On Friday, 6 April 2018 14:25:06 UTC+1, michael adams wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...

Well, what did come in about the same time is indicators at a bus stop
telling you when your wanted bus is likely to arrive.

According to posters on uk.transport.london these often
malfunction and have actually been removed from some stops.

They seem to malfunction due to water or dodgy connections and I'm not sure why they get removed or installed at particular stops.
They indicate how long until the next bus in mins, which might not be very accurate as it depends on speed and traffic but it's a reasonable guide I think they take the times from the same data as the phone apps do.


On the tube I sometimes use the District Line. Look at old
photos from the 1910's 1920's and you'll see train
indicator boards on the platforms. Blue glass panels
with the destinations lit from behind with a bulb.

They still have one at stepney green station, the only one they have.
They can;t indicate any problems either and for some reason even the 'tannoy' can;t report that the line is out it seems.



One hundred years later they installed digital (or whatever)
indicator boards. Go into any Distict line station and you
will see a notice "Please check the destination on the front
of the train as the indicator board may not be correct"

Yes that is true but it's not the norm, they only annouce such things rarely.
It's a far bigger problem on the buses as destination often change and you have to get off and changes buses, getting the next one, if you're lucky.


And they've not been correct whenever I've travelled.
This has been going on for months.

I've only noticed such a thing last a day or so.

But if it "may" not be correct what's the point of having it at
all ? Why not just switch it off until its fixed ?

A reasonable Q , but maybe they don't know it's incorrect until passengers tell them ;-)





And air con on some buses too.

I do use buses quite a bit out of rush hour as they are a pleasant way to
travel with no parking hassles.

Do you find you can read on buses ? Otherwise what do you do
just look out the window ?

I normaly just look out of the window or observe what others are doing, sometimes I listen to what people are saying on the phone conversations, they can be funny.


But then I also get free travel.

Indeed.Just think of the poor sods who are having to pay to have
loudspeakers blaring at them proffering this totally superfluous
information. At every single stop !

Mine's about £1k per year just zones 2/3


Can't say
the announcements particularly annoy me unless very loud which would be a
fault condition.

The volume is solely at the discretion of the driver. As with tubes
the maximium appears to be such as to overcome the noise of a revving
engine or a tube in a tunnel.

That would make sense, although on some stations the messages while they can be heard are difficult to understand.


But could see someone not used to them and looking for a
reason to convince themselves not to use a bus could get annoyed by them.
;-)

If somebody could produce a genuine reason for their use -

Handy for those new to the area I suppose. Might be handy too for those that might not understand how to prounounce certain names of places.
I can usualy ignore them, but sometimes you get a bus that is not from the area and it announces stops that arent where it;s stopping.



if you
insist they could be switched on and off as blind people boarded and
alighteed from the bus -

Is that just the audio or the rotating message display too ?

then I wouldn't find them annoying at all. As
it is they're simply unnecessary noise pollution being inflicted on a
captive audience; many of whom are paying for the privilige.

If they annoy peolpe on their mobiles then I'd say turn the announcements UP.



michael adams

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