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Commuter Wellbeing in Train Stations
- Thread starter steph_park
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Have i missed it??? Nobody seems to have mentioned the kind, supportive, and customer focused platform staff at Manchester Picc platforms 13 + 14. Many people would have been struck by trains were it not for the prompt and effective warning by these guardians of rail travel. God bless them.
From my experience there are some really friendly and helpful ones that actually assist passengers in getting to their destination and others who just send people on the next train to Manchester Oxford Road without really thinking about where they are actually going to.
3141
Established Member
Interesting to read all these ideas for increasing the total of human happiness by spending money on exercise bikes for recharging phones, covered ways from the nearest bus stop to the platform, heated waiting rooms, dampness-triggered slip hazard signs (they should also be heat-triggered for when the tarmac starts to melt during a heatwave), and emojis everywhere, but they don't go far enough. We also need compensation if ever any of these great innovations isn't in full working order, and also for those people who are quite happy with the voices currently used for announcements and won't like their replacements.
I've got two suggestions. The first one is that there's no need for new jingles, because all we need to make people feel more joyful is for "See it, say it, sorted" to be set to music. There would be a great many versions, in different musical styles, and ranging from solos to 4000-person choruses. Commuters would listen out for what was coming up next, in order to add a new version to their collection. There'd also be a counselling scheme for those who deliberately missed their train in the hope that the next jingle up would be one they hadn't heard before; it would be funded by a levy on all TOCs.
My second suggestion is that this research project ought to be cancelled.
I've got two suggestions. The first one is that there's no need for new jingles, because all we need to make people feel more joyful is for "See it, say it, sorted" to be set to music. There would be a great many versions, in different musical styles, and ranging from solos to 4000-person choruses. Commuters would listen out for what was coming up next, in order to add a new version to their collection. There'd also be a counselling scheme for those who deliberately missed their train in the hope that the next jingle up would be one they hadn't heard before; it would be funded by a levy on all TOCs.
My second suggestion is that this research project ought to be cancelled.
Removal or reduction of these announcement is never going to happen. There is a sub forum to discuss what happens in the bus industry and other transport but I'd humbly suggest that these announcements happen on the railway because of a history of litigation and blame culture.
Its raining - Somebody slips - Blame the railway for not putting up cones and warnings - Regular announcements
Someone leaves their luggage - evacuation, delays, cancellations, controlled explosion, complaints - delay repay, compensation - Regular announcements
Someone gets caught in a door - blames the railway - hustle alarms, stand behind the yellow line
blah blah blah - etc etc - more annoucements.
These announcements are a consequence of a blame and claim culture. Look at the thread about hanging your head out the window. Yep, railways fault, need better signage, bars on windows, announcements and reminders not to lean out the window.
Unfortunately, people do need to be told that all that rain, makes the platforms wet and slippery.
CaptainHaddock
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Or how about a radical solution, scrap ticket barriers altogether and stop treating every passenger as a potential criminal? Instead you could replace the barriers with real live human beings who can not only check tickets but also offer helpful advice and a brief social interaction in our increasingly technology-obsessed and lonely society.
3141
Established Member
I do not feel I am being treated like a potential criminal when I encounter a ticket barrier.
People checking tickets do not scrutinise every single one. If they did, passengers would be slowed down. Even more if everyone stopped for a brief social interaction, which would do very little to counteract a "lonely society". It is not difficult to get past ticket checkers with an invalid ticket. It's more difficult to fool a ticket barrier. To get back on topic, most of those who might feel more joyful to see barriers replaced by real live human beings would be fare-dodgers..
175mph
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I've heard classical music being played over the speaker system at Hull Paragon.
61653 HTAFC
Veteran Member
At Huddersfield: Trained snipers up in the rafters, ready to take out anyone who walks up or down the right-hand side of the staircase.
Trainfan2019
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Nice one!
Warm waiting rooms at Sheffield and Derby along with usb points, mains sockets, enforced stairs direction control at Sheffield. All would make a better station experience .
Tracked
Established Member
Not really, when I go into work I have to swipe my ID card at some barriers to get in, this does not make me feel like a criminal either. The one thing about ticket gates would be acceptance of tickets - I had a season ticket to Derby several months ago that I had to get out of the plastic wallet to put through the machine, which was less convenient than having something to scan on the wallet.
On Platform Things:
Current seating is usually metal/plastic-topped and generally uncomfortable and cold, but easy to wipe clean
Platforms exposed to the elements, other than maybe a waiting room/shelter near the entrance
Rather a strange permise for a thread;
"Commuter Wellbeing in Train Stations".
I know that some commuters think that the railway is only run for their convenience, but inconveniently for them, there are plenty of other passengers whose wellbeing is of equal importance, especially at the station specifically mentioned so far.
"Commuter Wellbeing in Train Stations".
I know that some commuters think that the railway is only run for their convenience, but inconveniently for them, there are plenty of other passengers whose wellbeing is of equal importance, especially at the station specifically mentioned so far.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
That's an "anti yoof" thing. Much better than "mosquitos", which I as a 40 year old with particularly good hearing can hear (they're like cat scarers), and they are painful.
Have you seen it, said it and sorted it yet?
To be fair to that campaign I do know the number - 61016 - but wouldn't it be as easy to do it via 101?
Can you text 101? It's quite good that you can discreetly text 61016 and, in my experience, get a pretty quick response asking for more information. Even if the police cannot attend straight away, it is at least logged - so useful for reporting tissue beggars and the like - to help them build up intel and perhaps focus more resources later on.
The frequency of these announcements is based on our national security level, so if we want less announcements then we need to reduce that. We've been one level off the top for years now.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
No, but perhaps if you could it'd help policing as a whole?
See the separate thread where it is quite clear buses need to do more to give information to passengers, not less. We should not be aspiring to copy what buses do!
pdeaves
Established Member
Unfortunately, the word 'commuter' has become a substitute for 'passenger' in mainstream media and daily use.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
They need to give more running information to passengers, not add all the wibble.
Let's have gateline staff serve coffee and allow people to sit down for a chat. Great for a train that dumps 200 people at a station all at once, with another 50-100 coming through to get on the same train.
Good for keeping staff numbers up of course. But I think some bean counter is going to question having 20 members of staff who are standing around doing very little once the train has gone and the next one isn't for 20 or 30 minutes.
I assume that's why they invented gatelines.
Would be a good idea. Maybe also an official app to let you report things online. I know you can do via the web, but I found the process was quite time consuming. With an app you could potentially have your details confirmed in advance, and the GPS location recorded, making it quicker to report something.
Perhaps something akin to using Waze to report an incident on a street.
The downside for the police is that if you make it too easy to report things, people may actually report things they currently don't bother to do precisely because it takes time.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
This would mess with stats, but would otherwise be no bad thing.
Indeed. A lot of police want more people reporting things as they know what's going on, but without the logs to back things up they find it hard to demand more resources.
Mordac
Established Member
I once tried texting the number to report an aggressive beggar at New Street. Message wouldn't send. Claimed I needed to give permission for text messages that might charge money (isn't the number free?) but even when I gave the permission, nothing was forthcoming.Have you seen it, said it and sorted it yet?
To be fair to that campaign I do know the number - 61016 - but wouldn't it be as easy to do it via 101?
Really? Only amongst commuters.
pdeaves
Established Member
I disagree. Local and national news sources regularly talk about commuters when they mean passengers. 'Commuters will benefit from...'; 'Commuters will have above RPI fares rises', that sort of thing.
70014IronDuke
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Why commuter wellbeing, please? What about other passengers, and, as you use later, users of stations?
EDIT - oh, I came back to this thread and now see others have raised this point.
Local and national news sources' ignorance about all things rail are legendary and that is often demonstrated here. So in one of the best rail-informed social media environments, the few misinformed members are perpetuating that misconception.
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pdeaves
Established Member
Not at all, merely suggesting that when the original poster wrote 'commuters' they probably really wanted to know about all station users.
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