An app for reporting problems on trains

[Wombat]

(In this speculative idea I'm assuming that carriages each have a unique identifier, and that the industry knows to which train a carriage is attached at any given time. If I'm wrong, then this idea is doomed from the outset).

This idea stems from my discontent at inaudible announcements on trains, but could be used to draw attention to other problems too. I propose a system which consists of the following components:

1) A QR code sticker on the back of every seat which uniquely identifies the carriage.

2) A mobile phone app which enables the user to scan the QR code and specify the nature of the problem (inaudible announcements, toilet not working, lights not working, needs cleaning, ugly passengers, etc, etc).

3) An internal system which aggregates the complaints and reports them to the appropriate staff.

The benefits of this app include:

a) Quick and easy to report problems (hence more reports and greater accuracy)
b) Volume of reports indicates the reality of a problem (if I report an inaudible announcement perhaps I forgot to turn on my hearing aid, whereas if twenty people report it there's probably an issue)
c) Better analytics (perhaps the problem is insufficient training of an individual staff member to use the PA system, rather than a problem with the infrastructure)

I concede that there will be a cost involved, but I work in software development and it doesn't seem like a hugely ambitious project. (I also concede that I haven't thought about it in enormous detail, so I may be wrong).

 

[AM9]

How about a SMS number so that you can text the coach number, visible on every coach that I've ever been on, and briefly report the problem. Checklists are so inefficient because one person's idea of whatever needs reporting can be so different to another's. If it really is a major issue, they can then text back immediately.

 

[jagardner1984]

I think it would be an idea to have a unified "reporting" tool for carriages, and I don't think a QR code sticker applied to every carriage in the country would be that big a job - one on each door would seem smart. Location aware and locked to current time should help identify the service with some precision.

There could also be a tie in to anti social behaviour reporting too.

 

[Wombat]

How about a SMS number so that you can text the coach number, visible on every coach that I've ever been on, and briefly report the problem. Checklists are so inefficient because one person's idea of whatever needs reporting can be so different to another's. If it really is a major issue, they can then text back immediately.

I think it comes down to effort for both the passenger and the TOC. If a passenger has to figure out what coach they're in and then type in the nature of their complaint, I think they're less likely to do so than if they can make a couple of taps in an app. Also, if you allow free-text input you're losing a lot of the analytical power that you gain from using a fixed set of options - if you get a bunch of text messages somebody has to wade through them and categorise them, whereas if you get a bunch of reports about the air-con in carriage 18389 you can automate much of the response.

 

[AM9]

I think it comes down to effort for both the passenger and the TOC. If a passenger has to figure out what coach they're in and then type in the nature of their complaint, I think they're less likely to do so than if they can make a couple of taps in an app. Also, if you allow free-text input you're losing a lot of the analytical power that you gain from using a fixed set of options - if you get a bunch of text messages somebody has to wade through them and categorise them, whereas if you get a bunch of reports about the air-con in carriage 18389 you can automate much of the response.

If an application is needed, only a few people will bother to install it. If it is made too easy, there'll be lots of spurious reports about everything. Analytical software would then be needed to routinely remove large amounts of reports the 'it' has been told to ignore. Automated reporting systems only work if those using them are trained and trusted to use them.

 

[Wombat]

If an application is needed, only a few people will bother to install it. If it is made too easy, there'll be lots of spurious reports about everything. Analytical software would then be needed to routinely remove large amounts of reports the 'it' has been told to ignore. Automated reporting systems only work if those using them are trained and trusted to use them.

No need to install anything, a web browser will be fine for these purposes. Users using the system abusively can be detected unless they go out of their way to avoid detection, and that's a problem that any public-facing IT system has to contend with.

 

[Bald Rick]

How about a SMS number so that you can text the coach number, visible on every coach that I've ever been on, and briefly report the problem. Checklists are so inefficient because one person's idea of whatever needs reporting can be so different to another's. If it really is a major issue, they can then text back immediately.

Hasn’t this been done? I swear I’ve been on a train recently that had a sticker up saying ‘Hi, I’m coach xxxxx, if there’s any problems text yyyyy with my number and a brief description of the problem’

I can’t remember where it was now, possibly LNW or c2c.

 

[Mag_seven]

Hasn’t this been done? I swear I’ve been on a train recently that had a sticker up saying ‘Hi, I’m coach xxxxx, if there’s any problems text yyyyy with my number and a brief description of the problem’

I can’t remember where it was now, possibly LNW or c2c.

I saw that this morning on a Scotrail EMU!

 

[Bald Rick]

I saw that this morning on a Scotrail EMU!

Ah, it may have been Scotrail then. I did go on a 385 last year, that could well be it.

 

[pdq]

Northern also have the SMS report a problem posters.

 

[Highlandspring]

ScotRail already has an app for this called Snapp It! which is available to the public as well as staff...
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.scotrail.eyewitness&hl=en_SG

 

[Aictos]

Hasn’t this been done? I swear I’ve been on a train recently that had a sticker up saying ‘Hi, I’m coach xxxxx, if there’s any problems text yyyyy with my number and a brief description of the problem’

I can’t remember where it was now, possibly LNW or c2c.

I'm sure other TOCs have that, for example on TL that I believe we both use if there is a train fault then a simple tweet to TL with the unit number, vehicle number and description of the fault always gets a reply and logged with the correct department.

I reported a issue with one unit some time ago and it went onto fleet for their immediate attention so it is worth raising it with the TOC involved.

 

[alistairlees]

Hasn’t this been done? I swear I’ve been on a train recently that had a sticker up saying ‘Hi, I’m coach xxxxx, if there’s any problems text yyyyy with my number and a brief description of the problem’

I can’t remember where it was now, possibly LNW or c2c.

It’s been done on quite a few TOCs. Chiltern, ScotRail, northern and maybe GWR. Might also be on LNER.

 

[Bald Rick]

I'm sure other TOCs have that, for example on TL that I believe we both use if there is a train fault then a simple tweet to TL with the unit number, vehicle number and description of the fault always gets a reply and logged with the correct department.

I reported a issue with one unit some time ago and it went onto fleet for their immediate attention so it is worth raising it with the TOC involved.

Ah, I don’t use Twitter. But that’s ok, I just text the man in charge

 

[43096]

It’s been done on quite a few TOCs. Chiltern, ScotRail, northern and maybe GWR. Might also be on LNER.

SWR have applied QR codes next to the toilet doors on at least their 458s (and I assume other sets) that when scanned take you to a webpage to report the defect with unit number and toilet type already completed. About the only improvement they have made over Stagecoach,