Gloucester Road, I was told today, is that broadcasts from
Earl's Court are much louder than announcements made by station staff, and
the engineers haven't managed to balance them properly, or perhaps claim
that this isn't possible.

When Peter Ford was doing a station visit 8 years ago at Bank I ensured he
realised the problems we had with the P.A. system. I was assured then that
'something would be done to sort it out', looks like it's still totally out
of balance. Perhaps if you know so much about P.A. systems you should
contact Metronet and Tubelines offering to be a consultant for free ;-0

Richard J. wrote:
I noticed at Tottenham Court Road station this afternoon that the service
status board at the top of the escalators had printed stickers saying
"Service running well" instead of "Good service".

I heard a similar announcement on Saturday - while going up the
escalator at Oxford Circus because Tottenham Court Road, where I was
actually going, was closed.

This turned out to be a defective escalator. I DON'T agree that this is
a good reason to close a station. The announcement that the train was
non-stopping TCR could equally well have been a strong warning about
having to walk to the surface, which would reduce numbers at TCR while
not inconveniencing the fit or those just changing trains there.

Colin McKenzie

"Robin Mayes" wrote in message .. .

The main trouble with 'excessive volume' on P.A. systems on the Underground
is station staff have no way of altering the volume levels for different
parts of the station. A recording that is audible for a platform with a
train arriving will be booming within the ticket hall, a recording that
sounds suitable at 5am will sound too quiet at 5pm. There is no way for the
staff who are doing the recording to know that the volume will be too loud,
as over the years P.A. zones have had the volumes turned up or down by
engineers so it's a case of trial and error, sadly.

Microphone in each zone to measure the ambient noise level, and alter
the PA level accordingly? Shouldn't be that expensive, and would
alter the PA level dynamically as the ambient noise level changes.