Child doing safety announcements - Baker St Bakerloo Line

[Mag_seven]

While passing through Baker St on the Bakerloo Line today I'm convinced I heard a child's voice making an announcement about standing back from the edge of the platform etc. Is it for real or was I imagining it?

 

[Bungle965]

There was one at Leeds, which did my bloody head it telling us not to trespass on the railway, the volume switch was far too high for a start. It seems to have gone the same way as the same irritating hologram at the bottom of the escalator. Hopefully in the bin!
Sam

 

[yorkie]

Was it a pre-recorded announcement, done for deliberate effect?

Or are you thinking perhaps it was someone on work experience or accompanying a parent to work?

 

[rmt4ever]

While passing through Baker St on the Bakerloo Line today I'm convinced I heard a child's voice making an announcement about standing back from the edge of the platform etc. Is it for real or was I imagining it?

You are right . I heard it and thought I was going demented !!

It’s very unprofessional and sounds ridiculous I think... and like someone else said they turned the volume for it up full blast.

It just sounds idiotic.

 

[Daniel]

But you noticed it and listened to the message within the announcement enough to recall it and post about it, which was the whole point. It may sound idiotic, but it works.

Though I will readily admit there’s no reason for the volume to be excessively loud.

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

Canary Wharf Jubilee Line station held an open day recently during which children could make platform announcements.

Airlines have interesting approaches to the safety videos, I have seen some narrated by children or comedians in an attempt to make us watch.

 

[bluegoblin7]

Pre-recorded. It's been in place for a few months now, along with some others.

They're all having a positive impact on reducing PTI incidents at Baker Street, which has long been a hotspot.

 

[rmt4ever]

But you noticed it and listened to the message within the announcement enough to recall it and post about it, which was the whole point. It may sound idiotic, but it works.

Though I will readily admit there’s no reason for the volume to be excessively loud.

I couldn’t hear the content just a kiddies voice so don’t know what it was on about.

 

[rmt4ever]

Pre-recorded. It's been in place for a few months now, along with some others.

They're all having a positive impact on reducing PTI incidents at Baker Street, which has long been a hotspot.

Maybe if LT hadn’t bought trains which increase the gap massively ....

 

[yorksrob]

It's a shame they didn't get the late Gerry Rafferty to record some announcements at Baker Street !

 

[NSEFAN]

Maybe if LT hadn’t bought trains which increase the gap massively ....

If this refers to S stock, increasing the gap is a result of having step free access and tight curves.

 

[bluegoblin7]

If this refers to S stock, increasing the gap is a result of having step free access and tight curves.

In the majority of places overall the gap has been reduced anyway, through a combination of factors including thinner cars at sole bar level and moving platform coping stones. This is the reason why, for example, the A stock couldn't run south of Wembley Park after withdrawal. At Baker Street many of the gaps are smaller, but in a few places they have increased unavoidably due to longer cars and different door placements. It's always going to be a compromise on a network such as the Tube, and you can only mitigate the risk rather than eradicate it - as mentioned, tight curves will always increase the gaps. It should also be noted that the gaps at Baker Street are not as wide as some on the network - Waterloo and Bank both spring to mind. It's a fact of life, unfortunately, that some people just won't notice the various mitigations in place and not mind the gap.

 

[Mag_seven]

Pre-recorded. It's been in place for a few months now, along with some others.

They're all having a positive impact on reducing PTI incidents at Baker Street, which has long been a hotspot.

Interesting that it takes a childs voice to make people pay attention to the message - I wonder what the psychology is at play here?

 

[Mojo]

Interesting that it takes a childs voice to make people pay attention to the message - I wonder what the psychology is at play here?

There isn't any; it's ideas from local station staff.

 

[Ianno87]

Canary Wharf Jubilee Line station held an open day recently during which children could make platform announcements.

Airlines have interesting approaches to the safety videos, I have seen some narrated by children or comedians in an attempt to make us watch.

Virgin Atlantic a couple of years ago had theirs along the lines of "what if a gigantic squid got hold of the aircraft?" Definitely engaged me more than normal (I always make a point of trying to pay attention, but my mind invariably wanders with the normal style of video)

 

[Mag_seven]

There isn't any; it's ideas from local station staff.

I was thinking more of the psychology of those hear it i.e. why does hearing the message in a child's voice seem to make people heed the message more?

 

[rebmcr]

I was thinking more of the psychology of those hear it i.e. why does hearing the message in a child's voice seem to make people heed the message more?

Humans who found it difficult to ignore children's voices were much better at surviving as a group, and by extension became our ancestors.

 

[Busaholic]

Interesting that it takes a childs voice to make people pay attention to the message - I wonder what the psychology is at play here?

I'd imagine it's the same as was deployed by the Central Office of Information when they made short films for insertion in cinema programmes and at the end of TV broadcasting for the day in the 1980s/1990s. An ex-colleague of my wife's was responsible for some of them, and there was one I recollect which pleaded with car drivers to make sure small children were adequately strapped in: it was spoken by a child, and the unspoken message was that children were getting killed or seriously injured because of driver thoughtlessness. The fact that I still remember it after 30 years (and I wasn't its target market) shows they CAN have an effect.

 

[WideRanger]

I have only heard it on the Bakerloo Line platforms. The problem is that it's basically incomprehensible over the PA system. Which makes it annoying.

 

[whhistle]

They're all having a positive impact on reducing PTI incidents at Baker Street, which has long been a hotspot.

Until people get used to them...

 

[DanNCL]

I head these on both the Bakerloo line platforms and the Jubilee line platforms at Baker Street on Monday. The audio quality was so poor that I couldn't actually work out what it was saying.

 

[Bletchleyite]

But you noticed it and listened to the message within the announcement enough to recall it and post about it, which was the whole point. It may sound idiotic, but it works.

Though I will readily admit there’s no reason for the volume to be excessively loud.

Indeed, it's a bit crass, but it works, a bit like those "My Daddy works here" posters at roadworks.

And I bet the kid enthused about it for years afterwards.

 

[rebmcr]

Heard it on the H&C there last week, too.

 

[philthetube]

In the majority of places overall the gap has been reduced anyway, through a combination of factors including thinner cars at sole bar level and moving platform coping stones. This is the reason why, for example, the A stock couldn't run south of Wembley Park after withdrawal. At Baker Street many of the gaps are smaller, but in a few places they have increased unavoidably due to longer cars and different door placements. It's always going to be a compromise on a network such as the Tube, and you can only mitigate the risk rather than eradicate it - as mentioned, tight curves will always increase the gaps. It should also be noted that the gaps at Baker Street are not as wide as some on the network - Waterloo and Bank both spring to mind. It's a fact of life, unfortunately, that some people just won't notice the various mitigations in place and not mind the gap.

Although the gap has been reduced from what it was when the S Stock was introduced it is still slightly bigger than it was for the A stock. (inevitable because of longer cars). The biggest issue though seems to be the lack of a step. A step is noticeable and forces people to look down, a gap dosent. There was a film floating round on facebook a few months ago showing people falling down gaps in the Sydney metro, very educational and frightening.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/33061...-to-stop-driver-pulling-away-and-killing-him/ This link also demonstrates why platform edge doors are not suitable for curved platforms.

 

[Mag_seven]

Heard it on the H&C there last week, too.

And now on the NR Network -child's voice at Birmingham NS this morning.

 

[mdjw1962]

The announcements at Baker Street are annoying in themselves but it’s the frequency that is ridiculous. Every single minute there is a puerile announcement. Makes for a very unpleasant ‘travel experience’. They need to turn them off. Or if they insist, a LOT less of them.

 

[Clip]

The announcements at Baker Street are annoying in themselves but it’s the frequency that is ridiculous. Every single minute there is a puerile announcement. Makes for a very unpleasant ‘travel experience’. They need to turn them off. Or if they insist, a LOT less of them.

Depends if you are
a) a frequent user who will be annoyed
b) an infrequent traveller who will find them usefull
c) the lareg amount of tourists who use this station who will have never heard them before and which will be invaluable

Cant please everyoone im afraid

 

[Bucephalus]

Speaking of almost which, there was a woman's voice recording on a jubilee train yesterday very quickly saying "the train is about to depart, please mind the doors". It didn't sound like an official announcement and I thought it was the actual driver at first, until it happened at the next station.

Those 1996 stock haven't aged well, I have to say

 

[Sad Sprinter]

Heard it at Paddington, something about eerie about a child's voice telling you to mind the gap or whatever.

 

[Railguy1]

The problem with the voice at Baker Street is that you cannot even understand what the young person is saying, so it makes the message completely irrelevant in my opinion.