The Lakesider tourist buses from Bowness-on-Windermere to Grasmere, operated by Stagecoach, have acquired next-stop announcements in a female voice, followed by commentary about the area in a male voice.
The First Greater Manchester Vantage routes in Manchester have dot-matrix displays with a text-to-speech voice reading out stop names.
“We believe this is the best view from a bus stop in the UK” The announcements on the Stagecoach open top buses in the Lake District add a lot of information to the journey because it also serves as a sightseeing tour. If I remember correctly, it’s only the open top 599 service that has announcements and no screen. The 505 and 555 which aren’t open top don’t. The other advantage in the Lake District is you can take bikes on buses. That should be standard everywhere.
I went on one of the First Vantage buses recently and found the announcements very helpful in telling me where to get off. “The next stop is Ellenbrook Primary School” being the one I remember most. They also have the best seats I’ve seen on a bus. Why can’t new trains have comfortable seats like new high spec buses have? A railway carriage is much more crashworthy than a double decker bus that can fall over, even when travelling at 3 times the speed. The reason they are so high spec is that they run via the guided busway to Leigh, the largest town in the North West without a railway station, so they can charge higher prices when people have no choice but to use the bus.
Transdev make a feature of their next stop announcements and for routes like Mainline and 464 in Lancashire actually ran a competition for local people to do the announcements. They are running this again at the moment for the 1 service in Blackburn.
https://www.transdevbus.co.uk/blackburn/could-you-be-1
Over in Harrogate, Look North presenter Harry Gration does the announcements on the 36 bus.
The announcements on the X43 Witch Way “Sky Class” also run by Transdev Blazefield from Manchester to Rawtenstall and Burnley via the M60 and M66 motorways (and the notorious Simister Island) have automated announcements featuring the voice of Jennie McAlpine, who plays Fiz in Coronation Street! Again high spec buses for places that have no rail connection.
In County Durham some of the Arriva buses have the LCD screen and audio announcements now. It only announces the next stop, other than at major stops (bus stations, market places, etc) where it also says "if you're leaving the service here please remember your personal belongings...". It also says when the bus is reaching the end of the route.
Does this include the X75/X76 MAX to Barnard Castle? I can see automated announcements being of particular importance on these routes as a significant number of passengers will require an eye test upon their arrival.
gimmicky local accent ones
Another point is that it should be compulsory for ALL announcements on buses to be in the local accent of the area in which they are running, with no exceptions. This serves to give regular passengers a more comfortable journey as they shouldn’t be able to hear any perceivable accent and visitors will be introduced to culture of the local area which includes its distinct accent. This is more challenging to provide on trains which run between areas with different accents.
We must be behind the times In Merseyside, I cant remember ever getting a bus with automated announcements
We definitely are. Some of the Arriva buses I’ve been on in Merseyside are the worst I’ve seen anywhere. All of the single decker buses in Southport are now over 10 years old and I went on a number 20 from Earlestown to Haydock last week which was run by an 05 plate bus!
The new bus services in Preston, the 74, 75 and 153, all have announcements installed. Likewise Lancaster has seen them rolled out on the 100.
I also went on a Transdev Blazefield Little Hotline 153 recently and don’t recall hearing any announcements.