When my train was cancelled one morning this week, I had some twenty minutes in Barking station. c2c trains were badly affected by the bad weather and were pretty much all running late. The computerised announcer was steadfastly announcing the problem like this:
"We're sorry that the 0853 train to Fenchurch Street is delayed by approximately 17 minutes. c2c apologises for this delay and the inconvenience it may cause you." Announcements like this were practically back to back - trains are frequent at that time in the morning and one train was running 25 miniutes late. If this was announced every 2 minutes we would have heard the announcement a dozen times.
Every so often, the human announcer would override the computerised voice and give people the information they actually wanted where the next train to Fenchurch Street (and to West Ham and Limehouse) was platformed.
This is not some Luddite claim that humans are better at announcing trains than computers - it is about the relevance of the information. What people want to know is when the next train to their destination will arrive and on what platform, not how late it is, or what the driver wants for Christmas.
This may not apply to those travelling away from London, as several destinations are served and delay information may well help people, but for those going into London, the auto information was useless and its presentation irritating. It would have been better to turn it off.
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2 comments:
Couldn't agree more - the automated announcements were annoying and useless. What was and is needed is intervention from a traveller empathic entity i.e. a human being.
This simple expedient would also help with the frequent platform shuttling or intra-platform floating between platforms 5 and 8. Just announce when the next two trains to Fenchurch Street are expected to arrive, on which platform and at which intermediate stations they will be stopping.
I agree with your second paragraph, but I also think that this could be automated. Another improvement would have been to remove the per train apology and have one apology for the whole situation.
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