The Kings Cross hologram-a new form of torture

[tsr]

It would be quite convenient to be taken straight to the runway, especially for the airlines that make you board from the ground. I bet there would be some crazy person thinking there was some silly health and safety issue with that though.

Gatwick Airport (or, rather, the stretch of line just South of the Station) has tripwires which will be (and very occasionally are) activated by low-flying aircraft. The result is that the lines are blocked. So that's one risk removed from the easier boarding protocols you propose...

 

[table38]

Gatwick Airport (or, rather, the stretch of line just South of the Station) has tripwires which will be (and very occasionally are) activated by low-flying aircraft. The result is that the lines are blocked. So that's one risk removed from the easier boarding protocols you propose...

Tsk, how "low tech".

Surely some sort of hologram that constantly tells the pilots they are flying too low would be more appropriate?

 

[tsr]

Tsk, how "low tech".

Surely some sort of hologram that constantly tells the pilots they are flying too low would be more appropriate?

"Use elevator" may even be appropriate!

In seriousness, they already have automatic voice alerts in the cockpits of many aircraft.

 

[table38]

In seriousness, they already have automatic voice alerts in the cockpits of many aircraft.

Oh but I'm sure market research shows that a mere recorded voice doesn't carry the impact of a hologram.

I think the manufacturers are missing a trick here, and should install them in plane cockpits immediately. Maybe in loco cabs too in place of AWS warnings.

After all, if the feedback is good, the general public like them, and don't find them distracting or irritating, how could pilots and drivers possibly disagree?

 

[jon0844]

If I was a pilot and she appeared in the cockpit to tell me what to do, I'd fly into the nearest mountain.

 

[tsr]

If I was a pilot and she appeared in the cockpit to tell me what to do, I'd fly into the nearest mountain.

Ah, the irony - it's quite a distance, even by plane, from Gatwick to the nearest mountain - your patience would be tried and tested to its limits en-route...

 

[AlterEgo]

Oh but I'm sure market research shows that a mere recorded voice doesn't carry the impact of a hologram.

With reference to recorded voices - Cockpit Voice Recorders found after aircraft accidents often find that pilots have become conditioned to the robotic voice and don't treat the verbal warnings as urgent.

The last minute or two of this YouTube clip makes for harrowing, if fascinating listening: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2Pi8EuTcAc

"PULL UP! PULL UP!"

 

[CaptainHaddock]

Perhaps the software could be amended so she removes an item of clothing each time she makes the announcement? That'd certainly get people's attention!

 

[joeykins82]

Only if alternating announcements are done by a man doing the same.

 

[jon0844]

You'd then need another one to tell people to move on and stop blocking the escalator etc.

 

[table38]

Holly had gone AWOL at Kings Cross on Saturday. Imagine my disappointment

 

[lincolnshire]

she waved to me on Friday, maybe she has nipped to the loo, we all have to go at sometime in the day.

 

[stut]

she waved to me on Friday, maybe she has nipped to the loo, we all have to go at sometime in the day.

I do hope she used the 'elevator' to get up there - carrying that projector equipment on the escalators would lead to human sacrifice, cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria.

 

[philjo]

I've mentioned it in another thread, but St Albans City now has this thing - and it has TWO women. A FCC woman warning about keeping clear of the yellow line and slippery surfaces etc, followed by the same woman changing costume into a BTP uniform and talking about security.

Scary!

(Edit; when I say two women - I mean one machine, but when one woman finishes, it fades out and she reappears in a different uniform and a different message.)

The FCC version is also at Blackfriars at the bottom of the escalator to platform 1. At least she mentions lifts rather than elevators !!

 

[Deerfold]

The FCC version is also at Blackfriars at the bottom of the escalator to platform 1. At least she mentions lifts rather than elevators !!

Interesting - presumably that means there is a new version which could be rolled out to the other locations?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

she waved to me on Friday, maybe she has nipped to the loo, we all have to go at sometime in the day.

She was back this morning.

 

[Yew]

I find this thread inspirational, I now plan to dedicate my life to comimg up with a crap idea and selling it to NR

 

[ian959]

If I was a pilot and she appeared in the cockpit to tell me what to do, I'd fly into the nearest mountain.

Flying into the factory where they make the things would perhaps be of more benefit to humanity?

 

[Busaholic]

Go anywhere in the world and ask someone what an elevator is, they'll tell you a lift. The language evolves, what might have been right for a pedant 50 years ago isn't relevant nowadays.

NB: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator - "An elevator (lift in British English) is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors (levels, decks) of a building, vessel, or other structure." I think that aptly describes what the hologram is asking people to use at Kings Cross!

I had aneighbour in London 40 years ago who worked for the u.k. arm of the Otis Elevator Company and in those days when I worked for LT Underground most lifts were still Otis, so I guess the word elevator did to an extent become common over here, unlike 'gas' for petrol or 'fanny' for....

 

[Kazington]

I'm nearly wholly convinced that the woman whose voice drones on and on with this things is the same one who voices the station announcements at KGX. Anne, I think her name is, but my friends and I often refer to her as "Anne-ouncer".

I wish we had Phil Sayer.

 

[lincolnshire]

I find this thread inspirational, I now plan to dedicate my life to comimg up with a crap idea and selling it to NR

Reginald Perrin to rise again then and manufacture crap and make a business selling crap and companies are daft enough to buy it and more and more of it.

The life and times of Reginald Perrin lives again.

 

[ATW Alex 101]

I feel like walking up to it and just kicking it over.

 

[table38]

It's a bit like the "wacky" announcements in the Pendo toilets on Virgin. They weren't really funny the first time I heard them... after a few weeks, they are just tiresome... after a few months, you dread pushing the "lock" button

One day I am going to take a sweater and a goldfish with me and see what happens if I do flush them

 

[jon0844]

I had aneighbour in London 40 years ago who worked for the u.k. arm of the Otis Elevator Company and in those days when I worked for LT Underground most lifts were still Otis, so I guess the word elevator did to an extent become common over here, unlike 'gas' for petrol or 'fanny' for....

I think most people know that elevator means lift. Indeed, I suspect most Americans do actually know (or would have found out before they got to King's Cross - most likely the airport) that lift is another name for elevator.

The whole point is that the 'hologram' asks people to use the elevator because some bright spark thought more people would understand. If true, then the station needs to have all the signs for the lifts changed.

If you ask people to use the elevator, but then have the signs saying 'Lift' (including for a time, stickers on the floor to guide you to the lift, sorry, elevator), then you're pretty stupid.

Clearly FCC opted to ignore this advice and opted to use the word 'lift' which is far more sensible.

 

[JaJaWa]

Press release from First Capital Connect http://www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk/about-us/media-centre/news/2014/virtual-assistants-become-reality-first-capital-connect-stations/

Virtual assistants become reality at First Capital Connect stations

21/07/2014

An additional ‘face’ has joined the customer service team to repeat safety messages at three major stations on First Capital Connect’s (FCC’s) Thameslink route, in the form of ‘virtual assistants’.

Virtual assistants are audio-visual projections that convey a range of information to passengers. Blackfriars, Luton Airport Parkway and St Albans stations are the first ever stations FCC has equipped with the technology.

Virtual Assistants use cutting-edge technology to project an image and create the illusion of a real person giving messages to passengers. They are motion-activated and have been programmed with 34 different messages mainly covering issues of safety such as to use lifts instead of escalators if carrying heavy luggage. These can also be displayed with subtitles in Polish, Spanish, French or German.

Other service information has also been included, such as the nine-day period in August when FCC trains will not be able to serve London Bridge.

First Capital Connect’s Customer Services Director Keith Jipps said:

“Virtual assistants will never replace the great job our staff do promoting safety and giving out service informationbut their introduction is another way to get crucially important safety messages across to passengers, staff and other visitors to our stations.

“Our ‘modern day guide’ to train etiquette and safety has already resulted in 77% of passengers saying they would act more safely. But we won’t rest on our laurels and these virtual assistants are a great way to make passengers aware of safety issues.”

If initial use of virtual assistants at Blackfriars, St. Albans and Luton Airport Parkway proves successful in reducing customer accidents then more may be rolled out across the network.

ends

 

[jon0844]

Virtual Assistants use cutting-edge technology

Hahahahahahaha!

Take an off the shelf projector, add a mirror, stick some perspex on the back of the box, attach a loud speaker, sell it for a small fortune...



(I expect the Tensator sticker put on the projector helped push up the cost!)

 

[causton]

Hahahahahahaha!

Take an off the shelf projector, add a mirror, stick some perspex on the back of the box, attach a loud speaker, sell it for a small fortune...

View attachment 19096

(I expect the Tensator sticker put on the projector helped push up the cost!)

Must have been an expensive drill for the ventilation holes!

 

[jon0844]

Yeah, about the only 'cutting-edge' thing about them was the tool used to make the holes for the fan and speaker.

 

[NorthernSpirit]

Anyone thought of getting a couple of stickers and sticking them over the fan and vent holes?

I have seen one of them in Leeds being used as a makeshift bin as it had a Metro paper and a KFC bag left on the thing.

 

[JaJaWa]

Found this on the Tensator website... are there 8 at King's Cross now?

King's Cross Station employed a Tensator Virtual Assistant to improve traveller safety. 'Louise' was positioned at the bottom of the escalator area to engage passengers with consistent and clear directional and safety announcements. Travellers with the heavy and oversized luggage are alerted to use the lifts to ensure safer, more efficient station traffic.

During a six-week trial, the station saw an increase of over 260 per cent in passengers utilizing the lift. National Rail was so impressed by results that it has ordered another 7 units for implementation at various Kings Cross locations.

http://www.tensator.com/uk/showroom/virtual-assistant-global-installations.aspx

 

[jon0844]

There will be no way in or out of the station soon. Help!

Maybe someone can position some small black dots on the perspex (projector side, not board) or even red film to make her eyes more interesting?

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