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Piped music at stations

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mikeg

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I notice with utter despair that some idiot at tpe has thought it appropriate to play piped music at Thirsk Station. Does anyone else have experience of this addition to noise pollution? As an autistic person I'm at a loss. Its making somewhere I feel at home a stressful place to be. There's enough noise already at stations without the imposition of this. Needless to say I have complained.
 
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Peter C

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By "piped music", I assume you mean music being played throughout the station? If so, it may be to deter loitering - London Underground play classical music in some of their station buildings to deter those just standing around. I can't remember which ones they are but they were in the Londonist videos on YouTube about the Underground.
If it's just modern music, I can see why they would wish to make it seem more modern and cool by playing music that kids today would like, but having music and more noise which makes people such as yourself uncomfortable shouldn't be happening.

-Peter
 

mikeg

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It's classical. Your first observation however doesn't stand up to scrutiny as I've not seen any loitering at Thirsk and aren't there byelaws to deal with that?
 

CyrusWuff

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The usual reason for doing that - at least down South - is to discourage groups of youths from engaging in anti-social behaviour and loitering around the station.

Never having been to Thirsk I couldn't say if that's the logic there as well, however.
 

transmanche

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It's classical.
Think yourself lucky. Metrocentre Interchange used to play panpipe versions of pop songs... horriffic!

Your first observation however doesn't stand up to scrutiny as I've not seen any loitering at Thirsk
Just a thought, but that could suggest the music is proving to be effective.

and aren't there byelaws to deal with that?
There are, but probably not anybody available to enforce them.
 

mikeg

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I meant there never had been a problem. Not to my observation. They've started this in the past few days.
 

Howardh

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If someone cuts the wires to the speakers, is it an act of vandalism or humanitarian relief??
 

RichT54

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I hope this doesn't spread to other stations. It's becoming more common and louder in shops and shopping malls and really upsets my tinnitus to the extent that I have to avoid those places. If it was introduced at a station I was intending to use, I would have to travel by car instead.
 

Peter C

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It's classical. Your first observation however doesn't stand up to scrutiny as I've not seen any loitering at Thirsk and aren't there byelaws to deal with that?
If you are referring to my comment and apologies if you aren't, but all I said was something I'd heard in a Londonist video?....

-Peter
 

geoffk

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This has been common practice at some bus stations for a while. As a classical musician myself, I can imagine what some of the composers of the past would have to say about the use of their music in this way! Not come across it at rail stations; Thirsk seems a surprising choice as the station is well out of town. Where next for TPE - Barnetby?
 
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route:oxford

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As an autistic person I'm at a loss. Its making somewhere I feel at home a stressful place to be. There's enough noise already at stations without the imposition of this. Needless to say I have complained.

What happens if it's being played at the request of an autistic person who finds it soothing and helpful in a place where there can be sudden noise?
 
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Monument Metro in Newcastle used to have a busker to discourage loitering. At any rate, he would have had that effect on me had I ever felt tempted to loiter.
 

pdeaves

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A council (Bournemouth?) played bagpipe music to discourage homeless people. It was considered inhumane so they replaced it with The Chipmunks.
 

alxndr

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If they've just started doing it now is the perfect time to raise your feelings about it - they might be trialling it to see the impact it has and find your feedback useful. If they don't know it bothers you then there's slim chance of them stopping.
 

Howardh

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A council (Bournemouth?) played bagpipe music to discourage homeless people. It was considered inhumane so they replaced it with The Chipmunks.
Scotland's cheap nuclear deterrent. Any invaders will be repelled by the drone. Worked since Roman times, and even they stopped short when they realised Scotland had homing midges.
 

61653 HTAFC

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Really hope this doesn't catch on, but as a regular user of another TPE station (Huddersfield) I fear it's only a matter of time... Huddersfield bus station already pipes classical music during the evenings to discourage anti-social behaviour, but at such a volume that it's highly invasive, along with regular robotic safety announcements also at ear-splitting loudness:

"DO NOT WALK ON BUS CARRIAGEWAY!"

Well I definitely won't, because I won't hear the d**n bus coming now! :rolleyes:
 

Hadders

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A previous job I had involved dealing with anti-social behaviour outside convenience stores (in Milton Keynes as it happens).

One of the strategies was to play classical music (proper ‘plink-plonk’ music certainly not anything like Rule Britannia or Land of Hope and Glory :lol: ). The speakers were carefully concealed so it was practically impossible to cut the wires or damage them.

Did the trick instantly though, the hooded youth who used to hang around in the evenings causing non-end of problems for staff and customers swiftly found somewhere else to hang out.
 

route101

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What happens if it's being played at the request of an autistic person who finds it soothing and helpful in a place where there can be sudden noise?

You can please everyone now . Supermarkets now have autism hours , lanyards .
 

route101

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I notice with utter despair that some idiot at tpe has thought it appropriate to play piped music at Thirsk Station. Does anyone else have experience of this addition to noise pollution? As an autistic person I'm at a loss. Its making somewhere I feel at home a stressful place to be. There's enough noise already at stations without the imposition of this. Needless to say I have complained.

Noticed it in Australia , Sydney Central plays country music . Some surbruban Melbourne stations had music being played , modern stuff . Used play it on buses too and it stopped when the auto bus stop announcer came on .

I think Derby Bus Station plays music , kinda like it , gives the place a buzz
 

bramling

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A previous job I had involved dealing with anti-social behaviour outside convenience stores (in Milton Keynes as it happens).

One of the strategies was to play classical music (proper ‘plink-plonk’ music certainly not anything like Rule Britannia or Land of Hope and Glory :lol: ). The speakers were carefully concealed so it was practically impossible to cut the wires or damage them.

Did the trick instantly though, the hooded youth who used to hang around in the evenings causing non-end of problems for staff and customers swiftly found somewhere else to hang out.

It’s very effective. Personally I find it a highly effective method of getting unwanted hotdeskers out of my office!

Best I’ve ever seen though was a multi-storey car park in Rhyl. No classical music here, just a deafening klaxon sound played in the evening.
 

Sad Sprinter

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My local London Underground station plays classical music in the mornings to calm tempers when a queue has formed from the ticket barriers up to the high road. Perhaps that’s what they’re doing at Thirsk.
 

yorksrob

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At Waterloo they used to play military music to march people out of the barriers.
 

M60lad

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Noticed it in Australia , Sydney Central plays country music . Some surbruban Melbourne stations had music being played , modern stuff . Used play it on buses too and it stopped when the auto bus stop announcer came on .

I think Derby Bus Station plays music , kinda like it , gives the place a buzz


Having been to Derby Bus Station many times before they actually play one of the local radio stations
 

pdeaves

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As it happens, when I was at Dereham (Mid Norfolk Railway) yesterday they were playing early 60s rock and roll (newest item was probably Johnny Kidd and the Pirates' 'Shakin' All Over). Most likely for a different reason than Thirsk, though!
 

Meerkat

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Playing calm music can also make stations feel less lonely and desolate
 

Mojo

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Funnily enough I was actually thinking last week how sad it is that the practice of playing classical music at railway stations and other places open to the public seemed to have died off. I remember Great Eastern doing this back in the early 2000s to dissuade chavs from hanging around at the stations and causing trouble. LUL had it installed at a few of their stations by the PPP Infrastructure companies but you hardly hear it playing anymore. I found in addition to the benefits by fewer unsavouriness hanging around it also improved the ambience.
 

DarloRich

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Great to see the usual RUK over reaction to he slightest change in full swing! I hope it catches on. Everywhere. it would make my small unmanned station a bit less boring.

I notice with utter despair that some idiot at tpe has thought it appropriate to play piped music at Thirsk Station. Does anyone else have experience of this addition to noise pollution? As an autistic person I'm at a loss. Its making somewhere I feel at home a stressful place to be. There's enough noise already at stations without the imposition of this. Needless to say I have complained.

I am trying very hard not to cause trouble with this post:

Autistic people cannot expect things to be arranged solely for their convenience and expect, in this case, a company to change their strategy to suit their needs above all others.
 
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