Dot matrix displays
 

In the month now I have been using Plaistow station every morning, I don't
think I have seen it ONCE announce the arrival of a train.

What's the point of wasting electricity and failing to announce the arrival
of the next train.

Even if it was just a notice to say how many minutes, without announcing
whether it was a District or a H&C line, would be something. But instead it
just says nothing.

But why? Surely in this day and age, it's all computerised? Obviously
there's not some bod with a radio in a shed beside the tracks in East Ham
saying "Hi guys, yep, there's a train leaving just now so it should be with
you in three and, wait a minute, yep it has green coloured things to hang
on to, it's a District, I repeat, a District, over and out."

Theres a computer. So why are these things not linked up? They've got it
working at other stations so why don't they just pick up the feed from, I
don't know, Mile End, and then add VALUE=VALUE+5 to it or something?

Perhaps they really don't know in some stations. Perhaps they're utterly
clueless when a next train is coming. Which scares the pants off me, to be
honest. But let's assume a modicum of knowledge he if they know, and
they MUST know, someone MUST know in a station when the next train is due
and what it is, then bloody TELL US. Because it's a pain in the arse.

In the meantime, they're on day and night, wasting electricity (that we're
paying for, one way or another) and doing jack diddly.

Dot matrix displays
 

Not just at Plaistow. At my local station, Totteridge and Whetstone,
the indicators purport to show the time and route (ie Bank or Charing
Cross) of the next 3 trains. Trouble is they're almost always wrong.
You can generally double the time to the next arrival, and the routing
information changes every couple of minutes. As only about one train
in 4 goes via CX in the morning peak, it is especially frustrating to
wait for an indicated train, only to have it turn up via Bank.

I wrote to TfL about this last month, and got a 'we don't care' reply.
They said:-

"These problems will be solved by the new signalling system to be
installed on the Northern line. The systems take time to design,
manufacture and install, but should be in place by 2011."

Four more years to cure a simple problem, of their own making! How
difficult can it be to connect the indicators to the signals? Still,
as we only pay £1,328 a year for the privilege, who are we to complain?

Dot matrix displays
 

Not just at Plaistow. At my local station, Totteridge and Whetstone,
the indicators purport to show the time and route (ie Bank or Charing
Cross) of the next 3 trains. Trouble is they're almost always wrong.
You can generally double the time to the next arrival, and the routing
information changes every couple of minutes. As only about one train
in 4 goes via CX in the morning peak, it is especially frustrating to
wait for an indicated train, only to have it turn up via Bank.

I wrote to TfL about this last month, and got a 'we don't care' reply.
They said:-

"These problems will be solved by the new signalling system to be
installed on the Northern line. The systems take time to design,
manufacture and install, but should be in place by 2011."

Four more years to cure a simple problem, of their own making! How
difficult can it be to connect the indicators to the signals? Still,
as we only pay £1,328 a year for the privilege, who are we to complain?

Dot matrix displays
 

In message .com,
"These problems will be solved by the new signalling system to be
installed on the Northern line. The systems take time to design,
manufacture and install, but should be in place by 2011."

Four more years to cure a simple problem, of their own making! How
difficult can it be to connect the indicators to the signals? Still,
as we only pay £1,328 a year for the privilege, who are we to complain?
Do you wish to pay more than the £1,328 you already do so that TfL has
the cash to deal with these non urgent matters?

At least there are plans to rectify the situation, although I agree that
monitors which show no useful information whatsoever might as well be
turned off (or is it simple to programme them just to show average
waiting times like the central line does occasionally "Next train to
XXXXXX within 10 minutes", if it is not possible to feed real time
running information through them yet?)

--
Paul G
Typing from Barking

Dot matrix displays
 

"Tristán White" wrote in message
09.145...
In the month now I have been using Plaistow station every morning, I don't
think I have seen it ONCE announce the arrival of a train.

Oh no! How can the system operate at ALL if Plaistow is without dot-matrix
information screens! NOOOOO!!!

What's the point of wasting electricity and failing to announce the
arrival
of the next train.

What's the point in fixing it for 5 people, 1 of which seems to think they
deserve everything?

Even if it was just a notice to say how many minutes, without announcing
whether it was a District or a H&C line, would be something. But instead
it
just says nothing.

Because implementing a stop-gap solution like that would cost a lot of
money, which TfL is chastised for if it tries to raise.

But why? Surely in this day and age, it's all computerised? Obviously
there's not some bod with a radio in a shed beside the tracks in East Ham
saying "Hi guys, yep, there's a train leaving just now so it should be
with
you in three and, wait a minute, yep it has green coloured things to hang
on to, it's a District, I repeat, a District, over and out."

Yes - the computers DO know where all the trains are. The bit that's not
working in Plaistow is the part that connects that data to the screens. So
perhaps you should fine-tune your rant.

Theres a computer. So why are these things not linked up? They've got it
working at other stations so why don't they just pick up the feed from, I
don't know, Mile End, and then add VALUE=VALUE+5 to it or something?

Because that's not how computers or trains work, which would result in a
service even less useful than no service at all.

Perhaps they really don't know in some stations. Perhaps they're utterly
clueless when a next train is coming. Which scares the pants off me, to be
honest. But let's assume a modicum of knowledge he if they know, and
they MUST know, someone MUST know in a station when the next train is due
and what it is, then bloody TELL US. Because it's a pain in the arse.

So you want to waste staff time by having them tell you where the next train
is going, and when it will arrive? Do you know how much THAT costs? (Hint:
a ****load more than a dot-matrix display). Brilliant.

In the meantime, they're on day and night, wasting electricity (that we're
paying for, one way or another) and doing jack diddly.

Do you know how much electricity those signs use? Do you know how much
electricity those TRAINS use? If the answer to either is "no", you're
speaking out of your ass.

Dot matrix displays
 

Tristán White wrote:
But why? Surely in this day and age, it's all computerised?

The District Line assuredly is not computerised:

http://www.trainweb.org/districtdave...__centres.html

Obviously all that old equipment is embarrassing to see, but it does
work most of the time. Would you rather LUL blow millions on whatever
the latest gadget is?

someone MUST know in a station when the next train is due
and what it is, then bloody TELL US.

Why would they? It's the signallers and line controllers job to keep
track of where the trains are.

In the meantime, they're on day and night, wasting electricity (that we're
paying for, one way or another) and doing jack diddly.

Installing DMIs is a standard part of station refurbishment, and doing
it now saves disruption later. No idea why they're switched on though.

peter wrote:
Four more years to cure a simple problem, of their own making! How
difficult can it be to connect the indicators to the signals?

Very. And would you really want them to spend money and waste
engineering resources (and possibly shut down the line for several
days) making connections to equipment that's going to be ripped out in
4 years?

U

Dot matrix displays
 

peter wrote:

Not just at Plaistow. At my local station, Totteridge and Whetstone,
the indicators purport to show the time and route (ie Bank or Charing
Cross) of the next 3 trains. Trouble is they're almost always wrong.
You can generally double the time to the next arrival, and the routing
information changes every couple of minutes. As only about one train
in 4 goes via CX in the morning peak, it is especially frustrating to
wait for an indicated train, only to have it turn up via Bank.

I wrote to TfL about this last month, and got a 'we don't care' reply.
They said:-

"These problems will be solved by the new signalling system to be
installed on the Northern line. The systems take time to design,
manufacture and install, but should be in place by 2011."

Four more years to cure a simple problem, of their own making! How
difficult can it be to connect the indicators to the signals? Still,
as we only pay £1,328 a year for the privilege, who are we to complain?

I made some similar comments to TfL a year or so ago, I travel from
Finchley Central to Moorgate each day and it is frustrating that the
inidcator boards give inacurate information.

If your journey is via CX then you may want to get on the first train
and change at Finchley Central as it seems all of the trains coming
from Mill Hill East go via CX.

Andy

Dot matrix displays
 

Firstly apologies for the double post last time. Don't know how this
happenned.

If its so difficult and expensive to connect the signalling to the
platform displays, then why was the system installed in the first
place? And how much of our money did that cost? Wrong information is
worse than no information.

This morning at 7:22 the indicators were indicating the next three
trains as Bank, Charing X, Bank. They arrived as Bank, Bank, Charing
X. If TfL don't know where their own trains are going, they should
admit it and switch the bloody things off.

Dot matrix displays
 

peter wrote:

Firstly apologies for the double post last time. Don't know how this
happenned.

If its so difficult and expensive to connect the signalling to the
platform displays, then why was the system installed in the first
place? And how much of our money did that cost? Wrong information is
worse than no information.

It's much cheaper and easier to install indicators when you refurb a
station, rather than as a one-off project. So if you know the
signalling system due in a few years will fully support the indicators,
any ou're refurbing the station now, it makes sense to do it now.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

Dot matrix displays
 

d wrote:

"Tristán White" wrote in message
09.145...
In the month now I have been using Plaistow station every morning, I don't
think I have seen it ONCE announce the arrival of a train.

Oh no! How can the system operate at ALL if Plaistow is without dot-matrix
information screens! NOOOOO!!!

Why bother wasting money installing them at all then?

What's the point in fixing it for 5 people, 1 of which seems to think they
deserve everything?

Are you on drugs?


Yes - the computers DO know where all the trains are. The bit that's not
working in Plaistow is the part that connects that data to the screens. So
perhaps you should fine-tune your rant.

So linking the indicators to the timetable computers wasn't though of
in the design?? How did they expect the indicators to know when the
next train would arrive, tea leaves?? Or perhaps they expected the
block in the ticket off to just type it in manually every 2 minutes!

So you want to waste staff time by having them tell you where the next train
is going, and when it will arrive? Do you know how much THAT costs? (Hint:
a ****load more than a dot-matrix display). Brilliant.

How much does them sitting in their office drinking tea and reading The
Sun cost. Helping passengers is part of their job you buffoon.

Do you know how much electricity those signs use? Do you know how much
electricity those TRAINS use? If the answer to either is "no", you're
speaking out of your ass.

Its spelt a-r-s-e. An "ass" is a mammal.

B2003

Dot matrix displays
 

Paul G wrote:

In message .com,
"These problems will be solved by the new signalling system to be
installed on the Northern line. The systems take time to design,
manufacture and install, but should be in place by 2011."

Four more years to cure a simple problem, of their own making! How
difficult can it be to connect the indicators to the signals? Still,
as we only pay £1,328 a year for the privilege, who are we to complain?
Do you wish to pay more than the £1,328 you already do so that TfL has
the cash to deal with these non urgent matters?


I used to get the northern line into college in the 80s just after the
indictators had been installed. And they didn't work even then then
brand new. Theres non urgent and theres we-dont-give-a-****.

B2003

Dot matrix displays
 

"Boltar" typed

I used to get the northern line into college in the 80s just after the
indictators had been installed. And they didn't work even then then
brand new. Theres non urgent and theres we-dont-give-a-****.

The light box indicators were more useful in the '70s...

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Dot matrix displays
 

Do you wish to pay more than the £1,328 you already do so that TfL has
the cash to deal with these non urgent matters?
SNIP


UK.TRANSPORT.LONDON is a great group, very helpful, very knowledgeable.
Sadly sometimes they can be completely unhelpful and smug. That reply fell
into that category.

LUL, Metronet, etc etc make a huge profit, perhaps they could spend a small
amount of it actually doing something that will help the passengers and
improve customer satisfaction (since we are now customers).

Who is to say that commissioning artwork for Gloucester Road platforms, or
a big wire elephant for Waterloo, is a better way of spending money than on
a display system that tells customers how long to wait for their bloody
train?

2011, eh? I wonder what all the electricity would cost between now and 2011
for all those useless dot matrix displays that are always switched on?
Since they don't give any information, may as well switch them off until
then and then, shock horror, they could pass the savings onto the
"customers" and make the season tickets a tad cheaper!

If a shop carried on in that way, no one would use it. But they know
they've got us by the short and curlies.

I do a lot of travel overseas, in much poorer economies, and the
information on traintimes is much better, clearer, etc. Yes, the
naysayers here will say "oh but London Underground is so old, it's not a
modern system like in other countries...." Fiddlesticks. That may be the
argument (apparently) for not running the tubes later into the night or all
night even, but no reason why we have to have sub-standard displays.

For ****'s sake, if it's a question of orange, paint the buggers orange and
get them sponsored by Easyjet or something. There's always a way. But to
send "customers" unhelpful letters such as the one Peter got really sums it
all up, to be honest.

Dot matrix displays
 

"Boltar" wrote in news:1169220200.712897.143850
@a75g2000cwd.googlegroups.com:


Paul G wrote:

In message .com,
"These problems will be solved by the new signalling system to be
installed on the Northern line. The systems take time to design,
manufacture and install, but should be in place by 2011."

Four more years to cure a simple problem, of their own making! How
difficult can it be to connect the indicators to the signals? Still,
as we only pay £1,328 a year for the privilege, who are we to complain?
Do you wish to pay more than the £1,328 you already do so that TfL has
the cash to deal with these non urgent matters?


I used to get the northern line into college in the 80s just after the
indictators had been installed. And they didn't work even then then
brand new. Theres non urgent and theres we-dont-give-a-****.



Well said!

Dot matrix displays
 

Tristán White wrote:

(snip)

LUL, Metronet, etc etc make a huge profit, perhaps they could spend a small
amount of it actually doing something that will help the passengers and
improve customer satisfaction (since we are now customers).

(snip)

LUL does not "make a huge profit", quite the contrary in fact - London
Underground is subsidised by the state.

Dot matrix displays
 

Maybe someone at TfL reads this group! For the last two mornings the
indicator at Totteridge has been switched off.

Dot matrix displays
 

peter wrote:
Maybe someone at TfL reads this group! For the last two mornings the
indicator at Totteridge has been switched off.

Several people do, but you are more likely to get an explanation if you
send it to TfL directly:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/contact_home.shtml
--
Michael Hoffman