'Transport Secretary to pull Automated Announcements off Platforms

[Mag_seven]

One thing that would help would be to recruit an "ATOS Andrew"

There is one except he is called Roger ! At Swindon "Annie" does Platform 4 while "Roger" does Platforms 1-3.

 

[pt_mad]

The article doesn't seem to say that the Transport Secretary will actually put a stop to these announments? Or how he would force this?

Seems more that it's being pointed to as an annoyance and that passengers would find a human voice with more concise information more useful.

 

[Tio Terry]

Whilst I would be the first to complain about pointless announcements, please consider that not all travellers are fully capable in respects of sight and hearing in particular. Whatever system we have, it has to cater for those who have problems with sight and hearing - and possibly both. Take a look at the Equalities Act.

 

[pt_mad]

Whilst I would be the first to complain about pointless announcements, please consider that not all travellers are fully capable in respects of sight and hearing in particular. Whatever system we have, it has to cater for those who have problems with sight and hearing - and possibly both. Take a look at the Equalities Act.

The Atos Annie system seems to provide perfect clarity, consistency, covers potential mitigation for a lot of health and safety issues etc. Surprised the transport secretary has taken this view.

Unless he's basically saying that they have their uses, but are better suplimented with manual announcements at fully staffed stations.

 

[benbristow]

He's not wrong about them being very annoying.

ScotRail are pretty bad for this. Outside of the central stations you get a really dull sounding Scots woman (human) speaking for too long constantly and then the forced 'if something doesn't look right, call the British Transport Police on... and we'll sort it. See it, say it, sorted' at the end of every announcement. And very often too. I understand the importance of making people aware of the BTP but there's posters for them everywhere, on trains themselves and on platforms.

Humans aren't that great either though. Very often they're using awful microphones and awful PA systems. An upgrade of station sound systems with some thought into the acoustics would be a good start.

Also have to take into account those humans potentially doing the announcements with thicker accents (Wales/Scotland definitely guilty of this!) may be more difficult for people with little understanding of English or those from elsewhere. I've been living and working in Scotland for 3 years and still struggle to understand some of the announcers at Glasgow Central Station.

 

[Bletchleyite]

FWIW I really quite like the way there's a Scottish version of Annie. It's actually, unlike Annie herself, quite a nice voice in my view.

 

[Bletchleyite]

There is one except he is called Roger ! At Swindon "Annie" does Platform 4 while "Roger" does Platforms 1-3.

Interesting - a sort of similar voice to Phil Sayer but nowhere near as polished as him or as Annie.

 

[CMS]

One thing that would help would be to recruit an "ATOS Andrew" - if you have two voices, one male and one female, you can play different announcements on different platforms and people can tell them apart, so you can do that kind of thing only on the relevant platform. Phil and Celia did this quite well.



Of course the real solution to this in Thameslink's case is to regularise the stopping patterns and stick to them (i.e. no skip-stopping in disruption; just run things late or at a push turn them short) - then all you're needing to announce that the next train is a TL2 terminating at Bedford and everyone knows what that means. Or if you're going to change stopping patterns, change them within the pattern - i.e. announce that the TL3 has just become a TL1.

To be fair to TL, they do have two voices, a male one and a female one, on alternate platforms at each of their stations from the core up to Bedford. As for the route numbering, that would be ok for the "proper" TL routes, which have mostly had consistent stopping patterns even in peak hours but now with all the GN routes added in and TL contra-peaks doing random skip-stopping and all sorts, no way, it would be too confusing. Even if the stopping patterns were somewhat regularised I think there would be a high number of 'TLXX' routes and would turn into an RER type situation where only traingeeks and commuters understood what the route meant.

Can I chime in on the on-board CIS? Last time I was on a London Overground service from Euston towards Watford, the PIS was waffling almost constantly. The entire calling pattern, "See it, say it, sorted", "You must have a valid ticket or validated Oyster card to travel on this service. If you do not, you may be charged a penalty fare", and so on.

Can we please tone it down a bit? I feel like announcing the remaining calling pattern at every stop is over-the-top, can't a more concise version be used ("this is the all station service to X, the next stop is Y")? Is the waffle about requiring a ticket really needed, don't the NRCoT already cover that?

The trains on that line don't announce the entire calling pattern, nor "See it, say it, sorted". At every major station, there is either a security/Oyster but I don't think it's too much given the line's profile. I grew up on this line and although it has massively improved, many serious crimes occur along the route to the point that every station now has a security guard on the platform, at least the announcements remind customers to keep their yes out. Also given that Watford Junction does not enforce penalty fares (due to Abbey Line) and Wembley Central's matchday entrance/other WCML stations customers often travel to/from do not have ticket barriers, whereas all Overground trains require £ before boarding, I can't see the harm done. Plus, the Blind Institute is at Euston, so I wouldn't want to tone down the announcements on this line. I agree that the onboard screens do scroll across constant, often annoying bits of info the majority of customers already know though.

 

[greaterwest]

FWIW I really quite like the way there's a Scottish version of Annie. It's actually, unlike Annie herself, quite a nice voice in my view.

If you're on about the one at Edinburgh and Glasgow Central, she's absolutely miserable and I'd rather listen to Anne.

Arriva Trains Wales (originally FGW) Ruth is probably the best ATOS (or Sema, as it were when she was recorded) voice.

 

[physics34]

Ugh, yes please. The barrage of repetitive, automated announcements - I'm thinking of the larger stations here - is maddening.

"Cycling, skateboarding or rollerblading is not permitted in any part of the station.."
"If you see anything suspicious, please contact the British Transport Police on (whatever)..."
"Smoking is not permitted in any part of the station..."
"For your safety and comfort, 24 hour CCTV monitoring is in use..."
"Please do not leave luggage unattended around the station. Luggage left unattended may be disposed of in a fiery inferno..."

Repeated every five minutes (or less, it feels like).

Its ok if you in and out of a station within a few mins, but say your train is delayed..u are bombarded with multiple announcements when u are already irritated

 

[FGW_DID]

What would be interesting if this was to happen, would be how fast somebody (probably somebody who had already posted on this thread, all for it) would be then complaining about the lack of information provided by the railway!

 

[whhistle]

Blind passengers?

Can ask, or usually have assistance if they cannot read the screen.
I mean, announcing "shop in coach C" isn't going to help a blind person if they cannot see the screen as they're not going to see a coach letter either.

Is it one of these examples around that we've changed something to "help" but actually, nobody uses it or cares? Like the whole cookie warning. Nobody really cares and it just gets annoying.

The problem is that in Britain, we're trying to please everyone all of the time and it isn't going to work. You can't slim down the amount of announcements because of blind people, yet the announcements don't give all the information people may require ("seats 1-52 at the leading end of the coach"... for every coach anyone?).
But then on the other side of it, we have a certain university that has banned clapping! That's not great for blind people either as how would they know everyone is "clapping"?

Can we please start announcing what the shop stocks too?
So I can make an informed decision whether I need to purchase my favourite beverage before boarding or whether I can get it on the train.

 

[LOL The Irony]

One thing that would help would be to recruit an "ATOS Andrew"

Isn't Anne named after the person who voiced her?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Isn't Anne named after the person who voiced her?

I believe so, yes.

 

[Parallel]

I've added some announcements from several voices for those who aren't as familiar with autoannouncers. There are more voices on the network too, such as Emma, Eryl Jones (Welsh), Scottish Female 2, the late and great Phil Sayer & Celia (everyone knows what these two sound like though!), and I think Southeastern use different ones too.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

You won't find many "Arrivals" boards at stations. The amount of people who think it's a departure board, despite it saying ARRIVALS, then try and blame it on someone else is alarming.

Both Newport and Cardiff Central have them for certain, and I think that I've seen them elsewhere as well.

 

[Mag_seven]

I'm currently on a VT Pendo and there are now automated "see it, say it, sorted" announcements.

 

[whhistle]

Both Newport and Cardiff Central have them for certain, and I think that I've seen them elsewhere as well.

The primary word being "many" :P
Compare how many departure boards you see to arrivals.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Well, the ones at both Cardiff Central and Newport provide both arrival and departure information alternatively; they're not dedicated to either service.

Was this what you meant, or were you referring to dedicated arrival and departure boards?

 

[Parallel]

There is one at Bath Spa, but only at the main exit.

 

[OrangeJuice]

Crewe also has both arrivals and departure boards by the ticket office and entrance

 

[jon0844]

The Atos system does have at least two voices (male and female) but when First started replacing the older system at many Great Northern stations, it got rid of the zones at many stations (such as Hatfield) to save money. As such, you get announcements for every platform throughout the station in one voice. Before that there was still just the one voice, but at least you only got the announcements for approaching trains on the platform(s) of relevance. This possibly helped reduce people running over to platform 2/3 for a train they're very unlikely to make, at least safely.

I actually liked the old system in that it announced the next train periodically, not just as it approached the station (or if delayed). Visually impaired people have pretty much no way of knowing what's going on until a train is virtually at the platform, yet get the other stuff at regular intervals.

 

[Gareth]

I got "Umbrellas needed" on Merseyrail, a couple of days ago; although that was the guard.

 

[pt_mad]

What does Atos Annie actually look like and does she have her own voiceover website like I believe Phil Sayer did?

 

[RandomRailways]

The problem most passengers have is the frequency of seemingly pointless announcements - mind the wet, careful on the stairs etc and "see it say it sort it" ad nauseum. The latter is repeated live by OBS in LNWR and some others. We end up with them being annoying, and consequently ignored by the majority - see it sod it ignore it...

 

[BeHereNow]

Crewe is absolutely ridiculous for this. The contstant announcements make it really difficult to know which train they are talking about.

 

[Sprinter153]

EMT have a constant stream of announcements on stations in addition to announcements for individual trains.

- Welcome to Derby station, use the lifts and keep your bags with you.
- Keep your bags with you and remember the 3 ‘S’s (isn’t that only for use when the threat level is critical?)
- Engineering work this weekend
- More engineering work this weekend (but we get told again how to contact station staff and find them on Twitter)
- Samaritans announcement (worthy but annoying the first time, let alone subsequently)
- Smoking and e-cigarettes are not permitted
- Don’t struggle on the stairs today! Contact a member of ‘our team’ if you need assistance.

On board we are reminded again in a usually embarrassed voice about the 3 ‘S’s - the Senior Conductors are clearly told to use this phrasing on pain of death - and of course to contact the ‘on train team’ if we need anything. Back in my day it was ‘traincrew’!

The result is a lot of duplication and on stations at least the PA is barely ever idle. There seems to be a focus on ‘good customer service’ but the result is that information ends up getting ignored so the opposite ends up being true.

 

[Bikeman78]

Whilst waiting in the waiting room at Swindon a few years ago, "Please take care on the stairs" was playing every 30 seconds. I was only waiting there 15 mins but it drove me up the wall!

There are sensors at the top and bottom of the stairs, it goes off every time someone approaches. They have the same thing at Plymouth. No idea why it's just those two stations.

 

[Parallel]

There are sensors at the top and bottom of the stairs, it goes off every time someone approaches. They have the same thing at Plymouth. No idea why it's just those two stations.

Also at Bath Spa and Taunton now (possibly more)

 

[johntea]

The Samaritans advert has just turned up at Leeds, as much as I support the cause it's totally out of place at a train station such as Leeds with the 'bing bong' introduction and then the cheerful female voice gets drowned out very quickly as it's so quiet!

I got the `message` a lot more when they used to have posters up around the station and Amir Khan doing the odd bit of promotion here and there for them (once I even think they set up a makeshift boxing ring at Leeds for a bit of promotion!)

Nothing but the greatest respect for the volunteers though, must be tough, my old boss used to do a few shifts after work every week