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Disruption messages: why do they tend to be more ambiguous?

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Saperstein

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Hi,

What happened to “Disruption is expected until the end of service”?

Now the norm seems the more ambiguous “Disruption is expected until then end of the day”.

Why?

Saperstein.
 
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Mathew S

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Hi,

What happened to “Disruption is expected until the end of service”?

Now the norm seems the more ambiguous “Disruption is expected until then end of the day”.

Why?

Saperstein.
End of service is hardly unambiguous. End of which service? End of the service altogether, or just today? What's a 'service' I though they were called trains? Etc. Etc.
Personally I'd rather, "We expect trains to be disrupted for the rest of the day." Clear, concise, and easy to read. Or, if you really want to be pedantic, then, "We expect trains to be disrupted until 4.30am tomorrow (Thursday) morning."
 

Saperstein

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Until end of service used to work fine...

It meant until end of the services that day, that might not be until after 0100 or 0200 depending on the route.

Saying, at night. “A power cut is causing disruption until the end of the day” is ridiculous.

Saperstein
 

Mag_seven

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"End of Service" vs "End of the day"? I really don't think for 99% of the travelling public there is a material difference.
 

Mathew S

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Until end of service used to work fine...

It meant until end of the services that day, that might not be until after 0100 or 0200 depending on the route.

Saying, at night. “A power cut is causing disruption until the end of the day” is ridiculous.

Saperstein
You know that's what 'end of service' means, and I know that's what it means. But we are hardly average rail travellers.

Writing for the public needs to be clear, concise, and avoid jargon. In a stressful situation especially, using simple, concise language helps get the message across quickly and clearly.
 

RLBH

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Surely "end of the day" is simpler to understand?
It's an edge case, but when services run past midnight it might not be entirely clear whether the 0015 train is disrupted. Or in the case of stations served by sleepers, disruption 'until the end of service today' may actually last until late morning tomorrow!

Equally, if there's 24-hour service, or something practically indistinguishable, 'end of service' doesn't really mean very much.
 

DarloRich

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What happened to “Disruption is expected until the end of service”?

Until end of service used to work fine...

Which service do you mean? For instance Euston has 4 services.

Surely "end of the day" is simpler to understand?

Correct. It is much clearer to the normal on the platform waiting for their train.

Writing for the public needs to be clear, concise, and avoid jargon. In a stressful situation especially, using simple, concise language helps get the message across quickly and clearly.

is the correct answer!
 

Deepgreen

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This is a very rare example of simpler, clearer language replacing slightly worse wording, rather than the other way round. Must be a mistake!
 

Steve Harris

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End of service is hardly unambiguous. End of which service? End of the service altogether, or just today? What's a 'service' I though they were called trains? Etc. Etc.
Personally I'd rather, "We expect trains to be disrupted for the rest of the day." Clear, concise, and easy to read. Or, if you really want to be pedantic, then, "We expect trains to be disrupted until 4.30am tomorrow (Thursday) morning."
A train operates a service, the same as a bus can operate a service. Hence the terminology 'train service' and 'bus service'. The 'service' being to transport you to a particular destination which is listed in the timetable for that service.
 

flitwickbeds

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I've always been confused by "until the end of service" or "until the end of the day" on my Thameslink line which runs 24/7.

We can totally disregard "end of service" as there is no end of the service.

So considering only "end of the day", does that mean about 9pm (what I guess most people consider the end of the useful day), midnight (in which case is the 0010 train running OK?), 4:30am (end of day ticket validity) or something else?

I'd much rather they just post the current estimated time of recovery, even if they have to subsequently revise that over time.
 

yorkie

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I don't see anything wrong with saying "the end of the day"; it's difficult to define when the "end of service" is for a route such as York to Manchester, with trains running in the early hours.
 

Tom B

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I did hear an announcement recently mentioning "close of traffic", and wondered whether that would make sense to most passengers.
I was on the tube a little while ago where the reason for delay given was "blocking back from Arnos" which the friend I was travelling with couldn't make head nor tail of.
 

muz379

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Not just rail enthusiasts with that one!

As a non-enthusiast “end of the day” to me, means midnight. End of service means until the trains stop running whether that’s 9pm or 3am.
I really dont think the majority of passengers share this confusion with you though . If they see any disruption suggestion until the end of day or service most are still going to check any train that's after midnight , especially if its their last train home or something .

If I see something that says disruption to the end of the day , I assume until all the trains scheduled that "day" have stopped running . If I start work on a Monday on a late but my shift runs beyond midnight , I still consider all the trains I work that after 23:59 monday as being "mondays work"
 
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